Ludmila Peterková - Music for Clarinet & Orchestra (2001)

The foremost Czech clarinettist of her generation, Ludmila Peterková, chose to tackle in this her latest project a repertoire from the creative legacy of German and Italian Romantic composers, works that are not widely known and yet proved to offer surprisingly attractive listening material. Apart from Peterková's totally accomplished, sonically flawless performance, the album's other great asset is the presence on its tracks of the basset horn, an instrument that has completely disappeared from modern-time music, reintroduced here in two numbers by France's young and talented NicolasBaldeyrou. The third soloist featured on this record, experienced viola player Alexander Besa, is known to Czech audiences as the winner of the 1998 "Discovery of the Year" award presented by the Harmonie magazine, for his solo recital. Convincing proof of its undiminished high standard is provided by the Prague Philharmonia, guided on sensitively and with great erudition by Jiří Bělohlávek, an undisputed member of the élite company of Czech conductors of international standing.