Considering the average price of a CD album, it sometimes seems like folly to purchase a CD just because it has one desirable song or instrumental composition. More often than not, especially since the advent of the CD single, it's better to wait till that desired piece is available as a cheaper single rather than risk shelling out, say, $12.99 for a 12-song album out of which 11 tracks are either awful or mediocre.

Granted, in the pre-Napster/Kazaa/Ipod age of the late 20th Century, buying a new album which contained that song that was driving you crazy sometimes was an exciting journey of musical discovery. I became a Billy Joel and Beatles fan by liking a few songs ("An Innocent Man," "Hey Jude") at first, then listening with more of an open mind to the other songs on the albums. At times, such as in Joel's An Innocent Man, there would be some stinkers in the vein of "Easy Money," but mostly I'd get accustomed to the styles and sounds until most of the songs or compositions were very enjoyable.

Deutsche Grammophon's Romanza: The Art of the Clarinet is one of several albums I've purchased simply because it contains one piece which I was set on hearing. In this case, it was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 1st Movement of the Clarinet Quintet K. 581. That composition had haunted me for over 20 years ever since I, along with millions of television viewers, heard it on the final episode of M*A*S*H, Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen.

If you've ever watched that particular episode, you'll remember it as the piece performed by a quintet of Chinese POW's under Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester III's sometimes exasperating direction; they'd been playing Chinese songs with their instruments, and Charles, ever the pompous Bostonian blue-blood, had railed about their music, which had interrupted his enjoyment of a classical music record. He went on and on about how he wanted them to stop playing their "noise" so he could listen to his Mozart record.

Naturally, most of what Charles was shouting at the Chinese POWs was gibberish to them...that is, until he said "Mozart." They exchanged knowing glances, then one of them said, "Mozart," and they picked up their instruments and began to play the opening measures of the Clarinet Quintet in A Major K.581 (Track 2).

In February 1983 my main preoccupation was trying to cope with the last months of high school and I didn't know Jack about classical music, at least not enough to know what the name of the piece was. All I knew is that it somehow spoke to my sentimental core, the one I rarely let people see lest I get hurt or made fun of. Over the years, I heard it perhaps one or two times on the late and still lamented WTMI 93.1 FM classical station in Miami, but I always forgot to write the compostion's title and catalog number, which I finally learned in 2002 on a classical music website's discussion board.

Mozart's Clarinet Quintet is an emotionally complex composition more akin to the Romantic era rather than Mozart's Classical period, conveying many moods all at once. It's sunny one moment, reflective and melancholic at times, then returning to bright flashes of optimism again. Like much of the great Austrian composer's instrumental works, it has memorable melodies and intricate interplay between the clarinet (performed magnificently by Gervase de Peyer) and strings (two violins, a viola, and a violoncello).

Another Mozart composition for the woodwind instrument featured in Romanza is his Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in A Major K. 622 (Track 3) , a more solemn work than the Quintet. Here the featured soloist is Alfred Prinz, accompanied by the renowned Vienna Philharmonica under the baton of conductor Karl Bohm. Like the Quintet, it was written in the late Classical Period but, like most of the innovative Mozart's works, has emotional undercurrents that hint at the yet-to-begin Romantic era. It's stately and gentle, almost restful but without being soporific or boring.

The other 13 tracks cover all the musical periods in which the clarinet has existed, starting with the Classical era (represented here not only by the two Mozart pieces but also by Georg Philipp Telemann's Der Getreue Music-Meister (The Faithful Music Master -- Track 1), a quick little duet for clarinet and chalumeau, performed by Otto Steinkopff and Frithjof Fest. The musical time travel tour then visits the Romantic era as Romanza presents compositions by L.v. Beethoven (Duo for Clarinet and Bassoon in C major WoO 27 -- Track 4) featuring Jost Michaels and bassoonist Albert Hennige, Carl Maria von Weber's lively Quintet for Clarinet, two Violins, Viola and Violoncello in B flat major, op. 34 (Track 5); we hear the 3rd movement here, with clarinetist Eduard Brunner and a wonderful string quartet in a warm and sparkly rendition. Brahms has two compositions featured here, as well: his Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in B minor, op. 115 and Trio for Piano, Clarinet and Violoncello in A minor, op. 114 both feature Karl Leister as Romanza leaves the Romantic era and heads toward the Impressionist and 20th Century eras with works by Alban Berg, Francis Poulenc, and Igor Stravinsky, whose Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo (Tracks 13-15) are brief yet challenging compositions that are performed brilliantly by Alain Damiens.

This 2000 Deutsche Grammophone enhanced CD includes a nifty feature called CD-Pluscore, an interactive experience that allows listeners with a Windows-based (95/98 and better) PC to install software that not only allows them to follow the music on their monitors, but also print the scores, practice along with the MIDI feature, and get in-depth information about the artists, composers and their works. I installed it on my previous computer and really enjoyed watching the score advance across my screen as the music played, and I believe I may have read a bit about the Mozart Quintet, which is the main reason why I bought Romanza: The Art of the Clarinet.

Key Tracks: Favorite Pieces from Romanza

1. Telemann: Carillon a 2 Chalumeaux
2. Mozart: Clarinet Quintet K.581
3. Mozart: Clarinet Concerto K.622
4. Beethoven: Duo for Clarinet and Bassoon in C major WoO 27
5. Weber: Clarinet Quintet op. 34




Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Listening