Oslo Philharmonic - Mozart and Zinovjev

Text from the organiser:

Martin Fröst is soloist in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto

The clarinet was still a relatively new instrument when Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote his famous Clarinet Concerto. This evening’s soloist is Martin Fröst, who in our time has expanded and renewed the expressive range of the clarinet. The Finnish composer Sauli Zinovjev explores the sound, taste and weight of metal in his symphony Taste of Metal. Osmo Vänskä conducts.

Programme:

Mozart: Clarinet Concerto

– interval –

Sauli Zinovjev: Taste of Metal

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) moved from his hometown of Salzburg to Vienna in 1781 and lived there for the rest of his life. He excelled as a concert pianist and became acquainted with the city’s finest musicians – among them the clarinettist Anton Stadler, three years his senior. Mozart loved the sound of the clarinet, and he and Stadler became close friends, although the clarinettist had something of a chequered reputation.

The clarinet was a new instrument in Mozart’s day and was still evolving. Stadler often played the basset clarinet, an extended version of the instrument with a lower range, and it was for this type that Mozart wrote his Clarinet Concerto in A major in the autumn of 1791. The concerto would become the last work he completed, and after his death it was revised and published for standard clarinet.

“At its best, a composition contains everything – an entire life in a single moment,” writes the Finnish composer Sauli Zinovjev (b. 1988). He describes this desire to present a complete universe as his creative driving force, reaching a provisional peak in his first symphony, Taste of Metal from 2024. The inspiration for the work came from the Finnish sculptor Markus Copper:

“In the same spirit, Taste of Metal explores an intense, all-encompassing spectrum of experience, embracing beauty and brutality with equal strength. From subterranean depths to fluid motion, from inner combustion to explosive outbursts, the symphony unfolds as a sensory journey. It evokes the experience of metal – not only its sound, but its taste, weight and presence.”

Taste of Metal is written for the Oslo Philharmonic, the Helsinki Philharmonic and the Orchestre de Paris.

Osmo Vänskä, conductor

Martin Fröst, clarinet

Duration approx. 1 hr 40 mins, incl. interval.

Ahead of the concert, you can hear Zinovjev speak about his work on the piece and about how he works as a composer at MusikkRom Vika. Read more at https://ofo.no/no/konserter/2026-04-16/bli-kjent-med-komponisten-sauli-zinovjev. The event is hosted by the Oslo Philharmonic’s Marco Feklistoff.