Album Notes

John Williams wrote his Clarinet Concerto for Michele Zukovsky in 1991. The recording is from a live performance with John Williams Conducting and Michele Zukovsky as the Clarinet Soloist back in the early 90's. This work remains unpublished, and is still the only recording of the work.

Williams has received forty-three Academy Award nominations, making him the Academy's most nominated living person. He has been awarded five Oscars, three British Academy Awards, eighteen Grammys, three Golden Globes, four Emmys and many gold and platinum records.

Principal Clarinetist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic MICHELE ZUKOVSKY has appeared frequently at the Hollywood Bowl and at the Music Center, and she has been a guest soloist with orchestras throughout the world. Ms. Zukovsky also performs regularly at the Philharmonic's Chamber Music Society concerts and she has participated in a number of premieres as a soloist with the Orchestra's New Music Group. She gave the world premiere of John Williams's Clarinet Concerto with the Boston Pops which was written for her. She collaborates with a number of chamber ensembles, most notably the Angeles and St. Petersburg String Quartets. She has appeared in New York with Concerts at the Y, Ravinia, Lincoln Center, and "Mostly Mozart" ensembles. Ms. Zukovsky tours worldwide as a chamber musician and soloist, and gives master classes throughout the world. She is currently on the faculty at the University of Southern California. She studied clarinet with her father, Kalman Bloch, a former principal with the Orchestra. Michele has recorded for London/Decca, Avant, Nonesuch, and Summit records. This recording features the Williams Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra with the added bonus of the last movement version for Clarinet and Piano.

A Reviewer said of a recent performance of the Mozart Concerto "If Michelle Zukovsky isn't the finest clarinetist playing today, she's certainly one in a handful. She looks the proverbial grandmother and plays like an angel. Moreover, she's had quite a month, joining her colleagues (including incoming LAPO Music Director Gustavo Dudamel) in a performance of Mozart's Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581, and taking several significant solo turns in orchestral pieces. As always, she brought her lovely, creamy tone to Mozart's sublime music (a remarkable piece of writing, given the composer's agitated state of mind and financial problems). This was a calm reading and Salonen and her orchestral colleagues collaborated in a leisurely, gentle performance."

Special thanks to my Producer David Blumberg at http://www.mytempo.com