Even among the staunchest classical music lovers, the phrase “star clarinettist” rings false. Compared with celebrity pianists, violinists and singers, virtuoso woodwind players don’t get much time in the spotlight. Yet Swedish clarinettist Martin Fröst isn’t just capable of technical wizardry, but is also a mesmerising, full-body performer. On stage at the Royal Albert Hall, he danced, struck poses and contorted himself like a rock icon shredding a guitar solo. All while producing a tone of astonishing refinement, absolutely uniform across the instrument’s multiple registers.
Fröst dominated the first half of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra’s latest Proms outing. Copland’s Clarinet Concerto showcased his ability to blend minutely with orchestral timbres, his solo lines seamlessly interwoven with the cashmere warmth of the BBC Phil’s strings under Joshua Weilerstein. Meanwhile Fröst’s gear-change from the tenderness of its central cadenza into the sassy jazz-infused third section (here all hard-edged articulation and chippy, slightly rustic string playing) was utterly compelling.
