Annelien Van Wauwe - Video

BBC cameras were at the world première of Wim Hendereickx’s concerto for basset clarinet, electornics and orchestra entitled Sutra, on 31 March 2022 at Glasgow City Halls, where Annelien Van Wauwe was joined by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins.  It was a co-commission between BBC Radio 3 and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust.  Here’s an excerpt from the fourth and final movement Samadhi.

For Flow, her second Pentatone recording, clarinettist Annelien Van Wauwe pairs two concertos written specifically for basset clarinet (aka basset horn). Mozart’s is perhaps the most famous clarinet concerto of all time, although it was originally composed for the basset clarinet. Wim Henderickx’s Sutra is definitely the newest concerto for basset clarinet, complete with electronics and chanting. It was co-commissioned by Annelien Van Wauwe, with her 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Award and BBC Radio 3. She gives the public world premiere with the BBC Scottish Symphony and Martyn Brabbins on 31 March in Glasgow, with the recording, made in December 2021, released the following day.

Taking inspiration from the golden age of the evocatively titled Belle époque, clarinettist Annelien Van Wauwe has teamed up with the Orchestra National de Lille and conductor Alexandre Bloch on Pentatone for a CD of rapturous music by Debussy, Pierné and Widor (both orchestrated by Jelle Tassyns), along with the world-premiere recording of Manfred Trojahn’s Rhapsodie pour clarinette et orchestre. The longest work on the disc is Luciano Berio’s exquisite orchestration of Brahms’ late, autumnal masterpiece, his Clarinet Sonata Op 120 No 1.  To accompany the recording, Annelien spent a day in Brussels to film this video amidst the city’s own architectural gems of the Belle époque.