Martin Fröst has a bright tone and a brilliant finger technique, which perhaps contribute to his taking a strongly extrovert approach to both these works. His tempi are consistently fast, though the recording nearly always catches everything. His phrasing can be impetuous, even excitable, taking too little account of the harmonic elements in the first movement of the concerto where the music turns away to a more darkly hued atmosphere. In the Adagio, the pace scarcely allows the music its full lyrical intensity, and in the middle section the accompaniment, simple though it be, does not support the music as it should: in Mozart, of all composers, even the simplest accompaniment figures have a sense of harmonic direction that are part of the phrasing. With the final rondo, the speeding tempi lose the music some of its lilt and sense of gaiety.

It is not clear what has guided his decision about use of the clarinet or basset clarinet. For instance, in the quintet it seems strange not to use it in such places as the lead into the first movement’s second subject, when there is a dramatic plunge from a top A down a long scale to an A three octaves below: the turning back upwards of the last octave scale because the lower notes are not available on an ordinary clarinet is less effective. There is the same approach to tempo as in the concerto: in the final Variations, it is a pity not to pull back more for the Adagio that so beautifully interrupts the music before the final return to Allegro.

There are several recordings that couple concerto and quintet, including the classic Jack Brymer version and one by Thea King using the basset clarinet. Either of these would be preferable to this coupling.