Richard Stoltzman - Grammy award-winning clarinet soloist

The Star Ledger Review

Richard Stoltzman, 66, has long been America's top clarinetist, having made dozens of hit major label classical and crossover discs. This indie album ranges widely from Weber to Debussy, though Stoltzman's burnished lyricism ties it all together.

The disc includes Stoltzman's first classical love: Debussy's "Premiere Rhapsodie," one of the most ... MORE

AllMusic review

This disc is something less than a unified, brand-new release, despite the Phoenix in Flight title and fresh graphics, but it's also more than a reissue. Phoenix in Flight is a collection of performances recorded by famed clarinetist Richard Stoltzman with conductor Kirk Trevor and the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra ... MORE

Fanfare Magazine

It has been well over three decades since the young Richard Stoltzman burst on the musical scene as the clarinetist in the ensemble Tashi: a brash, iconoclastic enfant terrible whose sound and style could be mistaken for no one else’s—not unlike England’s Reginald Kell nearly a half-century before him. Stoltzman ... MORE

James Wegg Review

Friendships in life are one of the great joys of existence. Sharing personal moments, enduring then reconciling when arguments flare up and having the confidence of being able to say anything are the hallmarks. Friendships in music—especially jet-setting conductors and soloists—are particularly hard to maintain at even a basic level, ... MORE

Yankee Magazine

Richard Stoltzman's Phoenix in Flight is pretty much what you'd expect from the world's foremost clarinet soloist: a solid hour of classical repertoire that reminds us why he won the two Grammys and we didn't. A world away from the squawks and squeaks of our high school band memories, Stoltzman ... MORE

BBC Music Magazine review

Richard Stoltzman, an indefatigable explorer of the clarinet repertoire, is mostly on more familiar ground in this collection of recordings made in Bratislava between 2002 and 2005. It’s founded on two ‘core classics’ by Weber: the compact Concertino (including a Busoni cadenza) and the Second Concerto with its operatic overtones ... MORE

Babysue review

His name may not be instantly familiar to the casual music fan, but as Classical music buffs and folks who specifically love the clarinet know...Richard Stoltzman is a superstar. During the course of his lengthy career, he has played with an array of well-known artists including (but not limited to) ... MORE

Minnesota Public Radio

Richard Stoltzman could have been a dentist, until a college encounter with classical music made him change his plans. On his new disc, he takes on pieces by Debussy and Weber for their musical worth, not their technical challenges -- although they are there, too.
St. Paul, Minn. — Richard Stoltzman ... MORE

Infodad Review

One way an interested listener might stumble upon two new Navona CDs is by searching for performances by clarinetist Richard Stoltzman. On a disc called “Phoenix in Flight,” he offers sensitive, warm and beautifully played performances of two of the delightful clarinet-and-orchestra pieces by Carl Maria von Weber, plus three ... MORE