Martin Fröst’s exceptionally rich reading of Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet from 2014 (BIS records) is a performance that reminds the listener what chamber music is about… His velvety low pianissimo is something at which he excels. Fröst shines, but he does not dominate. And the vocal qualities in his playing are answered and enriched by the other four instruments. The excellent recording captures all this admirably, giving us the privileged impression that we’re close enough to the musicians to be able to feel some of this togetherness for ourselves.

“Martin Frost is one of the finest exponents of his instrument in the world at present”

“Martin Fröst’s performance of it reached similar heights. In terms of tone quality, dexterity and sheer virtuosity, Fröst does stuff with a clarinet that mere mortals should not be able to do.”

“The program featured the charismatic Swedish clarinettist Martin Frost in a fleet, brilliant account of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto. […] he instinctively moved with choreographic grace that complemented his expressive playing. As an encore he electrified the audience with a dazzling, wailing performance of a klezmer dance by his brother, Goran Frost.”

“His concept album ​“Roots” (allegedly part of a larger ​“Genesis” project) connects Telemann to Hildegard von Bingen and goes directly to Göran Fröst (brother of the soloist). From Bartók it goes seamlessly into the Spaniard de Falla and from there to a Swedish folk … In short, courageous, curious and beautiful. And courage should — especially in this day and age, in the specialized classical landscape — be rewarded!”

“The Swedish clarinettist Martin Fröst is always on the look out, always alert. On his new album ​“Roots”, he travels from the earliest classical roots to contemporary music … With Fröst it works perfectly — and live even better — because he is roaringly good on his instrument. Each piece drips with quality from a Klezmer arrangement by his brother Göran, folk dances by Bartok to a traditional Swedish folksong. While playing Fröst conducts the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. His tone curls smoothly to the musical core of each of the pieces.”

“Musicians queue up to work with clarinettist Martin Fröst, even if it could be pointed out that it does them few favours: his extraordinarily pure tone, sinuous phrasing and seamless breathing technique tend to throw any tiny inaccuracies elsewhere on the podium into a relief they wouldn’t otherwise have had. Still, they seem happy to risk it – and audiences aren’t complaining.”