Strange Loops presents clarinettist Mark van de Wiel with colleagues from the Philharmonia Orchestra in three works spanning over two centuries of chamber music. The album centres on the first recording of Anna Clyne’s Strange Loops, written in 2020 and exploring repeating and transforming musical patterns. It is paired with Ruth Gipps’s Rhapsody, a single-movement work highlighting the clarinet’s lyrical and colouristic qualities, and Carl Maria von Weber’s virtuosic Clarinet Quintet, composed for Heinrich Baermann. Recorded at Garsington Studios in 2024, the programme reflects van de Wiel’s longstanding commitment to both contemporary and established clarinet repertoire.
Strange Loops: Clarinet Quintets
Mark van de Wiel – Clarinet
Zsolt-Tihamer Visontay & Fiona Cornall – Violins
Nicholas Bootiman – Viola
Karen Stephenson – Cello
Release date: August 7th 2026
Catalogue number: SIGCD1008
Barcode: 635212100820
[1] Strange Loops – Anna Clyne
[2] Rhapsody for Clarinet & String Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 2 – Ruth Gipps
Clarinet Quintet in B-Flat Major, Op.34, J. 182 – Carl Maria von Weber
[3] I. Allegro
[4] II. Fantasia – Adagio ma non troppo
[5] III. Minuetto Capriccio – Presto
[6] IV. Rondo – Allegro giocoso