Mozart had a veritable passion for the clarinet, making it the protagonist of his 'Kegelstatt' Trio, his Clarinet Quintet K581 and, of course, the Concerto K622 of 1791.

In 2007, Riccardo Muti, conducting the Orchestre National de France at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, called upon Patrick Messina, principal clarinet with the ONF and visiting Professor at London's Royal Academy to execute this work in an exceptional way, with a halo of introspective sadness.