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When one hears of an enterprise named Delos after the
Greek isle which gave birth to Apollo and operated by one Amelia S. Haygood
one is naturally led to think of England in 1895 and a Victorian mansion
with proper but barefoot maidens dressed in mountains of crêpe
de Chine disporting on the lawn to strains of Hubert Parry. But actually
this is a record company in Chatsworth, California. (My grandfather’s
last mistress retired on his death to Chatsworth and when I last visited
her in the company of my mother the town had not yet solved the mud or
dust problems. I suspect all the streets have long since been paved and
the semi-rural neighbourhood in which she lived is now likely all business
parks, shopping malls, and forests of high rise condominiums.)
Still, dramatic gestures have not been completely forsaken.
The cover of this CD would lead you to believe (falsely) that it was recorded
in the very house in which used to live Clara Wieck Schumann and where,
on November 13, 1894, this very program was performed by the greatest
artists then living. What we have here is a performance by some of the
greatest artists currently living. Carol Rosenberger has for at least
40 years been producing masterful recordings of thorny modern music perfectly
in style, richly intoned; it is a delight to hear her playing so well
in the Viennese style and so exactly achieving the chime-like sound of
late Brahms. Clarinettist Shifrin has won every award except the Nobel
Prize and is currently director of Chamber Music at Lincoln Center. He
ranks among the premier clarinet virtuosi of this time.
The all time greatest recording of this work is with
Wlach and Demus, recorded monophonically by Westminster in Vienna in 1953.
Those of you who were very quick might have got the Japanese HMV CD release
which appeared and disappeared in 1999. Wlach is in perfect control of
his instrument, and Demus is the perfect partner in this essay in Viennese
style. They achieve thrilling drama and produce a great variety of tone,
but more than that they can achieve Viennese lilt, lightness and grace
when called for. The clarinet is an unstable instrument; when attempting
to play a mid-tone loudly the tone starts to become shrill, and can abruptly
go into a squeak. The trick is to control the degree of edge to obtain
dramatic variety of tone without losing control and producing an unpleasant
noise. Wlach shows himself to be the perfect master of his instrument.
Cohler and Kovacs (in that order) are nearly a match
to Wlach in skill and give us performances of great power and drama. They
come up the tiniest bit short only in direct comparison during passages
which call for lightness and grace. Shifrin comes in fourth in this contest.
In just a few phrases his tone moves a little close to the edge, and one
senses he’s not completely confident in holding on to it. Rosenberger
plays extremely well, but then so do the other accompanists.
So, if you are a subscriber to BBC Classical Magazine
and have the Cohler/Gordon/Hodgkinson performances in your collection
you really need look no further. If you missed the Westminster issue on
HMV, don’t wait for DG to reissue it; the man in charge of the reissues
specifically stated he would not dig into the Vienna chamber music recordings,
and since he’s the same man who gave us the "Great Pianists"
series, even at the best all we can expect is a snip of this and a snip
of that. He’s going to tell us what bits we like and what bits we’ll get,
and he doesn’t believe in musical completeness. Good luck finding it used,
and if you do don’t be surprised to be asked to pay over £20. The Kovacs
recording is at the moment out of print, although that can change quickly.
Which leaves this Shifrin/Rosenberger recording, a very satisfactory and
enjoyable version, and you get the extra of the Schumann works.
This recording would be an excellent gift for a person
who doesn’t think he or she likes chamber music.
The Brahms works are also recorded in the alternate version
for viola and piano.
Paul Shoemaker
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Clarinet
Sonata in E flat Major op.120 no.2:
Allegro
amabile
Allegro
Appassionato
Andante
con moto. Allegro
Fantasiestucke
op.73:
Zart
und mit Ausdruck
Lebhaft,
leicht
Rasch
und mit Feuer
Clarinet
Sonata in F Minor op.120 no.1:
Allegro
Appassionato
Andante
un poco adagio
Allegretto
grazioso
Vivace
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David Shifrin, clarinet;
Carol Rosenberger, Bösendorfer piano 