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Clarinet Music
1950
Richard STRAUSS (1864–1949)
Duet Concertino (1947) [19:07] Witold LUTOSLAWSKI (1913–1994)
Dance Preludes (1954 orchestrated 1955) [09:38] Aaron COPLAND (1900–1990)
Clarinet Concerto (1947/1949) [17:14] Carl NIELSEN (1865–1931) Little Suite, op.1 (1888) [14:12]
Jean-François
Verdier (clarinet), Laurent Lefèvre (bassoon)
Ensemble Jean Wiéner/François-Xavier Roth
rec. July 2001, Ecole Nationale de Musique d’Aulnay-sous-Bois.
DDD QUANTUM
QM7006 [60:37]
Strauss’s Duet Concertino is a real gem. Written
at the very end of his life, following the last operas, the Metamorphosen and
the two large wind symphonies, to mention but a few works,
this is music of contentment, not resignation. This is
a composer looking back on his life and the sheer pleasure
of making music. It might come as a shock to some that
this is a work without peaks or troughs – it simply is
there, ambling through some lovely themes, engaging in
delightful dialogue, like two friends chatting over a beer.
There seem to be slight hints of the Metamorphosen and
the sextet from Capriccio in the string writing
which, in light of the very autumnal nature of the work,
is quite touching.
Until the Funeral Music, in memory of Bartók (1958),
Lutoslawski’s music was based on folk music and these Dance
Preludes represent one of his final forays into that
territory. Indeed, the composer said it was “My farewell to folklore for an
indefinite period”. Written for clarinet and piano, it
was orchestrated the following year for the ensemble we
hear in this recording - whose première, the booklet
tells us, was conducted by Benjamin Britten. Four years
later he made another version for the Czech Nonet. The
music, like the Strauß, is easy-going but with more of an edge to it,
as befits a work based on folk material. The five pieces
are short and pithy. The three fast movements are rhythmically
interesting and the two slow ones are reminiscent of Bartók’s
night music pieces.
Copland’s Concerto is probably the best known piece
on the disk. Written for Benny Goodman, it reminds one
of the test pieces written for the Paris Conservatoire – two
sections, a slow lyrical opening to show the soloist’s
ability to play legato phrases and a fast section to display
the players’ virtuosity. I’ve often wondered if that was
where Copland got the idea for the form of this work. As
Goodman was known as a jazzman, perhaps the lyrical portion
was written to prove that he could play sensitively. I
don’t know about that, but what I do know is that Copland
wrote a marvellous work, which fully complements the instrument
and is a fine tribute to its dedicatee.
As a makeweight
the disk ends with Carl Nielsen’s lovely Little Suite,
op.1.
In general this
is a good and interesting disk: two out-of-the way pieces
and two popular pieces. The recording is fresh and clear
and the notes are good. What does let it all down is the
fact that the orchestra is far too small - 7 violins, 2 violas,
3 cellos and 1 bass simply isn’t enough for this music. It
sounds like a chamber ensemble and not an orchestra, and
when a full tutti is required – such as at the start of the
finale of the Nielsen Suite (for the glorious striding
melody he writes) - there simply isn’t sufficient power.
There is one other point, and this has been a bugbear of
mine for years. When a composer writes “jazzy” music all
the player has to do is play the notes as they are writ and
all the jazziness comes out. Verdier is obviously a fine
player but when he gets to the slow drag in the latter part
of the Copland he starts to pull the rhythm about in the
forlorn hope that this will make it all the jazzier. It
doesn’t and I wish that musicians would realize this – even
Bernstein is guilty of doing this in his recordings of Rhapsody
in Blue. If the performers would trust the composer then
they’d give better performances, and much better realisations
of the scores they are playing.
All in all, this
is a nice disk, but the performances are too lightweight,
although I did like their touch in the Strauss
which is quite lovely. There is neither sufficient insight
into the music nor punch in the performances for satisfactory
repeated hearings.
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