Just to be clear, yes, that is an underscore in the disc’s title.
It’s the clarinettist’s Christian name before the underscore
and the name of the quartet after it. Modishness aside, this
eight-track disc presents a handful of works by Czech and Slovak
composers across two generations and adds three works from the
Americas: North (Alan Shulman and Oliver Nelson) and South (Piazzolla).
I’m glad to see Arco Diva continuing its laudable championing
of the works of Sylvie Bodorová. Her Babadag for clarinet
and string quartet (originally string orchestra) was written
in 2010 and was informed by the Gypsy music she heard as a child
in Šašov in Slovakia and by Romanian music. More than most of
her contemporaries, she draws across a range of specific folkloric
inspirations. The clarinet offers a melismatic monologue and
the quartet provides rather stylised support as well as percussive
effects on the body of the instruments. As ever she has crafted
a sonically eventful, compact piece.
Ondrej Kukal’s Clarinettino exists in a version for
string orchestra as well as string quintet (as performed here)
with the addition of the bass. Written in 1994, it has a playful
1930s feel, and is a touch French, with a definite Les Six
element about it, though it moves in more intense and expressive
waters too, and the clarinet leads the dance excitingly. Railway-sounding
rhythms are provided by Jan Dušek in Meanwhile and
so too are quick vistas in this malleable, changeable work.
Tomáš Pálka draws on the folk heritage of Southern Moravia and
Slovakia, as did Vítezslav Novák a century before him, for the
racily titled Metafolkphoses in which the clarinet
sings ripely and melodies are stated or subject to contemporary
exploration. Of much more minimalist stamp is Birth
by Jan Kucera which was written in 2010 but expanded for quartet
and the clarinet of Irvin Venyš. It’s an exciting and compact
piece but aside from its fillips I can’t really say that the
clarinet adds much.
The foreign nationals make up the remainder of the programme.
Alan Shulman’s Rendezvous was written for Benny Goodman
who premiered it with the Stuyvesant Quartet. Their 1946 World
premiere, a radio broadcast performance, has been preserved
and is available on Bridge 9137. The Epoque Quartet is less
incisive than the Stuyvesant, and less explicitly expressive:
their cooler reserve is another approach to take. Hardly anyone
is as personalised in tone as Goodman, even when, as here, he
turned longhair.
The melancholia at the heart of Piazzolla’s Oblivion
is duly located, and the jazzy clarinet roulades are nice. Finally
Stolen Moments by the man a trifle formally called
Oliver Edward Nelson. Omit the Edward and you get the composer
and arranger of many a jazz classic. I like the walking bass
effect, the cello ‘solo’ and jazzy violin episode. It’s a good
encore piece and works well.
Jonathan Woolf
Irvin Venyš (clarinet); Epoque Quartet; David Pavelka (bass) ą