Contemporary Portuguese clarinet music might be about
as obscure as it gets. Portugal, along with Ireland, is about the only
country in Europe that has never produced a major composer. According
to the sleeve notes, the quality of composition teaching in Portugal
has risen in recent years, so perhaps this situation might be rectified
sometime in the near future. This disc, the first in a series intended
to promote the works of contemporary Portuguese composers, will hardly
propel any of these names into the limelight, but they do show some
tidy enough works for clarinet.
Most of the composers here have studied at some stage
at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, and whilst
they are not a "school" as such, they certainly write in a
very similar idiom. In all these pieces the clarinet or clarinets construct
slow meandering lines whilst electronic treatment provides interesting
changes in timbre. This music is thoughtful, and very much of its time,
although I have serious doubts that it is all interesting enough to
fill a whole CD. Greater variety in sounds and style would have made
this disk much more enjoyable. Without a score or comparison it is hard
to judge the performances, although they seem adequate. Similarly the
recording quality does not sound outstanding, although the electronic
effects make this hard to judge.
The accompanying documentation is not good, missing
out a whole section of the notes in the English translation.
Aidan Twomey
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Ensemble Clarinet Modus