These two sonatas are part of the last flowering of Brahms’ genius;
only the Vier Ernste Gesänge followed among his
substantial works. As is well-known these sonatas were the product,
along with the Clarinet Trio and Clarinet Quintet, of his friendship
with the phenomenal clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld. Although the
clarinet had always appealed to the composer it was only at this
time of his career that he wrote major works incorporating it.
All four of the clarinet pieces have been justifiably popular
and frequently recorded. On this disc we have the interesting
duo of the co-directors of the Cape Cod (Mass) Chamber Music Festival
performing.
Since
the Sonata No. 2 appears first on the disc we will proceed
in the same fashion. This is the less serious and more amiable
of the two works and the performers convey these qualities
well, while not missing the more serious elements. Nakamatsu
provides a lot of the energy in the first movement and that
is important as the movement can get a little too dreamy in
the hands of some players. Manasse is best in the passages
calling for the clarinet’s low register, which was one of
the instrument’s attributes that most interested Brahms. Manasse’s
playing of the descending passage leading into the coda is
especially well done. The middle movement is a scherzo, though
a serious one, and brings out some of Manasse’s finest playing,
emphasizing the flowing nature of which the clarinet is capable.
In the variations of the last movement we have something of
a homage to Schumann. Both performers enjoy the composer’s
wonderful contrasts from one variation to another and communicate
this to us.
In
the first sonata economy of means is primary. Our performers
not only handle the serious aspects of the first movement
well, but also the plaintive ones. Manasse’s phrasing is especially
good here. The monothematic slow movement shows that the clarinetist
can also do well with the instrument’s upper register, but
I felt that both performers could have made more of the elegiac
nature of this movement. The scherzo contains the last of
the composer’s dance sections and this is well handled, although
the same cannot be said for the first trio section. The second
scherzo section is a little more interesting. Finally, we
get to what is structurally the most engaging movement in
the two sonatas where the main theme is almost entirely constructed
out of the interval of the second. Manasse and Nakamatsu take
this movement in a very animated and carefree way, although
at the end I felt that the pianist was let down by over-exuberant
recording of the piano.
Overall,
these performances are a little more on the mellow side than on
the dynamic, but I think many would agree that the music calls
for this. As indicated above there are some problems with the
recording of the piano. In addition the sound of the Academy of
Arts and Letters is drier than one would like for this music.
The price of the disc is also somewhat exorbitant for the amount
of music contained. Still, this is a small drawback to an otherwise
well-played and thought-out recording by two dynamic young performers.
William Kreindler
