This is a terrific program of four compact works for clarinet
and piano, celebrating different intersections between chamber
music and American folk and jazz styles. A really impressive
number of idioms are squeezed in here, thanks in part to two
brand-new compositions by John Novacek and Paquito D’Rivera.
Performers Jon Manasse and Jon Nakamatsu are obviously having
as good a time as we are.
John Novacek, a concert pianist and ragtime enthusiast, wrote
his Four Rags for Two Jons for these players, as the
name suggests. Each of the short pieces is an old-fashioned
rag, albeit with unconventional structures and harmonies. They
feature strutting piano accompaniments and a clarinet part that
would pose challenges for any jazz virtuoso. There are also
other hurdles to be overcome, as in the finale, when the clarinetist
is asked to shout something rather surprising. It’s all in good
fun and it all is good fun.
Paquito D’Rivera, a celebrated Cuban saxophonist and sometime
clarinetist, seems to have also written his piece here specifically
for the “Two Jons”. The Cape Cod Files is a four-movement
sonata in all but name, with each part in homage to a specific
musical figure: Benny Goodman (Benny @ 100), Astor Piazzolla
(Bandoneón), Ernesto Lecuona (Lecuonerías), and Chiquita, a
“diminutive Cuban vaudeville singer” (Chiquita Blues). Though
I don’t know Chiquita, the evocations of the other three are
subtle and feel impressively “right”; in “Bandoneón”, for instance,
D’Rivera chooses to evoke both Piazzolla’s rhythms and his unique
brand of melancholy. “Lecuonerías” is in effect a cadenza for
the clarinetist, who loops and dances about in a sparkling work
much like the cadenza from Copland’s concerto.
From these premiere recordings we move on to two more famous
composers, albeit not in familiar music: Leonard Bernstein’s
startlingly neglected Clarinet Sonata, and Gershwin as
arranged by James Cohn. The Bernstein, two short movements adding
up to eleven minutes, is a masterpiece in miniature, and rather
more distant from jazz than the rest of the disc. Its movements
have natural flow and form a cohesive structure. The music itself
is immediately appealing in an early-modern American way: a
blend of folk and late romantic tenderness, a tune which sounds
like the scherzo from Sibelius’s Seventh but in a very different
context, and suggestions of the clarinet music Copland would
write several years later. The fact that Bernstein was 24 when
he wrote the piece, at the beginning of his career, hints at
his extraordinary talent.
The program finishes with Gershwin’s Three Preludes,
skilfully arranged for clarinet and piano by James Cohn, and
a short encore of “I Got Rhythm”. This is all unabashed fun,
and the duo are in high spirits. Jon Manasse’s solos as sassy
and improvisatory as can be.
Indeed, there’s really little to be said about the performances
except that they are everything that could be desired. Jon Manasse
is a soulful clarinetist with a bright, clear sound well-suited
to the music and Jon Nakamatsu an excellent accompanist. On
a previous Harmonia Mundi album he proved to be a superb Gershwin
soloist in his own right. They play the two works which were
composed for them with appropriate dedication and care, and
the Bernstein gets royal treatment. Alternate recordings exist,
including clarinet legends Richard Stoltzman on RCA and Stanley
Drucker on Sony. Michael Collins plays these arrangements of
the Gershwin preludes in a new Chandos disc called “The Virtuoso
Clarinet”, and his tone is, if anything, even jazzier and spunkier.
The main reason to seek out the “Two Jons” disc, if you are
so inclined, is the eclectic but well-unified program. These
four works are instinctive disc-mates and form an enjoyable
narrative.
The recorded sound is natural and there are impressively few
clicks or intakes of breath. Harmonia Mundi’s booklet is admirable
as always. In other words, this CD is an hour spent in very
enjoyable company.
Brian Reinhart
Jon Manasse (clarinet); Jon Nakamatsu (piano) 
