Archduke / Magistrelli / Bracco - Music for Clarinet & Piano - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Gregorio Nardi - Rare Piano Works [COMPACT DISCS] date 04/25/2011

The combination of oboe, clarinet and bassoon attracted several French composers in the first half of the last century and inspired witty and elegant divertissements from the likes of Ibert, Francaix and Poulenc. But the character of the trio held an appeal to composers farther afield, as this album shows, and that appeal was by no means confined to 'light music', even if all the music on this album - from Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary - shares a lightness and airiness of texture. The composers from eastern Europe - Lutoslawski, Schulhoff and Veress - all suffered under totalitarian regimes, and Schulhoff died at the hands of the Nazis, but their painful histories do not cast a long shadow over the pieces on this album. In fact, the origins of Lutoslawski's Trio are found precisely in the exercises of counterpoint he realized in the winter of 1944-5, when he had been forced to flee Warsaw, together with his mother, following the consequences of the Warsaw Rising. The Trio is a quirky, restlessly experimental work. The wind trio as laboratory also held appeal to Sandor Veress, who found a very personal synthesis of his own research into Hungarian folksong with the 12-tone theories of the Second Viennese School. The outer movements of his Sonatina abound in the madcap humor of his compatriot Ligeti, while the central Andante introduces a gravely memorable theme on the bassoon. Schulhoff's Divertissement is naturally the most French-sounding work on the album, a set of seven compact character sketches including a Charleston (No.4) and 'Florida' (No.6). Known in some quarters as the 'Russian Brahms' from the country of his birth, Paul Juon is the least-known figure here, but not the least accomplished, and his Arabesque is a substantial, four-movement structure launched in fine style by Commodo movement with echoes of Nielsen at his breeziest.

Heinrich and Carl Baermann, father and son, count among the most famous and influential clarinet players of music history. Heinrich Baermann (1784-1847) was solo clarinet player at the court of Prince Louis Ferdinand von Preußen, later he moved to the court of Munich of King Maximilian I, which boasted one of the best orchestras of the time. His son Carl (1810-1885) succeeded him. Carl wrote the InchVollständige Clarinett SchuleInch, a 5-volume treatise and teaching manual, still considered to be the basis of clarinet playing and teaching. Both father and son Baermann composed extensively for their instrument, and this new recording presents their works, highly accomplished music bringing out all the qualities of their beloved reed instrument the clarinet. This recording brings together several first recordings, works by father and son several InchTheme and variationsInch, a Divertimento and a Fantasie Brilliante, all bringing out the full potential of the sonorities of the clarinet, while the piano is by no mean a mere accompaniment but on an equal level with the soloist in richness and diversity. Wonderful performance by Italian clarinet player Dario Zingales, sought-after soloist, a member of the famous Bläserphilharmonie Mozarteum, and teacher at the Mozarteum Salzburg. This is the successor of the artist's first recording of father and son Baermann, issued on Brilliant Classics, which received 5-star reviews.