Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas & Trio [Hybrid SACD]

Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas & Trio [Hybrid SACD]

Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas & Trio [Hybrid SACD]
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CD Details

Composer: Johannes Brahms
Performer: Roland Pöntinen
Edition: Music CD
Format: Hybrid SACD - DSD
CD Release Date: 2005-11-29
Music Label: Bis
Soundtracks:
  1. Sonata for clarinet (or viola) & piano No. 1 in F minor, Op. 120/1: I. Allegro appassionato
  2. Sonata for clarinet (or viola) & piano No. 1 in F minor, Op. 120/1: II. Andante un poco Adagio
  3. Sonata for clarinet (or viola) & piano No. 1 in F minor, Op. 120/1: III. Allegretto grazioso
  4. Sonata for clarinet (or viola) & piano No. 1 in F minor, Op. 120/1: IV. Vivace
  5. Sonata for clarinet (or viola) & piano No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 120/2: I. Allegro amabile
  6. Sonata for clarinet (or viola) & piano No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 120/2: II. Allegro appassionato
  7. Sonata for clarinet (or viola) & piano No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 120/2: III. Andante con moto -
  8. Sonata for clarinet (or viola) & piano No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 120/2: III. Allegro
  9. Trio for clarinet (or viola), cello & piano in A minor, Op. 114: I. Allegro
  10. Trio for clarinet (or viola), cello & piano in A minor, Op. 114: II. Adagio
  11. Trio for clarinet (or viola), cello & piano in A minor, Op. 114: III. Andantino grazioso
  12. Trio for clarinet (or viola), cello & piano in A minor, Op. 114: IV. Allegro

Music reviews of Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas & Trio [Hybrid SACD]

Music Review: Technical Perfection and Just Enough Heart
Rating: 5 Stars

Before purchasing this cd, I had read a slightly dismissive review of it in Gramophone, in which the reviewer criticized--as I recall--its tempi, its pianist, and the fluent but inexpressive playing of Martin Frost (sorry, no umlauts available to me). He preferred Thea King's old recordings of these works on Hyperion.

Well, I am a former clarinetist myself, and I have those old Thea King recordings, and some others besides, including Richard Stoltzman's nice readings with Richard Goode. But I find myself turning again and again to Frost. I have listened to this disc many times now with great pleasure--the kind of consoling pleasure that sometimes comes from Brahms, who knew better than to expect paradise from daily existence but who also knew the solace that good music could provide.

It's not just the SACD sound, which is superb. The engineers have captured every nuance that Frost offers these late masterworks. In the process, they emphasize just how seamless and near-perfect this clarinetist's technique really is. You don't hear keys clicking, breath escaping, the occasional slight adjustments as an awkward register change is negotiated. Just the music flowing out of the horn, liquid and lyrical. (I wish the pianist fared just a bit better via the engineers; sometimes the piano sound is a bit generic and recessed by comparison.)

It's the interpretations. No one should criticize Martin Frost and his colleagues for the sense of restraint, of coolness, that occasionally settles over a passage. That's Brahms. By the time he wrote these works, he was telling his friends that he was burnt out, that it was time for him to retire from the scene. Only his encounter with an exceptional clarinet player, Richard Muehlfeld, caused the composer to rethink his position and create a series of inspired chamber works for clarinet and other instruments, of which three are included on this disc.

There is, in fact, plenty of passion in evidence here, both in the writing and the playing. But Brahms's romanticism is ever tinged with control. His sense of proportion keeps him from the sort of over-the-top expression we associate with some of his contemporaries. In any case, the clarinet does not lend itself well to such theatrics. It produces a glorious, rich timbre that transforms over its wide range from dark, woody lower tones to bird-like chirps in the third octave. And it can play more quietly than any other orchestral instrument.

What it does best, though, is just what Brahms asks of it in these three wonderful works: it sings. Sometimes the song is one of serene joy, sometimes of troubled and scattered emotions. Always the affect is organized into one of the great classic forms--sonata, variations, scherzo. (Again, restraint and proportion.)

This disc apparently came out in 2005, but I only caught up to it more recently. One of my favorite CDs of the year.
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