Music
for Guitar by Mauro Giuliani, W.T. Matiegka, Antoine L’Hoyer, Napoléon Coste,
Giulio Regondi, Fernando Sor, and Andrés Segovia. David Starobin, guitar. Bridge Records. $16.99.
Paolo
Marchettini: Music for Solo and Multiple Clarinets. Paolo Marchettini, Meng Zhang, and Ka Hei Chan,
clarinet; Tommy Shermulis, bass clarinet. New Focus Recordings. $16.99.
The ability of solo performers to explore the full range and virtuosity
of their instruments is sometimes taken for granted, as with pianists and
violinists. In other cases, the expressiveness and proficiency of musicians are
less often put on display, either because less solo music is available for
their instruments or because the instruments themselves occupy something of a
niche within classical music – rather than being central to it. The latter is
the case for the guitar, which has a longstanding presence in the compositional
realm – dating to Vivaldi and even earlier – but which does not immediately
come to most listeners’ minds as offering significant solo-performance
opportunities. Audiences may have at least a passing familiarity with
Julian Bream, Pepe Romero, Andrés
Segovia and Christopher Parkening, but few other guitarists – much less
guitarist/composers – likely spring to mind. That makes a new Bridge Records
release featuring David Starobin especially welcome – although the CD is not
entirely new, being a compilation of new and previously released material.
Starobin does an outstanding job with everything on the disc, one of whose two
first-release items happens to be by none other than Segovia. This is Five Anecdotes, a set of charming
miniatures (one to three minutes apiece) in which the guitar’s emotional and
technical range are both put effectively on display. The warmth of the fourth
piece, Molto tranquillo, is
especially notable. The other new item on the disc is a set of three unrelated
pieces by the nearly unknown W.T. (Wenzel Thomas) Matiegka (1773-1830). All three works turn out to be quite well-made:
a Menuetto (Presto) is rhythmically
strong and thematically engaging, an extended Sicillienne is warmly communicative, and a Rondo (Prestissimo) has a thoroughly delightful lilt. The remaining
material on the CD comes from five composers and has been issued before in
various guises. Two of the composers are comparatively familiar. The Grand Overture that opens the disc is by
Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829) and lives up to its title: it has scale and scope
and something approaching grandeur, allowing the guitar to display the
considerable elegance of which it is capable. And the Septième fantaisie et variations brillantes by Fernando Sor
(1778-1839), the longest work on the disc, is even more expansive – and quite
variegated in its contrasting elements and their development. Filling out the
disc are three shorter pieces by little-known composers. The Exercise, Op. 27, No. 2 by Antoine
L’Hoyer (1768-1852) was actually arranged by Giuliani as a three-minute
prelude; its cascading notes, which require some very adept finger work, appear
to give Starobin no trouble whatsoever. The Caprice
sur l’air ‘La Cachucha’ by Napoléon Coste (1805-1883) bubbles along
pleasantly and showcases the guitar’s lighter side to good effect. And Etude No. 5 by Giulio Regondi (1822-1872)
is a solidly rhythmic two-minute study in scales and intricate fingering. The
charm of all the music and adeptness of all the playing combine to make this CD
a real treat for anyone interested in the expressive and technical capabilities
of classical music for solo guitar.
Clarinetist Paolo Marchettini has his own solution to the relative paucity of music for solo clarinet: he writes some himself, then performs it. His new CD for New Focus Recordings is all-clarinet – actually all-clarinets, plural, since it includes not only solo pieces but also ones for as many as four clarinets. This disc shows Marchettini (born 1974) being quite conversant with 21st-century compositional techniques as well as with the capabilities of his chosen instrument. An hour-plus of this material is, however, a bit much – non-clarinetists may wish to sample the (+++) disc instead of listening to it straight through. But certainly the CD shows how much can be communicated in contemporary terms by the clarinet, whether as a solo or in a group. The solo pieces are scattered throughout the disc. Cinque Oraculi (2022) includes five short pieces written with quarter-tones and calling on varying approaches to melody and rhythm – the contrast with the far more melodic Five Anecdotes by Segovia is notable on multiple levels, not just that of the differing instrumental qualities. Prayer (2011) is quiet, meditative and less experimental-sounding than Cinque Oraculi, although it calls on some similar performance techniques. Three Sketches (2010) consists of three minute-and-a-half displays of specific elements of clarinet sound and technique. Tratto (2016/2019) is more extended and makes a greater attempt to explore some of the clarinet’s emotionally evocative capabilities. There is also an interesting short work for solo bass clarinet (played by Tommy Shermulis): Entrée (2006) is a series of disconnected fragments showing the instrument in multiple registers and with multiple sounds, not all of them particularly pleasant. As for the multi-clarinet works here, one of them both opens and closes the CD: the first movement of Due Canti (2022), for clarinet trio, starts the recital, and the second movement concludes it. The opening piece begins as a solo and then becomes more expansive as the other clarinets join, while the closing one starts with all three instruments and becomes more expressively lyrical than most of the other works on the disc. The other music on the CD mixes clarinets (and sometimes bass clarinet) in varying ways. Preludio e Corrente (2009) for clarinet quartet has one stop-and-go movement and one that contrasts constant motion with an occasional broader passage. Cinque Fanfare Napoletane (2020) for clarinet trio is light, pleasant and somewhat more readily accessible than much of the rest of the disc, being based on Neapolitan songs that become the foundation for various brief flights of fancy. Epitaffio (2022) for clarinet quartet is in part suitably solemn, in part staccato, in totality rather meandering. There are also two works for clarinet ensemble, meaning multiple clarinets overdubbed onto themselves. Music of Color (2020) and Nec Clari (2006) are both sound clouds, the former more hectic and the latter quieter and more expressive. This is a self-limited recording in the sense that it will really appeal only to listeners fascinated by solo and multiple clarinets and by ways of using the instrument within a thoroughly modern context that is frequently at odds with the clarinet’s typical rich tone and emotive capabilities. Clarinetists themselves will find much of interest here if they are looking for something new for their own explorations of their instrument. Other listeners will likely be somewhat bemused, if not over-saturated, if they listen to the disc in its totality.
No comments:
Post a Comment