Tuesday 4 May 2010

Brahms - Clarinet Sonata 1 [Collins/ Pletnev]

I reviewed Collins & Pletnev playing the Second Sonata last month [16th April 2010], i'm not sure which Sonata i like the best, there's elements of both Sonatas which are great, it's wonderful to hear the Englishman Michael Collins alongside the Russian Mikhail Pletnev, the pianist can seem wayward in solo piano music, but here he's kept in check.

The second movement Andante is slow and gracious, nice lovely golden clarinet lines, a beautiful opening tune, but this opening is repeated more gently by the clarinet [0:51-1:23], with the piano gently playing straight in the background, this passage is repeated towards the end [4:03-4:32], but now the piano embellishes in a lovely variation in the background, there's a nice passage where the piano starts gently tolling [1:34+], and this tune comes back a little later [2:03+], but now the piano and clarinet share the tune in a game of tag, certainly the piano is major player in this Sonata, carrying a lot of the workload, not merely accompaniment, a lovely piece of 'autumn' music.

Here's Robert Yaple playing the second movement Andante on YouTube.