Various Composers - French Clarinet Music [Spaendonck/Tharaud] I love these Clarinet recitals, and i have a fair number of them, the French Clarinet repertoire seems to reign supreme, i don't know what it is about French Composers, but they seem to revel in these Sonatas and miniatures, the same applies to other instruments like the oboe or flute.
Ronald Van Spaendonck is a Belgian Clarinetist, born in 1970, he recorded this recital in 1996, this is from a wonderful series by Harmonia Mundi called 'Les Nouveaux Interpretes' [The New Interpreters], and there's many fine issues in this series, and i reviewed a lovely Brahms Clarinet Sonata disc last year [22nd April 2010], the booklet cover is great, black and white photography [photo by Eric Larrayadieu], showing the two performers in a nice pose, and a light red colour theme.
The two pieces on this disc i enjoyed the most, were Milhaud's Scaramouche [tracks 6-8], and Francaix's Variations [track 18], the Milhaud work i've heard before, but it's one of those pieces that i've never really listened to, so it was a joy for it to jump off the page at me today, the work is actually really short, less than 9 minutes long, but it's packed full of incidents, here's a synopsis of each movement,
1 - Vif, meaning lively, and it certainly is!, lovely rolling clarinet roulades [0:15+] really enthusiastic and fun!, it's short, so the opening playfulness nicely returns just before the end [2:18+], and those lovely roulades reprise with joy [2:33+], and a nice ending to boot.
2 - Modere, in contrast the middle Modere is bland, however, after the slow and thoughtful introduction, the music develops an innocent introspection, where it introduces an unpretentious yet gorgeous tune [0:59+], so memorable that it makes the first movement acrobatics sound like mere glitter and gloss, towards the end this little imp of a tune returns [2:32+], it's like a fresh born baby, so sweet.
3 - Brazileira, and the work finishes with another bravura piece like the opening. where Spaendonck gets a good work out with his clarinet.
