Poulenc: Clarinet Sonata, Op. 184

Renowned as a virtuoso jazz clarinetist and legendary bandleader, Benny Goodman is also remembered for the works he commissioned from leading composers of his day. Poulenc’s strikingly beautiful Clarinet Sonata was his last composition, while Bernstein’s was his first published piece. Both Gershwin and Stravinsky added their distinctive stamp to the swing vibe which was all the rage in the early 20th century. The jazz flavour of Morton Gould’s Benny’s Gig is heightened by the unusual coupling of clarinet and double bass, while pungent folk rhythms define Bartók’s virtuoso Contrasts.

To mark the 50th anniversary of Francis Poulenc’s death (1899-1963), Pentaèdre offers a wide range of chamber music by this famous French composer.

Pentaèdre is composed of five musicians whose talent, technique, and precision are renowned. Flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon each provide their very specific colour to create a rich, unique, and homogeneous sonority that is the ensemble’s distinctive trademark. Canadian pianist David Jalbert joins the group for the works with piano.

This new disc from the acclaimed London Concord Ensemble presents Francis Poulenc's complete chamber music on 2 CDs. This flexible ensemble of internationally recognised young soloists and chamber musicians has excelled in bringing works for unusual instrument combinations to the fore, including the chamber music of Ludwig Thuille on a recent Champs Hill release.

"The ensemble clicks perfectly, the playing seemingly effortless and a regard for precision never stifling the musicians' natural feeling for life and breath." BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE

The music traverses his career, from early works such as the Sonata for Two Clarinets of 1918, to the late Sonatas for Oboe and Clarinet. It reflects his compositional personality, from the mischievous wit of his early neo-classical phase, to the profundity of his last composition. His music for wind instruments is beloved of its performers; immensely idiomatic and exploiting the full strengths of each instrument.

"Nothing is further from human breath than the bowstroke." he wrote. But it's important not to overlook the importance of his other chamber music, for instance the Sonatas for Violin and Cello. The Sextet and Trio for Piano and winds are arguably the greatest written for their combination of instruments. The Trio was the first of his chamber pieces to use his own instrument, the piano, and was eventually completed in 1926 after some advice from Stravinsky (whose astringent woodwind writing he had emulated in his early works).

His Sextet required even more revisions, eventually reaching its current form in 1939. It is one of Poulenc's earliest works to show the influence of Prokofiev. After some false starts, he completed the Sonata for Violin and piano in 1942 and it was premiered in 1943 at the Salle Gaveau in Paris although some may argue that his Cello Sonata, completed in 1948, is altogether more successful. His moving memorial to the great English horn player Denis Brain is the Elégie of 1957 and includes a bleak lyrical central section which anticipates Poulenc's final choral work, Sept répos des ténèbres. The two final sonatas, for Clarinet (1962) and for Oboe (1962-3), were also written in memory of departed friends, to Honneger and to Prokofiev respectively.

“this is beautifully detailed playing throughout. And a fine balance of just that clarity and colour, elegance and lyricism, that I was talking about right at the beginning. That’s why, of these three excellent new recordings, this is the one I would personally buy.” BBC R3 CD Review

Michael Collins, the virtuoso clarinettist and exclusive Chandos artist, returns for a second volume in Chandos’ series showcasing the extraordinarily wide range of music written for his instrument. The first volume, The Virtuoso Clarinet (CHAN10615), was described by International Record Review as: ‘…an absolute charmer, most beautifully played… difficult to imagine a finer performance than that given here.’

Accompanied by Michael McHale on the piano, Collins here explores the lyrical qualities of the clarinet in a programme comprising a widely varied repertoire. One of the prime qualities of the instrument is its likeness in tone and range to the human voice, which has inspired composers to write aria- and lyric song-like pieces for it.

Baermann’s Adagio in D flat perfectly illustrates the clarinet’s capacity for sustained lyric melody, taking on the character of an operatic aria, the clarinet’s soulful line interspersed with sudden bursts of bravura. Though once ascribed to Richard Wagner, the piece is now acknowledged as being by Baermann, widely recognised as one of the greatest clarinettists of his time.

Among the other key works on this release is Saint-Saëns’s four-movement Clarinet Sonata in E flat. A very late work, it is one of three woodwind sonatas composed shortly before the composer’s death in 1921. In this work too, the clarinet appears at its most lyrical, not least in the refined and songful opening theme; as quicker and more extrovert music takes centre stage, the movement exploits the full virtuoso potential of the clarinet.

The Clarinet Sonata of 1962, one of Poulenc’s very last works, was dedicated to the memory of Arthur Honegger, a fellow member of the ‘Groupe des Six’ in the 1920s, who had died in 1955. This accounts for the intense sense of sadness and loss in the first movements. However, the finale offers relief from the sombre mood, capturing a kaleidoscope of witty, agile, and highly rhythmic ideas right up to the dramatic conclusion.

Music in the Round is Britain’s leading chamber music promoter outside London. Based in Sheffield, it began in 1984 as a two week long festival in its ‘in the round’ home of the Sheffield Theatres Studio. The Festival is still running along with Autumn and Spring series, a large and expanding education and community programme Music in the Community, a national touring programme, series across South Yorkshire and resident group Ensemble 360. Ensemble 360 has gained an enviable reputation across the UK not only for the quality and integrity of their playing, but also for their ability to communicate the music to a range of different audiences. Formed in 2005, as eleven musicians of international standing came together to take up residency in Sheffield with Music in the Round establishing a versatile group comprising five string players, five wind players and a pianist.

“Music in the Round has revolutionised the way people listen to music” Sean Rafferty - In Tune, BBC Radio 3

Sharon Kam is possibly one of the world’s great clarinetists. On this CD, presented as a profile of her outstanding musicianship, she is joined by Lars Vogt, Antje Weithaas and Gustav Rivinius, in pieces by Hindemith, Poulenc and Debussy.