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Dances to a Black Pipe - Fröst, Tognetti

Dances to a Black Pipe - Fröst, Tognetti

BIS  BIS-SACD-1863

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical


Aaron Copland: Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra with Harp and Piano (including also alternative version of the end of the work in its original version), Johannes Brahms (arr. Göran Fröst): Hungarian Dances Nos. 1, 12, 13 & 21, Göran Fröst: Klezmer Dances for clarinet and strings, Witold Lutosławski: Dance Preludes (2nd version), Ástor Piazzolla: Oblivion for clarinet, solo violin and strings, Anders Hillborg: Peacock Tales, chamber version for clarinet solo, piano and strings, Fredrik Högberg: Dancing with Silent Purpose for clarinet, strings and tape

Martin Fröst (clarinet)
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Richard Tognetti (conductor)


Martin Fröst isn’t just one of the major clarinettists of our time – he is also an intrepid adventurer who challenges conventional notions of how classical music should be presented. He has played Bach-Gounod’s Ave Maria while doing figures-of-eight on roller-skates, performed the part of dancing soloist (wearing a bird’s mask) in Anders Hillborg’s clarinet concerto Peacock Tales, and is constantly giving new proof of his curiosity when it comes to repertoire that defies genres. True to form, he here presents, with the internationally acclaimed Australian Chamber Orchestra, a wide-ranging selection of works which are all related to dance.

Hillborg has made a chamber version, previously unrecorded, of his acclaimed concerto, while his colleague Fredrik Högberg has composed Dancing with Silent Purpose, a work which in concert is performed against a back-drop projection of a choreographic video. Göran Fröst, the brother of the soloist, has arranged a selection of Brahms’ ever-popular Hungarian Dances for clarinet and strings, and has also composed Klezmer Dances, with elements of Eastern European klezmer music.

These Swedish composers are joined by international masters such as Lutosławski, who based his Dance Preludes on rhythms from Polish folk music, and Aaron Copland, whose Clarinet Concerto was composed for Benny Goodman, ‘the King of Swing’ – especially for this disc, Martin Fröst has recorded the rarely heard, dazzling original coda to the work. Not forgetting the great Latin American dance tradition, he also performs the infinitely expressive Oblivion by the giant of modern tango, Astor Piazzolla.

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Review by Graham Williams - November 10, 2011

A few years ago I attended a concert at the BBC Studios in Manchester in which Martin Fröst performed the Copland Clarinet Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic. Besides the almost seemingly effortless virtuosity and supreme musicality displayed by Fröst it was the physical aspect of his playing that was equally fascinating to observe. On the platform he moved about with a feline grace, using his whole body to communicate his performance to the listener as would a dancer. So it is not surprising that his latest recording entitled ' Dances to a Black Pipe' has a Terpsichorean theme to it.

In 1947 the bandleader Benny Goodman commissioned a Clarinet Concerto from Aaron Copland that was completed in 1948. After completing the work in 1948 he revised the solo part at the behest of Goodman who had concerns about some high notes and certain other difficulties. The revisions included changes to the coda at the end of the second movement and it was this revised version of the concerto that received its first performance from Benny Goodman in 1950 and is most often heard today. Copland scored his Clarinet Concerto for solo clarinet, strings, harp and piano and unusually it is in a slow-fast 2-movement format; its two movements linked by a cadenza for the soloist. The main theme of the opening movement originated from Copland's sketches for a 'Pas de Deux' which gives it a somewhat balletic flavour and in its early days the work's popularity also owed something to its use in Jerome Robbins' ballet 'The Pied Piper' (1951).

Fröst's performance, in which he is accompanied by the superb Australian Chamber Orchestra directed by their dynamic leader Richard Tognetti, is all that one could wish for. He is as comfortable with the singing lyrical lines of the work's opening movement as the jazzy second.
His astonishing technique makes light of the concerto's formidable technical demands, so much so that as a final track on this disc he performs the finale again with the original (unpublished) coda that is referred to earlier. Over and above his immaculate playing, Fröst ably communicates that he is having real fun.

The rest of Fröst's programme is an eclectic mix of predominantly 20th century works, but it begins with five of Brahms' 'Hungarian Dances' in witty arrangements for clarinet and strings by Göran Fröst the clarinettist's brother . A traditional klezmer tune 'Let's Be Happy' is incorporated in Göran Fröst's own engagingly cheerful four 'Klezmer Dances' that come next. Try
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_JkhFuzEoo&feature=player_embedded#! for a taste of what to expect!

Lutoslawski's five' Dance Preludes' (1954) were originally written for clarinet and piano, but in 1955 the composer made the arrangement for clarinet, harp, piano, percussion and strings that Fröst and the Australian Chamber Orchestra perform here. Written before Lutoslawski became a leading member of the European avante-garde, these melodic Preludes are based on Polish folk songs and alternate fast and slow movements in the composer's familiar pungent style. The crisp and incisive accompaniments to Frost's playing by the orchestra are especially noteworthy.

Piazzolla's haunting and wistfully melancholic 'Oblivion' performed here in an arrangement for clarinet, solo violin and strings allows a moment of repose before the two final 'concertos' both of which are dedicated to Martin Fröst and involve the element of dance and mime in their performance. Obviously the visual aspects are absent in a sound-only recording so the music must be judged on purely musical grounds.

This is the second time that Fröst has recorded Anders Hillborg's 'Peacock Tales' (the first one, that I have not heard, was of the full orchestral version issued on the Ondine label). After a slow and reflective opening solo the music very slowly gathers pace with the clarinet playing spiky interjections over soft string chords. This feeling of stasis continues for some 15 minutes before an energetic dance begins that eventually leads to an ending that seems to just peter out. Though the work provides countless opportunities for the soloist to display their virtuosity to breathtaking effect I was left with the feeling that the concerto was far too long for its somewhat sparse material. Again try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d21HMq3ir0 for an excerpt from this piece.

Fredrik Högberg's 'Dancing with Silent Purpose', a concerto for clarinet, tape and strings is to my mind a much more interesting and entertaining piece. The combination of the hyperactive clarinet writing and quirky use of tape is both imaginative and amusing, and it brings this imaginative showcase of Martin Fröst's phenomenal talent to a brilliant conclusion.

The BIS engineering is, as one has come to expect, excellent in every respect and this SACD, which incidentally lasts almost 82 minutes, can be confidently recommended.

Copyright © 2011 Graham Williams and HRAudio.net

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