Customer Reviews

20th Century Music for Unaccompanied Clarinet

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Paul Meyer plays incredibly here. I can't imagine why anyone would be disappointed with his sound. No, it's not the French sound of 40 years ago, but it's a beautiful, flexible sound that works beautifully in these pieces. The pieces on the cd are some of the high points in clarinet literature in the twentieth century. The Berio Sequenza especially is an incredible piece of music for the clarinet. Anyone interested in the clarinet should have this cd.

The pieces on this cd are very difficult to perform & on this cd are performed so perfectly. A great collection of 20th century music.

As usual, I am quite impressed by the performance by Paul Meyer. Although he sometimes plays pieces a little on the fast side, his interpretations were in good taste. I was a little surprsied by his tone in the Stravinsky 3 pieces. Of the CD's I own performed by him, I always thought his tone had focus and a rich tone, but this selection on the CD wasn't quite what I was familiar with in his playing. However, a wonderful performance of Andre Jolivet's "Asceses pour clarinette". How often do I hear clarinet players struggle with multiphonics and just contemporary works in general. I would recommend this CD.

This album gives a good look at the "Classic" 20th Cent. Music for Unaccompanied Clarinet. The music is written to follow certain accepted forms or to upset them (sometimes), and it is good at showing the Virtuosity of the performer. Paul Meyer is technically excellent and gives a good performance. Despite all this, somehow the album as a whole did not really inspire me.

As Ignatius Gennusa use to tell me, "anyone can blow into a clarinet and push buttons; very few people these days seem to care about a beautiful tone such as Ralph McLane's, however".

And I say Mr Gennusa would find this clarinetist's sound rather painful; I unquestionably do. And, thus, herein the tone quality cries out as the major dissapointment with this disc.