Customer Reviews

Bax: Clarinet Sonata; Bliss: Clarinet Quintet; Vaughan Williams: 6 Studies in English Folksong

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I was surprised to find no reviews of this very fine collection of clarinet works. I've owned the LP version for many years, and have come back to this music again and again. Janet Hilton's clarinet playing is superb. The Vaughn Williams pieces are real gems. This is very soothing music for the soul. It's a good album to listen to after a long and tiring day at the office.

Chandos made a wise move to include Bax in a CD of clarinet music. Since it's tough to make Bax's music visible, a label like Chandos must be a little more creative. Bax's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano is clearly the gem of this collection. The scherzo is purely stimulating from beginning to end, and you can leave it to Bax to draw a crowd with undiscovered chamber music. I will be searching for a clarinetist with whom to perform this piece!

But I'm partial to underdog Bax, so I'll also tip my hat to the Studies in English Folk Song. Of course, Vaughan Williams was a leader in preserving genuine English folk song dynamics, and he mostly did so in this work. Interesting- some of these studies sound better with wind instrument than strings (VW's original intentions). IV: She Borrowed Some of Her Mother's Gold is perfect with a clarinet, as the clarinet brings out the melodic intervals in this and a few others much better than strings. But certain ones (like I: Lovely on the water) simply requires a violin, as the clarinet is WAY too low for such a folk song.