I had never heard of the French pianist Emma Boynet (1891-1974) before this remarkable release came to my attention and hooked me for life. Boynet studied with the legendary Isidor…
I think Anna Netrebko is by now review-proof, and possibly criticism proof: even her warm relationship with and support for Vladimir Putin, despite his attitude toward the lesbian and gay…
…clarinet playing. Don Christiensen is something of a clarinet scholar and has made a great study of these pieces. He plays them all with authority and spirit, displaying a wide…
…No matter, clarinet lovers (and players) will be pleased, as will any listeners who enjoy lovely, lyrical, unpretentious orchestral music. Paul Ben-Haim’s 1945 Pastorale (for clarinet, harp, and string orchestra)…
It will be interesting to hear the reaction to this performance, taped live at the Met on January 6, 2007. Anna Netrebko is so close to being deified that having…
Paul Hindemith’s chamber music with clarinet includes some of his finest work in the medium. The 1939 Sonata for Clarinet and Piano finds the composer in a surprisingly relaxed and…
Janácek “specialist” Tomás Netopil claims to be playing the “September 1927 version” of the Glagolitic Mass. Problem is, there’s no such thing, if by that we mean a fully finished…
This disc contains all of Felix Mendelssohn’s chamber music for clarinet, which turns out to be only three pieces: Concert Piece for Clarinet, Basset Horn, and Pianoforte Op. 113; Sonata…
…with few problems, provided the soloist has places to breathe. The main question however is not how the music fits the clarinet technically, but if the music suits the clarinet.…
Rolando Villazón and Anna Netrebko, opera’s “golden couple” (or is it “dream team?”), have just released their first CD of duets. Oddly, in the DVDs in which they’ve co-starred–L’elisir d’amore…