A Grand Duo-The Clarinet and Early Romantics
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Franz (Ignaz) Danzi, Carl Maria von Weber, (Johann) Carl (Gottfried) Loewe, (August Joseph) Norbert Burgmüller, Anton (Paul) Stadler
Label: Clarinet Classics
Magazine Review Date: 4/1998
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 78
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CC0015
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Duo |
(August Joseph) Norbert Burgmüller, Composer
(August Joseph) Norbert Burgmüller, Composer Colin Lawson, Clarinet Neal Peres da Costa, Piano |
| Sonata concertante |
Franz (Ignaz) Danzi, Composer
Colin Lawson, Clarinet Franz (Ignaz) Danzi, Composer Neal Peres da Costa, Piano |
| Caprices, Movement: Caprice 1 |
Anton (Paul) Stadler, Composer
Anton (Paul) Stadler, Composer Neal Peres da Costa, Piano |
| Caprices, Movement: Caprice 2 |
Anton (Paul) Stadler, Composer
Anton (Paul) Stadler, Composer Neal Peres da Costa, Piano |
| Caprices, Movement: Caprice 3 |
Anton (Paul) Stadler, Composer
Anton (Paul) Stadler, Composer Neal Peres da Costa, Piano |
| Schottische Bilder |
(Johann) Carl (Gottfried) Loewe, Composer
(Johann) Carl (Gottfried) Loewe, Composer Colin Lawson, Clarinet Neal Peres da Costa, Piano |
| Grand duo concertant |
Carl Maria von Weber, Composer
Carl Maria von Weber, Composer Colin Lawson, Clarinet Neal Peres da Costa, Piano |
Author: John Warrack
Schumann mourned Norbert Burgmuller’s early death in vivid terms, grieving that, “Fate, instead of decimating the mediocrities, who are encamped around in troops, has taken from us the commanding talent”. Though he does not mention the work specifically, the charming Duo recorded here supports the warmth and enthusiasm he goes on to express in an eloquent essay. There are suggestions of the lyricism of Schubert, of the brilliance and dash of Weber, but there is also an individual voice which holds much promise for a future that Burgmuller was not granted: he died in 1836 at the age of 26, apparently after a stroke (the consequence, as the French lexicographer Fetis puts it darkly, of “des exces qui ruinerent sa sante”).
Colin Lawson and Neal Peres da Costa respond to the work’s melodic charm and its particular harmonic flavour. In Weber’s own Grand duo, they appear to have listened rather too attentively to his remarks calling for flexibility within a general tempo, with faster passages in slow movements and vice versa. The essence of this is that the basic tempo remains, with deviations relating to it: in the opening Allegro con fuoco, they bring the music practically to a halt in places, constituting not so much flexibility as an actual change in tempo. The fuoco is all but extinguished. It is the Andante which comes off best, and in which Lawson’s sweet-sounding clarinet, a copy of a contemporary Grenser, and da Costa’s Collard piano of 1826 sound most delicately blended. Franz Danzi’s typically amiable, well-written Sonata is nicely played, as are the very seldom heard pieces by Loewe, amusing little semi-pastiches of the vogue for Scottish romanticism rather than of anything specifically Scottish.'
Colin Lawson and Neal Peres da Costa respond to the work’s melodic charm and its particular harmonic flavour. In Weber’s own Grand duo, they appear to have listened rather too attentively to his remarks calling for flexibility within a general tempo, with faster passages in slow movements and vice versa. The essence of this is that the basic tempo remains, with deviations relating to it: in the opening Allegro con fuoco, they bring the music practically to a halt in places, constituting not so much flexibility as an actual change in tempo. The fuoco is all but extinguished. It is the Andante which comes off best, and in which Lawson’s sweet-sounding clarinet, a copy of a contemporary Grenser, and da Costa’s Collard piano of 1826 sound most delicately blended. Franz Danzi’s typically amiable, well-written Sonata is nicely played, as are the very seldom heard pieces by Loewe, amusing little semi-pastiches of the vogue for Scottish romanticism rather than of anything specifically Scottish.'
A Grand Duo-The Clarinet and Early Romantics
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