Pastoral - British Clarinet Music
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Ralph Vaughan Williams, John (Nicholson) Ireland, Arthur (Drummond) Bliss, Charles Villiers Stanford, Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax
Label: ASV
Magazine Review Date: 7/1994
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 74
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDDCA891
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Fantasy-Sonata |
John (Nicholson) Ireland, Composer
Emma Johnson, Clarinet John (Nicholson) Ireland, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| (6) Studies in English folk song |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Emma Johnson, Clarinet Malcolm Martineau, Piano Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
| Sonata for Clarinet and Piano |
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer Emma Johnson, Clarinet Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| (3) Vocalises |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Emma Johnson, Clarinet Judith Howarth, Soprano Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
| Pastoral |
Arthur (Drummond) Bliss, Composer
Arthur (Drummond) Bliss, Composer Emma Johnson, Clarinet Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| (2) Nursery Rhymes |
Arthur (Drummond) Bliss, Composer
Arthur (Drummond) Bliss, Composer Emma Johnson, Clarinet Judith Howarth, Soprano |
Composer or Director: Ralph Vaughan Williams, John (Nicholson) Ireland, Arthur (Drummond) Bliss, Charles Villiers Stanford, Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax
Label: ASV
Magazine Review Date: 7/1994
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: ZCDCA891
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Fantasy-Sonata |
John (Nicholson) Ireland, Composer
Emma Johnson, Clarinet John (Nicholson) Ireland, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| (6) Studies in English folk song |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Emma Johnson, Clarinet Malcolm Martineau, Piano Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
| Sonata for Clarinet and Piano |
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer Emma Johnson, Clarinet Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| (3) Vocalises |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Emma Johnson, Clarinet Judith Howarth, Soprano Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
| Pastoral |
Arthur (Drummond) Bliss, Composer
Arthur (Drummond) Bliss, Composer Emma Johnson, Clarinet Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| (2) Nursery Rhymes |
Arthur (Drummond) Bliss, Composer
Arthur (Drummond) Bliss, Composer Emma Johnson, Clarinet Judith Howarth, Soprano |
Author: Andrew Achenbach
A lovely programme, radiantly performed and most judiciously chosen. Things get under way in fine style with John Ireland's marvellous Fantasy-Sonata of 1943: beautifully written, passionately argued and encompassing (for Ireland) a wide range of moods; it's certainly a work that shows this underrated figure at the height of his powers. The Clarinet Sonata by Ireland's teacher, Stanford, also strikes me as one of that composer's most successful works: formally elegant and most idiomatically laid out, it boasts a central Adagio (entitled ''Caoine''—an Irish lament) of considerable eloquence; in this movement especially, Johnson scores over Thea King on Hyperion in the expressive fantasy and hushed concentration of her response.
Competition is fiercer in both Vaughan Williams's Six Studies and the Bax Sonata, and there's not a great deal to choose between these new accounts and those of Janet Hilton. Needless to report, Johnson is a gloriously mellifluous exponent, and in the first movement of the Bax she manages to convey a slumbering mystery that is somehow almost orchestral in its imaginative scope (written in 1934, there are fleeting reminders here of the 'Northern' Bax one encounters in the epic Fifth and Sixth Symphonies); however, it is Hilton who perhaps brings the wilder Celtic abandon to the beginning of Bax's finale. Judith Howarth joins Johnson for the haunting Three Vocalises (one of Vaughan Williams's very last utterances from his final year) and makes an equally agile showing in Bliss's delightful Two Nursery Rhymes (settings of Frances Cornford dating from 1921). That just leaves the latter's touching Pastoral, written in 1916 when the 25-year-old composer was on military service in France.
A real pleasure, then, from start to finish. Johnson responds to all this material with unfailingly insightful prowess and endearing character. Let me just add that Malcolm Martineau proffers superb accompaniments throughout, and Andrew Keener's warm-toned production is immaculate.'
Competition is fiercer in both Vaughan Williams's Six Studies and the Bax Sonata, and there's not a great deal to choose between these new accounts and those of Janet Hilton. Needless to report, Johnson is a gloriously mellifluous exponent, and in the first movement of the Bax she manages to convey a slumbering mystery that is somehow almost orchestral in its imaginative scope (written in 1934, there are fleeting reminders here of the 'Northern' Bax one encounters in the epic Fifth and Sixth Symphonies); however, it is Hilton who perhaps brings the wilder Celtic abandon to the beginning of Bax's finale. Judith Howarth joins Johnson for the haunting Three Vocalises (one of Vaughan Williams's very last utterances from his final year) and makes an equally agile showing in Bliss's delightful Two Nursery Rhymes (settings of Frances Cornford dating from 1921). That just leaves the latter's touching Pastoral, written in 1916 when the 25-year-old composer was on military service in France.
A real pleasure, then, from start to finish. Johnson responds to all this material with unfailingly insightful prowess and endearing character. Let me just add that Malcolm Martineau proffers superb accompaniments throughout, and Andrew Keener's warm-toned production is immaculate.'
Pastoral - British Clarinet Music
Pastoral - British Clarinet Music
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