United Kingdom Clandeboye Competition 2024 [2] – Brahms, Poulenc: Barry Douglas (piano), Michel Lithiec (clarinet), Michael d’Arcy (violin), Lidia Jewloszewicz-Clarke (violin), Ed Creedon (viola), David Kenny (viola), Arto Noras (cello), Killian White (cello). Clandeboye Property, Northern Eire, 21.8.2024. (RB)
Brahms – Viola Sonata in F Minor, Op.120 No.1; String Sextet No.1 in B-flat Main, Op.18
Poulenc – Clarinet Sonata
This live performance from the Clandeboye Competition featured late sonatas by Brahms and Poulenc in addition to the primary of Brahms’s string sextets.
The live performance opened with a efficiency of Brahms’s Viola Sonata in F Minor. This piece began life as the primary of two clarinet sonatas which Brahms wrote for Richard Mühlfeld, the principal clarinettist of the court docket orchestra at Meiningen. Brahms subsequently tailored them as sonatas for violin and piano and viola and piano, typically rewriting passages to make them extra appropriate for the respective devices.
Barry Douglas and Ed Creedon joined forces for this efficiency. The opening Allegro appassionato was the least profitable of the 4 actions. Douglas’s enjoying was barely extra dramatic and extrovert than that of Creedon and the motion didn’t appear to return collectively in addition to it’d. The second motion was a lot better with Creedon reworking Brahms’s beautiful melody into a fascinating, rhapsodic nocturne to which Douglas offered a glistening backdrop on the piano. The third motion was very good with each gamers bringing a cultivated sensibility to the music and capturing completely the spirit of the Austrian Ländler. Douglas and Creedon appeared to relish the boisterous high quality of the finale. They conjured up imaginative sonorities within the varied transformations of the theme earlier than driving the piece to its sensible conclusion.
Poulenc’s Clarinet Sonata dates from 1962 and it’s devoted to Arthur Honegger, a fellow member of Les Six. It was commissioned by the American jazz clarinettist, Benny Goodman, who premiered the piece accompanied by the composer. It’s the second of three woodwind sonatas which Poulenc wrote within the final years of his life.
Douglas was joined by Michel Lithiec for this efficiency. Lithiec’s efficiency was uneven and there was some untidy enjoying within the opening part of the sonata. Each gamers did a great job in conjuring up temper and environment within the ensuing sections. The second motion Romanza is dominated by a melancholy chanson. Each gamers carried out fantastically, and I cherished the intoxicating, wistful high quality they dropped at the music and the pure ebb and stream of the motion. The finale was spiky and sensible with each gamers clearly having fun with the riotous abandon in Poulenc’s rating.
Brahms’s String Sextet in B-flat was written in 1860 when the composer was 27. Despite being a Romantic composer, Brahms was closely influenced by the Classical custom. He revered the type of the string quartet and he printed three works utilizing this mix of devices. Nevertheless, he was additionally interested in the thought of utilizing a bigger string ensemble, such because the one used on this piece, as this allowed him to discover richer and extra luxuriant textures.
There was a lot to admire on this efficiency from Michael d’Arcy, Lidia Jewloszewicz-Clarke, Ed Creedon, David Kenny, Arto Noras and Killian White. The six gamers labored properly collectively to realize a different vary of textures and sonorities within the opening motion. The melodies emerged in an natural method from the elastic net of shifting textures and there was an admirable sense of construction and readability throughout this lengthy motion. The second motion is a set of variations, and the opening theme has featured in a number of movies and TV reveals. The six gamers navigated their method properly by means of the variations bringing out the distinctive character of every one whereas sustaining an in depth eye on tempo and motivic relationships. The opening part of the Scherzo had a straightforward tread whereas there was extra nation dance enthusiasm within the trio. The very excessive degree of enjoying continued within the finale the place the sextet appeared to seek out the appropriate stability between sustaining momentum and observing Brahms’s grazioso instruction. I significantly preferred their dealing with of the minor key part the place there was charged and vibrant enjoying.
General, there was a number of very effective enjoying all through the night; so, congratulations to all of the gamers.
Robert Beattie
