1 2 3 11 (Orchid Classics) Review

    

1 2 3 11

Length: 67 minutes
Label: Orchid Classics
Clarinet: Barnaby Robson 

Piano 1: Simon Chamberlain 

Piano 2: Fiona Harris 

Viola: Rebecca Chambers

    New album dropped by Orchid Classics: 1 2 3 11. Interesting name, didn't explain it in the booklet in the album, but it certainly sets the mood. The album contain quite a few very wonderful twentieth century clarinet works, or works containing clarinet. In addition to the great selection of pieces, the recordings are quite fabulous on top of that.

    The album start with Steve Reich (b.1936) New York Counterpoint, a great minimalist work for solo clarinet and eight pre-recorded clarinet and two bass clarinet. The playing by Barnaby Robson was quite wonderful, with a clarity that is necessary in a Reich piece. He recorded all of the pre-recorded clarinet parts himself and the recording was put together by an award winning sound designer. Although I couldn't tell how much better the award winning sound designer Martin Cantwell did than other existing recordings of the piece, but it is still a very good recording of it.

    And then we have Herbert Howells (1892-1983) Clarinet Sonata, which is a great early twentieth century clarinet sonata. There isn't many other recordings to compare with this one, since Howells in general is quite underrated and underplayed, but this recording was quite enjoyable, and all the phrasings and musical decisions felt natural and how they should be, so this recording is quite nice as well.

    And then we have a film transcription: George Fenton (b.1949) arr. Barnaby Robson, the Snow Leopard. It is the sound of your average Nature's documentary music except this is arranged for a clarinet, viola and piano, which if I be completely honest felt more enjoyable than your average commercial orchestral versions of these "incidental music." It feels more intimate, which according to the booklet this music accompanies "a beautiful Himalayan snow leopard," and the music, and especially this arrangement, certainly lives up to that imagery.

    Next up we have a world premiere. Graham Fitkin (b.1963) Cusp, a very nice solo clarinet piece. The booklet have a segment of the composer himself explaining what he wanted in the music, which certainly showed in this piece. It is nothing revolutionary, but it is quite nice to listen to, and might be a great addition to the solo clarinet repertoire. I urge any clarinetist out there reading this to give it a try, it is quite nice.

    And than we have Roderick Williams (b.1965) Red Herring Blues. It is less of a blues and more of a battle between the clarinetist and the pianist. 

    Then, Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) Sonata for Two Clarinets. This recording is very interesting in that Barnaby Robson played and recorded both parts himself. he explained in the booklet that he had done similar things prior on film and movie recordings where he needed to utilize a click track. However, he decided to not use a click track on this recording. 

    Now personally because of how the sonics of the clarinet works I really cannot tell if he was really on or off beat at any parts, but if I couldn't figure it out it means that whatever he did worked, and this recording of the sonata for two clarinets is a very solid recording of this very interesting piece that is very enjoy to listen to.

    Lastly we have Claude Debussy (1862-1918) Première Rhapsodie. This piece is a stable of the clarinet repertoire, so not much more that is needed to be said for this piece. It is very Debussy, and it is very fun. It is a fine recording, pretty enjoyable, nice on the ear and all the phrasings felt natural. He claimed that a lot of clarinetists ignore Debussy's tempo instructions and he set out to follow those more strictly, which ends up sounding slightly mechanical at certain spot, however this was most definitely still a very solid recording, one of the better ones I heard.