Klarinet Archive - Posting 000093.txt from 1994/07

From: Kirby Fong <u745%sas.nersc.gov@-----.BITNET>
Subj: Brahms and Prokofiev "Clarinet Concertos"
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 1994 12:54:55 -0400

The recent discussion about the Brahms "clarinet concerto" prompts me to
write that there is a compact disc recording available of it. The company is
Cala Records Ltd at 17 Shakespeare Gardens in London, England N2 9LJ. The
notes give their phone number as 081-883 7306. In the United States, they
are Cala Records, Inc. 380 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York l0017 with
sales and marketing out of 409 Moe Road, Clifton Park, New York 12065,
(800) 879-2252. The disc is number CACD 1006. The clarinetist is James
Campbell. Geoffrey Simon conducts the London Symphony Orchestra. The
orchestration of Op. 102, No. 1 was done by Luciano Berio in 1986. He added
fourteen measures of introduction to the first movement and five measures to
the second movement.
Another "clarinet concerto" you might be interested in while shopping for
discs is by Sergei Prokofiev. The record notes say:
The Sonata for Flute and Piano, from 1943, is perhaps the most
popular of Prokofiev's chamber works; it has been re-instrumented a
number of times. Prokofiev himself transcribed it as the Violin
Sonata No. 2; Zino Francescatti then made a version for violin and
orchestra, and Christopher Palmer one for flute and orchestra. The
present adaptation, for clarinet and chamber orchestra, is by Kent
Kennan; a few of the solo passages are transferred to other
instruments, allowing the clarinettist room to breathe. The
immediate appeal of this music derives from the poise and ease of its
melodic writing, and from the neo-classical clarity of its four-
movement structure. But as always there are currents below; D Major,
the sunny central key of the work, is more often wistfully glimpsed
than firmly established.
The clarinetist is John Bruce Yeh accompanied by The Chicago Chamber Orchestra
conducted by Dieter Kober. The disc is by Centaur Records, Inc. and is
numbered CRC 2154. Since John Bruce Yeh teaches at DePaul, those of you
attending ClarinetFest this week can ask him more about the "concerto."

Kirby Fong fong@-----.gov