 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: k_boi
Date: 2006-04-15 02:02
Hi everyone.
I really enjoy both of the Brahms clarinet sonatas and have performed several of the movements at my school. However I don't have a recording of them. I'm here to ask if anybody has any suggestions as to what the best recording of the sonatas is, as I've heard varying opinions. Mostly I'm looking to listen to a player with excellent tone quality. I'm not as picky about powerful dynamics and stuff, as long as the player does it all technically right.
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Author: Tyler
Date: 2006-04-15 02:11
David Shifrin does a great job of (at least) one of the Sonatas on one of his CD's, although he uses a fair amount of vibrato. I find his tone to be deep and free, but sometimes the clarion seems slightly unfocused to me as compared to many other players...surely a matter of artistic taste and not of proficiency as Shifrin is a famous soloist and teacher at Yale University.
I also have a recording of Stanley Drucker doing the same Sonata (I forget which one) and it is on a Music Minus One CD, which also has Weber Concerto 1 Mvt 3 on it. Drucker's tone is very focused and even throughout the registers.
-Tyler
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Author: bufclar
Date: 2006-04-15 02:13
I think the Harold Wright recording with Peter Serkin on Boston records is a nice one. There are many fine recordings of the op 120's.
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Author: DHsu87
Date: 2006-04-15 02:22
I third the David Shifrin recommendation. I absolutely love his tone.
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Author: J. J.
Date: 2006-04-15 02:29
The Martin Frost recording of the Brahms Sonatas and the Trio is excellent. His tone quality and consistency is excellent, as is his phrasing. The recording quality of the CD is also superb.
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Author: cigleris
Date: 2006-04-15 12:07
you should also check out the recording by Gervasse De Peyer and Daniel Baremboim, the playing is amazing even if you don't care for the 'English' sound. The ensemble and musicianship is so natural.
Peter Cigleris
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2006-04-15 14:07
Stoltzman's recordings serve to demonstrate the difficulty of the pieces and the fine-grained interplay between the two soloists.
I have not heard others.
Bob Phillips
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2006-04-15 14:14
Harold Wright's second recording, with Peter Serkin, is one of my favorites. Some prefer his first recording, with Harris Goldsmith, but I don't like it as much.
Thea King has a particular affinity for Brahms. Her recording of the sonatas is very good.
Kalman Berkes is one of the great players, hidden away in eastern Europe. His recording on Naxos is well worth having.
Bela Kovacs, another eastern European, may be the best player in the world. His Brahms Sonatas on a Hungaroton CD HCD 12796 may be out of print but is worth seeking out.
My favorite, long out of print, is Yona Ettlinger on an Erato (French RCA) LP. (There's a current CD, Doremi DHR-7830, which is not as good.)
There's much to learn from Kell's recording with Rosen, now available in the DGG Kell boxed set. I like his LP with Horszowski even better, but it's on a very rare early London LP.
Finally, there's an amazing version by Mitchell Lurie on a Crystal LP, with coruscating energy that sweeps everything before it. The acoustics are dreadful, which is probably why it hasn't been reissued, but it's a unique performance.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Markael
Date: 2006-04-15 15:37
I have the Shirfin recording and I really like his tone.
One thing I have noticed is that he tends to add a hint of tenuto to the first note of a group of triplets or eighth notes.
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Author: Kevin
Date: 2006-04-15 16:39
Even if you don't particularly enjoy Stoltzman's style, in his '82 RCA recording with Richard Goode there's no arguing over the fact that he is over-the-top musically. And yes, this is my favorite recording - I've yet to find a better mastery of the nuances of phrasing and shaping than when I listen to the 2nd movement of the F minor sonata, especially when turned up to a good loud volume with decent head/ear phones so the sound is "close".
The Shifrin is a fine disc as well. Having seen Shifrin perform on multiple occassions, including a Brahms recital, I can attest to the man being a wonderful musician with a great stage presence, not to mention one of the best legato phrasers around.
Kevin
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Author: Cuisleannach
Date: 2006-04-16 05:05
I feel the stoltzman recording is out of character for the Brahms. It's just not that sound and the style that I would expect to hear coming out of 19th century Germany. You must remember that it was the sound of mulfeld that brought Brahms out of retirement to write the sonatas, and I find it hard to believe (modern assertions to the contrary) that anyone playing a classic german set-up would use a bright tone with an indiscriminate vibrato (or any vibrato at all, for that matter)
Isn't interesting that two of the most brilliant composers wrote clarinet works due to close friends at the ends of their compsoing lives that became famous throughout classical music for their brilliance and subtlety? I once had a violist friend ask mr why I was stealing viola repetoire when he heard me play the Brahms.....I nearly fell over!
-Randy
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Author: mnorswor
Date: 2006-04-16 05:50
Randy,
If you'll take a look at the articles written around the time of Muhlfeld, you'll find that he played with quite a bit of vibrato. The Cambridge companion to the Brahms' Quintet has interesting references to this and includes places to find the articles.
That said, I don't think Stoltzman or anyone else for that matter, really has any idea what Brahms himself heard. Nor do I think that Stoltzman or anyone is interested in sounding anything other than what he/she sounds like.
--Michael
http://www.michaelnorsworthy.com
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2006-04-16 10:58
Another fine recording: Johnathan Cohler, with pianist Judith Gordon on the F minor and Randall Hodgkinson on the E-flat. These are my personal favorites of the Brahms sonatas. My CD is the BBC Music edition (Vol. III, No. 2), with both Brahms sonatas along with Vaughan Williams's Six Studies and Milhaud's Duo Concertant. It's a re-issue, BBC MM126, given away with "BBC Music Magazine." The Brahms sonatas were orginally released on "Cohler on Clarinet," Ongaku Records 024-101 and "More Cohler on Clarinet," Ongaku Records 024-102. The Milhaud and Williams came from "Moonflowers, Baby!" Crystal Records CD 733.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2006-04-16 13:50
It is amazing, too, that great composers wrote their best clarinet music late in life (before they died, as GBK pointed out).
Great collaborations with clarinetists drove some fine composition. BUT, how about Crusell: a clarinetist himself ---sort of like Chopin and his piano.
Bob Phillips
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Author: Phurster
Date: 2006-04-17 09:22
Karl Leister’s recording on the Orfeo label displays an absolutely beautiful tone. The legato is perfect and the phrasing is suble. The range of dynamics is slightly compressed in comparison to other recordings. Depending on my mood this is my favourite recording of the Brahms Sonatas. The Gervaise De Payer recording is a bit idiosyncratic for me.
Chris Ondaatje.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2006-04-17 15:53
The Brahms Sonatas are really duo sonatas with the piano. There's a good article on the Australian Clarinet & Saxophone Society titled "The Brahms Sonatas From A Pianist's Perspective" http://www.clarinet-saxophone.asn.au/articles/leigh.htm
For an amazing, horrifying version in which the pianist sometimes overwhelms the clarinetist, listen to the recording by George Pieterson and Hephzibah Menuhin. Pieterson was the principal player in the Concertgebouw, and he could expand his tone to enormous volume. Menuhin was a major piano soloist, and they apparently agreed to play as true equals. Unfortunately, the recordings were miced MUCH too close. It practically knocks you over. The recording was universally panned when it came out, but I liked it musically. Nevertheless, it was almost impossible to listen to, for an odd reason. Pieterson's sound didn't just get louder or softer. Rather, it expanded like a balloon, which was disconcerting to listen to.
Three others I didn't mention in my first posting. The early Leister recording is as good as any. In the later ones (particularly those recorded in Japan), he's sleepwalking.
Leopold Wlach made a wonderful version in the 1950s, but the Westminster LP is very rare and VERY expensive. It was reissued on Japanese CDs, but these appear to be out of print.
Finally, Isaac Stern recorded maybe the best of all versions of Sonata # 1, on violin.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Cuisleannach
Date: 2006-04-17 16:18
I have often heard of the Brahms sonatas described as a "duet between the clarinet and the piano". I don't look for an accompanist for these works, but rather an artist.
-Randy
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