 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2008-05-05 18:27
The Pittsburgh Symphony commissioned a new clarinet concerto from composer Alan Fletcher, former head of Carnegie Mellon Univ. Music dept.
The premier is this weekend. I plan to attend Sunday's performance.
Michael Rusinek will be the soloist.
Here is the blurb about the concerto .... It was requested to be "the clarinet concerto that Samuel Barber never wrote."
http://www.pittsburghsymphony.org/pghsymph.nsf/0/93589DFAF0931BFD852574320052FFA9
Anyone here familiar with Fletcher compositions?? Chime in.
edit...I forgot to mention, Manfred Honeck, the incoming new Music Director of the PSO will be on the podium. He takes over next year.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
Post Edited (2008-05-05 18:53)
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2008-05-05 20:51
Allan:
Is this going to be broadcast anywhere?
-S
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Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2008-05-05 21:48
WQED FM (available with stream http://www.wqed.org/fm/listen.php)
LIVE (they consider Honeck's appearance a big event) this Friday night:
Friday, May 9 at 8pm
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, live from Heinz Hall
Hosted by Jim Cunningham
Manfred Honeck conducts the overture to Verdi's La forza del Destino; Ein Heldenleben, by Richard Strauss; and, with soloist Michael Rusinek, Alan Fletcher's Clarinet Concerto, a world-premiere PSO commission
FYI I guess Tommy Thompson will do the honors for the nice clar. solo in the Verdi. Now, if you like a great horn section, stay tuned for Ein Heldenleben.
The PSO horn section rocks.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2008-05-10 00:12
I am listening to this now. The concerto is coming in just a few minutes...
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Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2008-05-10 01:56
A Japanese recording firm is making a CD...they have a deal with Manfred Honeck.
It will certainly be rebroadcast next year as a standard subscription broadcast on the same station and is avail. in streaming audio from their site, as it was this evening.
After listening tonight, my initial impression is that the second mvt is very good, lyrical, and personal to Rusinek (theme of O Canada played by bassoon while clar. does America the Beautiful....well, disquised of course....Rusinek comes from Toronto, while the Bassoonist (Nancy Goeres) is his close friend and comes from USA).
The first mvt spends a lot of time in the altissimo. The last mvt is nice, more lyrical than the first mvt, but seemed to end abruptly. Whether it will enter the mainstream remains to be seen. The second mvt could stand alone, however.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: fantasmacantos
Date: 2008-05-10 15:41
Isn't Nancy Goeres the Rusinek's wife? They came to Mexico three years ago and I had the idea they were married.
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2008-05-10 17:48
The piece was alright, I just couldn't make a lot of sense out of the first movement especially. The run to the end was maybe surprising but also very unclimatic. Not sure if it was a question mark, an exclamation mark a comma?
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Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2008-05-11 21:56
OK, I just got back from the LIVE Sunday concert.
One thing noticeable is that the sound on the web broadcast and FM was very harsh when compared with the live setting....I did note that the usual broadcast mics seemed to be pulled into a different configuration, perhaps to accomodate the mics set up by Exton techs who are making a surroundsound CD....these folks had mics all over the place.
The concerto sounds better on second hearing, with the blending of the clarinet and the orchestra being much more effective. The high clarion notes
fit into the stream of the accompaniment very nicely. The first mvt. does actually have a nice melody. The second mvt. is to die for. With the orchestra spread out, the themes echoed by trombone, trumpet, etc. were subtle and pleasing. The third mvt. featured ascending scales by the soloist, sometimes hushed, and interweaved with the orchestra. The whole was altogether pleasing. Mr. Rusinek's skills and tonal quality are, of course, of the highest order.
Manfred Honeck ended the program with one of finest Ein Heldenlebens ever.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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