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Re: Julian Bliss Performs the Wayne Shorter Concerto,

Author: Liquorice
Date: 2017-11-12 03:25

I went to the second performance of the piece (September 19). I was very excited because I'm a fan of Wayne Shorter (the recordings that I know, which are only a fraction of his output). The idea that a jazz legend like him wrote a clarinet concerto made it an unmissable event for me, especially in the hands of a player like Julian Bliss. I have to say that I was quite disappointed in the composition...

The clarinet writing is predominantly in the high register of the instrument and the solo part almost always needs to be played at loud dynamics otherwise it will be covered by the orchestra. Sometimes it really was covered by the orchestra, even though I think that Julian Bliss and the Argovia Philharmonic did an excellent job of the performance- the orchestration is simply too thick most of the time. (Note that what you hear on the recording from the link represents the microphone set-up. We heard even less clarinet in the live balance). I felt that a very limited amount of colours and possibilities of the clarinet were explored in the writing and couldn't help thinking that much of it seemed like writing for soprano sax: loud, angular and high-register. The clarinet part is all written out with no room for improvisation. Besides the opening (horn group, strings and piano) I didn't find much of interest in the orchestration. The form seemed to just ramble on much of the time without any clear development or variation.

I'll repeat that I think Julian Bliss did an excellent job of playing the solo part. But I expected a lot from Wayne Shorter and I'm very sad to say that, for me those expectations weren't met.

Post Edited (2017-11-12 03:28)

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