Midday Masterpieces (11/1/17)

Sam Boutris, clarinet; Tomer Gewirtzman, piano

Mozart: Una Aura Amorosa from Cosi fan tutte, K588
Ravel: Piece en forme de Habanera
Chopin: Nocturne in C minor No. 21 (op. posth)
Verdi/Bassi: Concert Fantasia on Rigoletto
Brahms: Sonata in E-flat, Op 120

This concert at WQXR’s Greene Space had an interesting concept that didn’t quite work for me. As explained from the stage, Mr. Boutris wanted to explore the range of the clarinet’s expressiveness by using pieces composed for other instruments, i.e., the Mozart was a tenor aria, the Ravel was written for violin, the Chopin for piano, and the Verdi/Bassi for orchestra. They explored the clarinet’s range but I don’t think the payoff was worth it. That said, I really did enjoy the concert.

The aria was mostly slow and pleasant with a bit of filigree from time to time in the clarinet finger work. I liked the Habanera a lot. Along with the basic tune and rhythm, there were lots of trills and virtuosic phrases making full use of the clarinet’s range.

The Chopin, composed as a single movement, was essentially simple and calm. The themes sounded almost like Hebrew themes to me but that may have been because of the mournful quality of the clarinet’s sound here, hinting at subdued klezmer music.

One of the most interesting things about the Verdi/Bassi was its back story. Apparently when composers were going to first have their works heard in various cities, they would send out a sort of a sampler—in this case, some of the themes from Rigoletto that would expose concertgoers to the music ahead of time, a few weeks before the actual performance of the opera. This was one of those, written for orchestra and then transcribed for clarinet/piano. I confess that I know very few of the tunes themselves, though I did recognize the paraphrases of the Rigoletto quartet. Once again, I didn’t see this piece really expanding the expressiveness and range of the clarinet, but that may just be me.

There was a dramatic piano opening followed by a jaunty tune in the piano with the clarinet providing a rippling accompaniment. Next there was a Rigoletto theme with coloratura clarinet playing and a section of a tune leading to a clarinet cadenza. After the famed quartet tune, including flights of fancy fingering for both clarinet and piano, there was a lilting waltz to play the piece out.

The clarinet sonata was a rich mixture of calm and relatively gentle phrases, progressing in volume and tempo into more dramatic writing, followed by a song-like tune, with several returns to the opening theme. Quite a nice combination throughout of running notes over and over for both piano and clarinet, as well as slower and more melancholy sections, finishing with varied tempos that included both drama and speed. It was enjoyable but not as much of a wow factor as I was expecting. In fact, that’s a pretty good summation of the entire concert.

Both performers played quite well. I enjoyed myself. I wanted to enjoy it more. But I learned a lot and heard some good music and good playing along the way, so it’s still a win-win for me.

ConcertMeister