Belle époque
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Première Rhapsodie (1910/12)
Manfred Trojahn (b.1949)
Rhapsodie pour clarinette et orchestra (2002)
Gabriel Pierné (1863-1937)
Canzonetta Op.19 (1889, arr. Jelle Tassyns)
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)
Clarinet Sonata No.1 in F minor Op.120 (1894, arr. Luciano Berio)
Charles-Marie Widor (1844–1937)
Introduction et Rondo Op.72 (1898, arr. Jelle Tassyns)
Annelien Van Wauwe (clarinet), Orchestre National de Lille/Alexandre Bloch
rec. 2018, Auditorium de Le Nouveau Siècle, Lille, France
Pentatone PTC5187237 [60]
This is a disc of many virtues. Foremost of them is the ravishingly beautiful playing of clarinettist Annelien Van Wauwe. She is accompanied with equally elegant and sensitive work by the Orchestre National de Lille under Alexandre Bloch, all aided by Pentatone’s detailed and transparent recording. Quite why the collection has been titled “Belle époque” I do not know. That phrase is associated with the flowering of French Art and Culture between the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the outbreak of World War I. Whilst it can be associated with similar movements in other countries, I would suggest that for most people the association with France is all but indelible. How the two main/major works on this disc; the Brahms Clarinet Sonata No.1 in Luciano Berio’s orchestration or Manfred Trojahn (born 1949 in Cremlingen Germany) fit that definition I do not know. And sadly Pentatone’s all but useless liner booklet sheds no light either by simply including a slightly gushing note from the soloist about how pleased she is to have made this disc.
But putting those frustrations aside, this is a very attractive recital. It opens with a classic of this repertoire; Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie – surely a work played by every aspiring clarinettist on the planet. From the very opening bars the sheer elegance, poise and limpid beauty of Van Wauwe’s playing is evident but also the orchestra captures the elusive magic of this gently ecstatic score. The catalogue features many fine performances by famous players but I do not think I have heard one that betters this one – a perfect jewel of an interpretation. Next to it is the world première recording of another Rhapsodie – this one by the aforementioned Manfred Trojahn. Apart for the movement titles and its composition date of 2002 I have no information at all. The liner provides nothing and the internet throws little extra light. Wikipedia (he does not appear to have his own website) mentions some studies with Ligetti and his main publishers – Bärenreiter and Boosey & Hawkes offer the barest detail biographical or musical. The former includes the following; “Trojahn’s aesthetic and compositional technique hearkens back to the musical past and to several exemplary composers, whether the modernist music of the ‘fin de siècle’ or such figures as Benjamin Britten and Hans Werner Henze.”
His Rhapsodie recorded here is in three movements running for a total time of around 18 minutes. They have been given French titles – perhaps as a homage to works such as the preceding Debussy? – Rêverie, Intermède avec valse à musette and Caprice. Certainly the opening movement shares the aesthetic of the earlier work albeit refracted through a post-modern lens. Van Wauwe’s playing is again a wonder with her negotiating the angular and wide-lying solo line with seamless ease. Likewise the sophistication of the Pentatone engineering – of demonstration quality in an attractively understated way – allows the detail and complexity of the orchestral writing to emerge even at the quietest dynamics and most pointillist textures. The central Intermède features a languorous melody with an intriguing wrong-note music accompaniment of the slow waltz rhythm before the Caprice offers – briefly – the first extended passage of dynamic music in the work – again handled with insouciant ease by Van Wauwe.
The Belgium composer Jelle Tassyns (about whom the liner and the internet are even less forthcoming than Trojahn) has produced a pair of orchestral arrangements for the disc and very effective and likeable they are too. Gabriel Pierné’s Canzonetta Op.19 is an absolute charmer and no surprise by now to find that Van Wauwe plays this salon-esque piece with affection and stylish rubato. IMSLP indicates an 1889 publication but the Pentatone liner suggests 1907. Also, IMSLP includes an orchestral version from the same date as the piano and clarinet original so quite why Tassyns needed to produce his own – tasteful – new version I do not know. The recital is completed with Widor’s Introduction et Rondo Op.72. This again was originally for clarinet and piano but is more obviously a display piece which I am guessing is relatively well known in the clarinet playing fraternity. Again this can be viewed IMSLP which intriguingly suggests that Widor also orchestrated the work – there is a link to a manuscript score in the French National Library (BNP). The dedication on the piano score is to “son ami M.C.Rose” who appears to be according to Wikipedia; “Chrysogone Cyrille Rose (born on 13 February 1830 in Lestrem, Pas-de-Calais and died on 1902 in Meaux) was an acclaimed French clarinettist, and served as principal clarinet at the Paris Opera. He was a teacher and composer of pedagogical material for the clarinet, much of which is still widely in use today.” Given that the bulk of the disc is notable for music of lyrical beauty and long breathed lines, it makes for an attractive and enjoyable finale where Van Wauwe can show off her considerable virtuosic gifts as well. As with the Pierné arrangement, Tassyns’ orchestration is apt and effective – emulating the style of the original rather than trying to give it any kind of modernist spin.
Exactly the same can be said of Luciano Berio’s respectful orchestration of Brahms’ Clarinet Sonata No.1 in F minor Op.120. I last reviewed this work as a part of a disc of “Berio Realisations” on Chandos twelve years ago here. My feeling about the work has not changed that much but I do feel that Van Wauwe and the Orchestre National de Lille find an attractive lightness in the score and its execution that is very effective even when Berio’s scoring is – understandably – weightier and thicker than other works on this disc. But I do find myself feeling that despite the beauty and excellence of this performance I would rather have heard these performers give us more genuine French repertoire to complement the rest of the programme. Hard not to hear this Brahms/Berio as an outlier.
Certainly the playing and musicianship of Annelien Van Wauwe is of the very highest order and she is significantly aided by the excellence of the orchestral accompaniment and the sophistication of the recording. A little more imagination in the programming and a liner note of even moderate quality would have made this a recommended disc. Definitely an artist I will seek out in the future.
Nick Barnard
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