New Concertos for Bass Clarinet
Joseph Phibbs (b. 1974)
Concerto for bass clarinet and orchestra (2025)
Jorgen Dafgard (b. 1964)
Tandem: Concerto for violin and bass clarinet (2022)
Geoffrey Gordon (b. 1968)
Prometheus: Concerto for bass clarinet and orchestra (2018)
Carl Johan Stjernström (bass clarinet)
Malmö Symphony Orchestra (Phibbs, Gordon), Musica Vitae (Dafgård)/Joachim Gustafsson
rec. 2022/25, Malmö Live, Malmö, Sweden
Toccata Next TOCN0037 [81]
Given that this is a disc showcasing the bass clarinet, somewhat perversely, my motivation for reviewing it initially lay with my interest and enjoyment in the work of conductor Joachim Gustafsson and violinist Benjamin Schmid. Credit, then, is due to all three composers and the excellence of bass clarinettist Carl-Johan Stjernström that this unlikely solo instrument emerges so impressively. This Toccata Next disc is titled “Music from Malmö, Volume One” and is designed to showcase the musicians of that fine orchestra. Stjernström is the principal bass clarinet of the orchestra and an interesting thread emerges from these three concertante works. The composers contribute useful liner notes and a recurring theme is them being buttonholed at a performance in Malmö by Stjernström suggesting that now might indeed be the time for them to write something for his instrument. Clearly his passion is persuasive, because the results are the works given here.
First is the most recent – British composer Joseph Phibbs’ Concerto for Bass Clarinet and Orchestra written in 2025. As it is written in four movements, Phibbs himself acknowledges that the work owes more to traditional symphonic structure rather than concerto form and indeed the solo writing is in more of a concertante style; prominent rather than dominant within the carefully managed orchestral textures. These are kept light and transparent allowing Stjernström’s mellifluous playing to emerge with genuine tonal elegance and beauty. This is evident from the opening bars of the Largo (Notturno) – Presto with emerges from a twilight of glowing harp arpeggios and warm, oscillating string chords to a flickering night scene. There are no nightmares in this dreamscape and indeed the emotional temperature of the whole work is quite gentle and good natured. The Presto section involves the full orchestra with spiky brass chords and jittery rhythms but again carefully managed to allow the solo line to be clear and audible at all times. Credit here is due to both composer and engineers who manage the soundscape so effectively. One slight curio – the CD case includes a session photograph for this work which shows the orchestra surrounding the conductor. Nothing in the liner explains or justifies this approach and certainly the final two channel stereo mix is completely standard – this is the usual red-book two channel CD with no surround-sound layer. The second movement Presto (Scherzo-Rondo) is described by the composer as being “imbued with brittle playfulness” which is a very accurate and succinct summary. There is a central slower slightly bluesy passage before the main Rondo reasserts itself. Phibbs describes the following Larghetto as the “Romantic core” of the work – there are some lovely radiant string chords that float over the musing solo line. This is a gently rapturous movement with the undulating strings having a kind of cinematic lushness. Just past the halfway point in this 8:33 movement there is an impassioned but brief orchestra-only climax which is cut off as abruptly as it arrived leaving the soloist to muse gently lulled once again by the floating strings and harp. The effectiveness of this writing is in its restraint. The closing Allegro is the most frenetic as well as the shortest part of the work. Phibbs acknowledges the jazz-influenced style contributing to an entertaining and unbuttoned conclusion to this attractive – and very well performed – work.
Next is Swedish composer Jörgen Dafgård’s Tandem: Concerto for Violin and Bass Clarinet. The orchestral accompaniment is taken over by the Musica Vitae Chamber Orchestra – a fourteen strong string orchestra – of which Benjamin Schmid was Artistic director until 2024. Schmid is one of my favourite violinists, not just because he has a superlative technique but he is one of a handful of great players who is genuinely at ease across a wide range of idioms from straight classical through to contemporary and jazz. He led this orchestra in a group of jazz concerti on the Gramola label that impressed me very much back in late 2023. Dafgård is a new name to me and this concerto grew from a double commission from both the Malmö orchestra and Musica Vitae. The result is a three-movement, quite traditional-sounding, work which follows a fast slow fast structure across its twenty-eight-minute duration. Perhaps because of the strings-only accompaniment but also due to the style of the writing this has the feel of a latter-day concerto grosso. In the opening Con Freschezza (With freshness) the higher lying violin register does rather draw the ear towards that solo instrument with the bass clarinet lines competing for space in the same register as the accompaniment. Once again, the central movement proves to be the heart of the work. Stjernström’s original request was for a single movement of “something very beautiful”. Dafgård continues the neo-baroque style by suggesting that this follows a chaconne-like form with solo violin and bass clarinet intertwining in a gently rhapsodic manner. The tension builds but the climax is measured. Stjernström’s playing is notable for the warmly even tone he produces across the entire range of the instrument and of course in this he is matched by Schmidt’s supremely beautiful lyrical playing. The finale is marked Rustico although with an identical tempo indication – crochet/quarter note = 112 – to the opening movement. Interesting to note that the central Misterioso is marked at exactly half that tempo of 56 for a dotted quarter note. The composer writes that the finale has a “restless unease that lies beneath the surface of the rustic and jesting mood that dominates.” On limited acquaintance, I have to say this does not make as striking an impression as the other two works although the performance here is as skilled and sensitive as could be.
The disc is completed by Geoffrey Gordon’s Prometheus: Concerto for Bass Clarinet and Orchestra. I have reviewed this work before here some eighteen months ago. That performance was a very impressive recording of the live world premiere and in that review, I noted how successfully Gordon – as does Phibbs – creates ‘windows’ in the full orchestral texture to accommodate the tessitura of the bass clarinet. Likewise, Gordon points to a quasi-symphonic rather than concertante approach to this four-movement work and returning to this piece after a significant gap it does impress all over again. Both soloists – Stjernström here and Laurent Ben Slimane with Martyn Brabbins and the Philharmonia – are genuinely excellent. The earlier performance impresses for being wholly successful technically and musically in a way the premiere performances are rarely able to achieve. The Prometheus of the title is taken from Franz Kafka’s short story version of the Prometheus legend and Gordon’s work is a direct musical treatment of that with the soloist representing the titular character pitched against an implacable orchestra. Perhaps Slimane on the Orchid Classics performance is slightly more theatrical in his playing pushing the expressive envelope more than Stjernström. That might well be simply a question of the adrenaline of a live premiere performance. Certainly, the engineering on this new Toccata disc is excellent at maintaining a realistic balance between soloist and the large orchestra and the Malmö players perform with great skill and commitment. Again, the poise and beauty of Stjernström’s tone across the dynamic and pitched range of his instrument is striking with the final fade out into bleak darkness is perfectly poised. Although this is not a work I had returned to since my previous review, reacquaintance confirms the positive impressions.
Overall, this is a very interesting and stimulating disc with three diverse works receiving performances and recordings of exemplary quality. If the future releases in this series prove to be as rewarding then the stature of the excellent Malmö Symphony Orchestra will be increased.
Nick Barnard
Other review: Stephen Barber
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