June 10, 2011

  • Review: Sharon Cam American Classics for Clarinet

     

    American Classics: Music for Clarinet by Bernstein, Copland, Gershwin, Gould, and Shaw
    Sharon Kam, clarinet; London Symphony Orchestra/Gregor Buhl
    Teldec 8573-88482-2
    Total Time:  61:20
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

     

    Sharon Kam’s 2002 release of American music for clarinet features some familiar and some less familiar works.  Three of the pieces recorded here were all commissions from Benny Goodman, the great swing jazz clarinetist, who had begun appearing in classical venues in the late 1940s and 1950s.  The find here is a recording of a concerto by Artie Shaw which is paired off with several arrangements of Gershwin songs.

    The disc opens with Aaron Copland’s Concerto for Clarinet (1947/48).  Copland had made his name in the 1920s with highly-angular works with jazz rhythms and by the 1940s had shifted into the style that most listeners recognize.  Often referred to as “Americana,” the music with its open intervals which Copland “discovered” to paint a picture of the open spaces of American landscapes would be explored fully in a series of ballets in the 1940s.  He had also begun trying his hand at film scoring and the concerto is interesting because these three areas of composition and style some together in this work.  The piece begins with a slow waltz given a rather languishing tempo here that is like a summer day with that humid haze in the air.  A cadenza separates this from the more angular jazzy rhythms of the “Rather Fast” concluding section.  Copland’s scoring for strings, harp and piano may seem like an odd choice for a “jazz” concerto, but this is really more a work written for a great clarinetist who happened to play jazz and Copland’s clarinet lines are not that far removed from his melodic style.   Kam’s performance feels a bit slow at first but this is part of the restraint and the way she allows the music to unfold where proper bursts of energy work well.  In comparison with some favorite recordings of the work (by Richard Stoltzman, Goodman, and a fine recent release by David Singer reviewed here) the performance falls overall on the faster side.  Especially fun to hear are the shifts in tempo in the final movement.  Overall this is a fine performance showing off Kam’s skill and warm depth of tone.  The biggest problem is that Teldec decided to lump the whole work as a single track—labels still have not quite figured out if they should track this in 1, 2, or 3 segments evidently.  But this is a minor quibble.

    Leonard Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue and Riffs (1949) had a circuitous route to its final performance with Goodman.  Bernstein intended the work for Woody Herrman’s big band, but the group disbanded before they ever played it.  Next, he tried sticking it in as a ballet sequence in the musical Wonderful Town but that got dropped as well.  Finally, he was able to have it performed on one of his TV programs and he subsequently recorded it with Goodman—the recording considered a classic.  The piece is in that jazzy style Bernstein was exploring in his New York City musicals and West Coast jazz influences.  There is a little Stravinsky thrown in for good measure as well.  The work tends to play like one big improvisational number with the clarinet winding its way through the piece.  Whenever one hears the piece, it is hard not to wonder what Herrman’s band might have made of the thing.  Still it makes for some exciting listening.  The LSO pulls in a fine group of saxophonists who get to show off their stuff.  The brass do a fine job as well and the piece swings when it needs to with Kam’s clarinet recorded in such a way that it blends very well with the ensemble.  Buhl’s tempi here are quite good overall.  This will not supplant Goodman’s recording or even Stoltzman (which is coupled with concerti by Corigliano and Copland on RCA).

    The less recorded Derivations for Clarinet (1955/rev. 1965) by Morton Gould is for wind band and soloist.  Gould’s style was a combination of Copland, Roy Harris, and Ferde Grofe (especially in his orchestration).  The mix of American folk song and shifts of harmonic blocks with a little romanticism made many of Gould’s works fall into what today is referred to as “pops” music.  But this is an oversimplification.  Gould’s music is quite communicative and accessible and it is a shame it is not more popular these days.  The present work is along the lines of more serious pieces that mix the classical, folk, and popular (in this case jazz) together.  The four-movement work has a quick opening and brilliant closing movement with two “form” pieces from popular music in its center.  The second movement, “Contrapuntal Blues,” has a spun out melodic idea within a blues formula and is followed by a “Rag.”  The clarity of the lines in this recording are fascinating to hear.  The approach seems to find musical connections between the Bernstein and Copland styles in the piece that are made pointedly in the performance.  Kam’s performance is again rich and warm.

    Artie Shaw’s Concerto for Clarinet (1940) actually comes from the film Second Chorus.  Shaw recorded the piece later with his own band.  Shaw’s little piece is really a swing band number in every sense with thematic ideas and improvisational cadenzas.  Sometimes the clarinet line has an almost Klezmer quality to it which is a bit interesting.  This is a welcome addition to the catalog and Kam’s style is perfect for this piece in particular with its concluding cadenza one of the disc’s highlights.

    The album concludes with four arrangements (one by Buhl, and three by composer John Cameron) of Gershwin songs.  They are all fine examples of good encore material and they serve their purpose well here by helping to fill out this album of jazz-influenced concert pieces for clarinet, a bit over lush at times but no less beautiful and well-played.

    Though there are plenty of recordings of the Copland, it is the collection of interesting works here that makes this disc worthy of one’s attention.  The London Symphony “jazz” band if you will acquits themselves quite well.  The recording needs perhaps to be just a bit drier stylistically for these pieces, but the warm recording of the Copland really captures the essence of that work well.  As things get a bit more jazzy towards the end the balance continues to be well-detailed.