Different Idioms
Clarinet music by Brahms,
Mendelssohn and Schumann -
heard by
ROBERT ANDERSON'Emma Johnson and John Lenehan make a fine partnership ...'
|
|
The English appear to have invented a clarinet key to increase the viability of certain trills, and an early manual of instruction was dedicated to George IV; but our composers lagged far behind the continent. Vivaldi may have used the instrument in his 'Judith' oratorio dealing mainly with the beheading of Holofernes; J C Bach and Arne brought the instrument to London operatic theatres; and of course Mozart showed once and for all that the clarinet might play a supremely expressive part in chamber music as well as taking its place in the standard classical orchestra.
It was Mozart, too, who began a tradition of turning to clarinet music through the inspiration of a particular virtuoso. In his case it was Anton Stadler...
Copyright © 23 April 2012
Robert Anderson,
London UK
|
