![]() In Johan Kvandal’s Fantasy for clarinet, the melodies wind themselves throughout the instrument and into some more fast finger patterns. There are some quick, articulated phrases that jump around the instrument that Salakka makes sound effortless. Jindrich Field’s clarinet piece, Suite Rhapsodica, highlights both the high and low range of the instrument simultaneously with writing that invokes the feeling of two instruments playing in call-and-response. 4 is more rhythmical and reaches into the altissimo register, a potentially dangerous range on this instrument, but Salakka maneuvers it skillfully. 2 for bass clarinet, and he has included Solo No. On Fragmented Visions, Salakka recorded Jakob Veislev’s Solo No. The interplay between them is good and Salakka plays with a beautifully rich tone. The second track is Neil Butterworth’s Theme & Variations for two clarinets, played on two Selmer instruments. I think the effect works, resulting in a more three-dimensional sound than if he was playing alone, although sometimes the parts are not executed exactly together. Salakka decides to play two different contra-altos here: a Selmer and the much larger-bore Leblanc, sometimes in unison and sometimes in octaves, to try to better capture the essence of the original ensemble work. The first track is Michael Nyman’s Manhatta, originally an ensemble work composed for a silent film but available as a solo bass clarinet piece. There is still, as with his previous release, virtually no music actually written for this instrument, so he has included a number of transcriptions of solo works for clarinet, bass clarinet and double bass as well as multitracking some duos and songs with bass clarinet ensemble accompaniments. He has now released a follow-up album, Urban Visions. In 2017 Finnish clarinetist Teppo Salakka released the first-ever album of solo classical contra-alto clarinet music, Fragmented Visions, an album I had the pleasure of reviewing for The Clarinet. Sarmanto: Old San Juan and Waltz for a Little Girl C. Feld: Introduction (Suita Rhapsodica) and Aria (Suita Rhapsodica) S.D. ![]() Butterworth: Theme and Variations for Clarinet Duo J. Teppo Salakka, bass and contrabass clarinets, piano. Printed copies of The Clarinet are available for ICA members. Oh, and the first movement is properly bonkers.Originally published in The Clarinet 49/2 (March 2022). Weirdly tranquil, often troubling and not a little bit tricky to play properly, this is a subtle charmer for player and audience. Go straight for the second movement on this one. And, like so many of the pieces on this list, it’s actually fun to play.ġ0. Just for a few moments in a symphony that pretty much defines the word ‘epic’, the clarinet line in the second movement breaks through and makes a hugely characterful interjection. ![]() Somehow Finzi manages to bend the pastoral with the highly flamboyant, and consequently it’s a concerto that defies categorisation. *low trill* *HIGH TRILL!* *low trill* *HIGH TRILL!* That’s about it, really. Unless you’re playing it, in which case you’ll just pass out. Super-aggressive, choppy and violent in the beginning, a second movement that seems to stop time altogether, and a finale that is so close to being too much that you might just vomit. Rarely do composers do that whole ’so wrong it’s right’ thing better than Malcolm Arnold. Effortlessly cool, dramatic and with a firework display at the end, it doesn’t really get much better than this for clarinet and piano.ħ. But once you’re through that, you’re in for some serious magic realm-building. So the first phrase of this whole piece is a G to a B flat to a C, right on the throat of the instrument, which is just about the most annoying phrase you could possibly start on, technically speaking.
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