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Oehms Classics

French Clarinet Rhapsody

$11.99

Details

Composer
DEBUSSY POULENC HONEGGER SC
Artist
Perl, Manno
Format
CD
Label
Oehms Classics
Released
Apr 27, 2010
Catalog #
OC114
UPC
4260034861145

About

"This is a convenient recital, presenting—unusually, it turns out, in a single program—the clarinet-and-piano works of Debussy and his contemporary Florent Schmitt, plus those of the demi-Six Honegger, Milhaud, and Poulenc (the other three were Auric, Durey, and Tailleferre), who were more or less a generation younger. Despite a name that sounds as German as, say, “John Barbirolli,” clarinetist Ralph Manno is a native German, making the program all the more atypical. This disc follows soon after Oehms’s release of a two-CD set featuring Manno and Alfredo Perl in music of Brahms; both that and the present disc, however, turn out to be reissues of 1995 recordings.

Manno’s performance of Debussy’s Rhapsodie (there never was a deuxième) is languorous at first, then fluid and dynamic as the music demands. His sound, appropriately international rather than characteristically German, is attractive and well focused, and his technique and control are impressive. The aptly named Petite pièce, written as a sight-reading exercise, is smooth and expressive.

The Lorraine-born Florent Schmitt (1870–1958) should be better known; he is remembered today mostly for the extravagant, almost expressionistic La Tragédie de Salomé. The present Andantino, by contrast, is brief, modest, and perhaps even a bit sentimental...

If the composers who made up Les Six had any musical trait in common (and Milhaud, for one, denied that they did), it is a quintessentially French irreverence, even impudence. (Two of the movements of Milhaud’s sonatine are marked Très rude.) The Honegger and Milhaud sonatines were both composed in the 1920s; the former is an aphoristic work in three movements lasting only six minutes all together; Manno plays with impressive command here... The late, folksy Duo Concertant is an attractive example of Milhaud’s Provençal style; the slight Caprice, running under two minutes, serves as a sort of encore...this disc can be recommended for its overview of the core French clarinet recital repertoire."

FANFARE: Richard A. Kaplan

Tracklist 14 tracks

  1. 1 Premiere rapsodie 09:09
    Track
    1
    Title
    Premiere rapsodie
    Duration
    09:09
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Ralph Manno, Alfredo Perl
  2. 2 Petite Piece 01:45
    Track
    2
    Title
    Petite Piece
    Duration
    01:45
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Ralph Manno, Alfredo Perl
  3. 3 I. Allegro tristemente: Allegretto - tres calme - tempo allegretto 05:46
    Track
    3
    Title
    I. Allegro tristemente: Allegretto - tres calme - tempo allegretto
    Duration
    05:46
    Composer
    Francis Poulenc
    Performer
    Ralph Manno, Alfredo Perl
  4. 4 II. Romanza: Tres calme 04:55
    Track
    4
    Title
    II. Romanza: Tres calme
    Duration
    04:55
    Composer
    Francis Poulenc
    Performer
    Ralph Manno, Alfredo Perl
  5. 5 III. Allegro con fuoco: Tres anime 02:57
    Track
    5
    Title
    III. Allegro con fuoco: Tres anime
    Duration
    02:57
    Composer
    Francis Poulenc
    Performer
    Ralph Manno, Alfredo Perl
  6. 6 I. Modéré 02:22
    Track
    6
    Title
    I. Modéré
    Duration
    02:22
    Composer
    Arthur Honegger
    Performer
    Ralph Manno, Alfredo Perl
  7. 7 II. Lent et soutenu 02:29
    Track
    7
    Title
    II. Lent et soutenu
    Duration
    02:29
    Composer
    Arthur Honegger
    Performer
    Ralph Manno, Alfredo Perl
  8. 8 III. Vif et rythmique 01:02
    Track
    8
    Title
    III. Vif et rythmique
    Duration
    01:02
    Composer
    Arthur Honegger
    Performer
    Ralph Manno, Alfredo Perl
  9. 9 Andantino, Op. 30, No. 1 03:38
    Track
    9
    Title
    Andantino, Op. 30, No. 1
    Duration
    03:38
    Composer
    Florent Schmitt
    Performer
    Ralph Manno, Alfredo Perl
  10. 10 I. Tres rude 03:20
    Track
    10
    Title
    I. Tres rude
    Duration
    03:20
    Composer
    Darius Milhaud
    Performer
    Ralph Manno, Alfredo Perl
  11. 11 II. Lent 04:06
    Track
    11
    Title
    II. Lent
    Duration
    04:06
    Composer
    Darius Milhaud
    Performer
    Ralph Manno, Alfredo Perl
  12. 12 III. Tres rude 02:21
    Track
    12
    Title
    III. Tres rude
    Duration
    02:21
    Composer
    Darius Milhaud
    Performer
    Ralph Manno, Alfredo Perl
  13. 13 Duo concertante, Op. 351 05:55
    Track
    13
    Title
    Duo concertante, Op. 351
    Duration
    05:55
    Composer
    Darius Milhaud
    Performer
    Ralph Manno, Alfredo Perl
  14. 14 Caprice, Op. 335 01:57
    Track
    14
    Title
    Caprice, Op. 335
    Duration
    01:57
    Composer
    Darius Milhaud
    Performer
    Ralph Manno, Alfredo Perl