There’s more content in this compilation than a reviewer has a right to expect. Coming off the back of a pointless set of Shostakovich symphonies, this chunky bar of trios for clarinet, violin and piano just keeps delivering hi-energy nutrients.
First up is a four-part klezmer romp by Paul Schoenfield, an American composer who moved to Jerusalem and died there five months ago. Schoenfield took a hybrid genre of Hasidic celebration modes and moulded it into an eclectic set of wild dance moves, irresistible at best.
Claude Vivier’s six-minute piece for violin and clarinet is the same in reverse: an unwinding of two slow and edgy themes into muted contemplation. Vivier, who was battered to death aged 34 by a male pick-up in Paris, is a master of self-isolation.
Bela Bartok’s Contrasts, written for Benny Goodman, delve deep into the Balkan melting pot and always come up with new ingredients. Ernest Bloch’s Prayer is a plaintive Jewish devotion. The Nat King Cole hit ‘Nature Boy’ is of contested authorship and Bela Kovacs’ ‘Greetings from the Balkan’ does just what it says on the wrapper.
The brain behind this bumper bundle is the Spanish clarinettist Pablo Barragan. He is joined by the young Dutch violinist Noa Wildschut. The German pianist Frank Dupree made two arrangements. Since none of the artists is from the Balkans, this recital constitutes a voyage of discovery in open-mouthed wonderment. Not all the sights and sounds are totally lovely, but that’s tourism for you.
