The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Today brings the release of an impressive CD of clarinet duos and trios with UW-Madison cellist Uri Vardi and his clarinetist son Amitai Vardi
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is when another outstanding recording by UW-Madison cellist Uri Vardi gets released by Delos Records.
The recording, which features clarinet trios by Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms and clarinet-cello duos by contemporary composer Jan Radzynski, has all the makings of another winner.
For one, the repertoire is a fine mix of the late Classical style (Beethoven), the late Romantic style (Brahms) and modernistic nationalism (Radzynski).
It is, of course, a family affair, as you can read about here in a story about the premiere of the Concerto Duos by Radzynski:
http://news.wisc.edu/music-deepens-connection-for-father-son-performers/
The Ear also finds the playing first-rate and the sound engineering exemplary.
None of that should come as a surprise. You may recall that last year Vardi (below) and his colleague UW-Madison violin professor David Perry, along with pianist Paulina Zamora, released a recording of the three piano trios by Brahms. It was acclaimed by no less than Gramophone magazine. Here is a link to that review:
https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/49269/page/3
The title of the new CD is Soulmates, and it seems fitting in so many ways that crisscross in many directions.
Here are notes from the educator and performer Uri Vardi:
“The title refers to friendship between composer and performer, as Jenny Kallick highlights in her liner notes.
“For his clarinet trio, Beethoven put to work the manners of a musical style that embraced the outward charm and lively sociability associated with the music of friends, interjecting his soon-to-be famous dramatic flashes only occasionally.
“Jan Radzynski (below) began his association with me in Israel, where the Vardi family from Hungary and Radzynski family from Poland first overlapped.
“Meeting once again during graduate studies at Yale School of Music, our friendship has been enriched by Jan’s project as an esteemed composer with multiple cultural ties to Poland, Israel, the US and Jewish tradition, and by my commitment as celebrated teacher and performer to collaborations across musical boundaries. Jointly, we have found ways to embrace the complexities of their origins and diaspora.
“The duo’s dedication to the entire Vardi family signals this deep connection.
“Nearly a century had passed before Brahms (below top) wrote for this same combination. Had it not been for his newly-blossomed musical friendship with clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld (below bottom, 1856-1907), a star performer in the Hofkapelle Orchestra at Saxe-Meiningen, the composer might have held to his recently announced plans to retire.
“On a more personal level, I admire composer Jan Radzynski’s music. I was moved by his gift to my son Amitai (below) — who teaches clarinet at Kent State University in Ohio — and me, and the rest of our family, of the Concert Duos. He presented the work to us in 2004, and we premiered it that same year.
“Brahms is the composer who influences me on the deepest level. Following the release of my previous CD by Delos, I was eager to record the fourth Brahms trio involving the cello, and was looking for an opportunity to add it to the other three trios.
“It is the greatest joy for me to play chamber music with my son. I was happy that both he, and my colleague and friend, pianist Arnon Erez (below), were ready to embark with me on the journey of performing and recording the three compositions on this CD.
“The UW Arts Institute awarded me the Emily Mead Baldwin Award, which helped me financially in releasing this CD. The recordings were done at the Jerusalem Music Center in Israel (which gave us their wonderful facilities free of charge).
“Sound engineer Victor Fonarov, who recorded this CD and started editing it, passed away before the completion of the work. So we decided to dedicate the album to his memory.
“Here is a promotional video, with a SoundCloud clip of the Beethoven work, for the recording:
https://delosmusic.com/recording/soulmates-cello-clarinet-piano/
“And you can hear an excerpt from Radzynski’s Duos in the YouTube video at the bottom.
“Interested readers can also purchase the album directly from Uri Vardi at: uvardi@wisc.edu”
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Classical music: Two FREE concerts at the UW-Madison this Friday evening offer Brahms fans music for piano, cello and clarinet.
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ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale, which takes place from 12:15 to 1 p.m. at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Meeting House of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, will feature Leslie Damaso, mezzo-soprano; Shannon Farley; Jason Kutz, piano; Beth Larson, violin and viola; Morgan Walsh, cello; Chris Allen, guitar; and Gregg Punswick, piano. The program includes music by George Philipp Telemann, Antonio Vivaldi, Johannes Brahms and Gustav Mahler. No word on specific pieces, sorry.
By Jacob Stockinger
“Aimez-vous Brahms?” asked the famous French novelist Francoise Sagan in a title of a bestselling novel.
Well, yes, The Ear does indeed love the music of Johannes Brahms (below).
And if you too love Brahms, this week features two concerts that sound very promising and offer a big dose of Brahms.
Call it Brahms Day.
Or, more appropriately, Brahms Night.
Unfortunately or fortunately – depending on your point of view and your power of endurance — both concerts are on Friday evening and may even overlap, although The Ear hopes not.
It is a pretty heavy and intense dose of Brahms, especially of the beautifully introspective late or “autumnal” music he composed shortly before he died.
At 6:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall is a recital by doctoral student and collaborative pianist Satoko Hayami (below top), who will be joined by her fellow graduate students, clarinetist Kai-Ju Ho (below middle) and cellist Kyle Price (below bottom), in performing late music by Brahms.
The program includes the Sonata in E-flat for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 120, No. 2, which is often played on the viola, although it was originally composed for the clarinet; the Zigeunerlieder, Op. 103; and the Trio for Clarinet for Piano, Clarinet and Cello.
Then at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, UW-Madison cello professor Uri Vardi (below top) and guest pianist Uriel Tsachor (below bottom), from the University of Iowa, will perform BOTH cello sonatas by Brahms – The Ear loves them both — plus six art songs transcribed for cello and piano. (You can hear the haunting second movement of the last Cello Sonata, in F major, by Brahms played by cellist Jian Wang and pianist Emanuel Ax in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
Vardi is something of a specialist in Brahms and has just released a performance on the Delos record label of the three Piano Trios, which included Pro Arte Quartet violinist and UW-Madison violin professor David Parry.
So it all sounds very promising. And very Brahmsian.
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