September 26, 2014
Music filled Wellin Hall on Sunday, September 22, Hamilton instrumental lecturers Allan Kolsky and Sar-Shalom Strong performed a recital together, on clarinet and piano respectively. They performed pieces by Brahms, Reich and Nielsen before being joined by percussionist Michael Bull for another piece, Nielsen’s “Clarinet Concerto.”
For the performers, this recital served as a test run of some of these pieces, notably the “Clarinet Concerto,” which Kolsky and Bull will be performing as a full orchestral version with Symphoria in November. Composed mostly of members of the now-defunct Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, Symphoria is a group that performs across Central New York. Kolsky is Symphoria’s principal clarinetist while Bull is the principal percussionist.
The program centers around Nielsen’s piece, which, as Kolsky put it, represents a “technical tour de force” meant to exemplify the “versatility” of the clarinet’s sound. In that spirit, the other three pieces, Brahms’ “Sonata in E-Flat Major,” Reich’s “New York Counterpoint” and Nielsen’s “Fantasy Piece in G Minor,” all showcase vastly different sides of the multi-faceted instrument.
The Brahms sonata, with which Kolsky and Strong opened, demonstrates a certain amount of versatility on the part of both players. The most remarkable aspect of the piece, across its three movements, lies not in its flowing melodies or periodic increases in intensity, but rather in the subtle interplay between clarinet and piano. Credit for this must go partly to Brahms for composing a piece in which musical ideas are effortlessly passed off and responded to between the two parts, but just as much must go to the performers for communicating so well with each other. Despite the totally different natures of the clarinet and piano, there were times, particularly in the softer sections, when Kolsky and Strong blurred the lines so expertly that the two instruments were practically indistinguishable.
New York Counterpoint is a thoroughly experimental piece by contemporary classical composer Steve Reich. Involving a solo clarinetist accompanied by a recorded track of ten clarinets, it uses this stereo orchestra to first introduce new patterns and then repeat them. While “New York Counterpoint” is perhaps the least technically impressive piece on the program, it compensates by having a more distinct personality than the other three, whether in the pulsating wall of sound caused by all ten recorded clarinets repeating the same note that the piece opens with, or with the jagged syncopation of the later melodies. It is a testament to the success of this piece that small, subtle shifts, even if only in one out of ten recorded clarinets, change the texture dramatically through their repetition.
The two Nielsen pieces were so similar in character that they merit being discussed together. The Fantasy piece lived up to its name, with lyrical melodies throughout and a somewhat ominous piano accompaniment, both of which built towards a hectic finale following a vast increase in tempo. The result was a more dramatic and engaging piece, even if it was merely five minutes long. Preceding the “Clarinet Concerto,” Kolsky talked briefly about how Nielsen wrote clarinet pieces to reflect the personality of his clarinet player, Aage Oxenvad, who was noted for having both a genteel, polite personality but also a violent temper. To represent this, Nielsen wrote both flowing, lyrical passages and furious technical ones, a point which Kolsky illustrated with recorded excerpts of Nielsen’s Woodwind Quintet and Symphony No. 5.
Sure enough, the “Clarinet Concerto” exemplified this two-faced nature, which was further exaggerated by the presence of the snare drum. The fast angry passages in particular benefitted from Bull’s playing, which made an already furious, cascading barrage of notes seem even more intimidating. Further adding to the interest of the piece was the fact that Kolsky navigated the entire concerto without using music at all, tackling fiendishly difficult passages, tempo changes and dynamic shifts while hardly breaking a sweat. The audience noticed this professionalism, listening in rapt silence for the entire concerto before erupting into a standing ovation at its conclusion. All in all, the concerto seemed to embrace the clarinet’s “bad side,” turning otherwise unpleasant sounds and tendencies into a thoroughly amazing experience.
Kolsky and Bull will perform the full orchestral arrangement of Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto in the Crouse-Hinds Concert Theater of Syracuse. More information available at www.experiencesymphoria.org.
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