Reinecke & Brahms

Description

One of the most celebrated French pianists, Eric Le Sage is a musician whose poetic, profound and subtle playing reflects an authentic and generous personality, rewarded with numerous international prizes. Paul Meyer, for his part, is a virtuoso clarinettist as well as a distinguished conductor, currently at the head of the Mannheim Chamber Orchestra. On this exceptional album, Eric Le Sage and Paul Meyer perform 3 Sonatas for piano and clarinet written by Reinecke and Brahms. Ondine, Sonata for clarinet and piano, Op. 167, Carl Reinecke "Carl Reinecke's Ondine sonata is best known as a staple of the romantic repertoire for flute and piano. [...] The version performed by Le Sage and Meyer is the one for clarinet, arranged by the composer himself, published in 1885. What is interesting about Reinecke's own version for clarinet is that he does not simply transpose the flute part, but adapts it taking into account the colors and range of the clarinet, notably in the second movement where the writing for flute would be awkward on the clarinet. Thus many passages are transposed up an octave, the dynamics are adapted, as well as additions in the clarinet's middle register. Alongside the other works for clarinet that Carl Reinecke left us, this long-forgotten version of the wonderful Ondine sonata is a major addition to the romantic repertoire for clarinet and piano."Paul Meyer Sonatas for clarinet and piano, Op. 120 No. 1 & 2, Johannes Brahms "During his summer holidays spent in Ischl, Brahms composed two sonatas for clarinet and piano one after the other. The beginning of the year had been particularly trying for the composer, who had seen the death of close friends, Billroth and Bülow, in February. Brahms may have wanted to express his sadness through the melancholic and poetic sonority of the clarinet in these two expressive works, with their rhapsodic and meditative character." Jean-Jacques Velly