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 clarinetist who is also a meritorious conductor, currently at the head of the Mannheim Chamber Orchestra.In 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 especially known as an essential piece 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 in Reinecke's own version for clarinet is that he does not merely transpose the flute part, but adapts it taking into account the colors and tessitura of the clarinet, notably in the second movement where the writing for flute would be awkward on the clarinet. Thus many passages are octave-shifted, the nuances are adapted, as well as additions in the clarinet's middle register. Alongside the other works for clarinet that Carl Reinecke has 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 passing of close friends, Billroth and Bülow, in February. Brahms may have wanted to convey his sadness through the melancholic and poetic sound of the clarinet in these two expressive works, with a rhapsodic and meditative character." Jean-Jacques Velly