Former Principal Clarinet with the New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas and current Principal Clarinet of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Santa Fe Opera, Todd Levy occupies a prestige not so far from that of Richard Muelfeld, the inspirator of the Brahms clarinet sonatas of 1894. A rich tone and burnished chalumeau register mark Levy’s hearty playing in the two Brahms works, with no small contribution from the fluid piano artistry of Elena Abend at the Steinway D keyboard. Both are graduates of Juilliard School of Music. The recording, quiet and mellow, derives from May 2005 sessions at the Helen Bader Concert Hall at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
The E-flat Sonata manages to outshine the already gripping F Minor in tonal luster, as if Levy and Abend had been saving their liquid passion deliberately for this amiable, salon piece. The chorale middle section of the Allegro appassionato movement sounds like an afterthought to the Op. 5 F Minor Piano Sonata. Tenderness of expression, which marks the Schumann entries as well, saturates every bar of the theme and variations movement. Limpid, naturally breathed phraseology throughout. The A-flat Andante of the F Minor Sonata benefits from such glowing treatment. Schumann’s Op. 94 (1849) specifically calls for the oboe as executant, but Schumann prepared alternate versions to ensure royalties. The same approach applies to the Op. 73 Fantasy-Pieces, written specifically for clarinet, but often played on cello or viola. Alternately reflective and whimsically energetic, Schumann’s piece capture his dreamy, poetic nature. The section marked Einfact, innig of Op. 94 is especially telling of his interior, visionary personality, eminently songful. Ms. Abend achieves a throbbing, lovely pulse in the opening Zart und mit Ausdruck of Op. 73, a crystalline passion that should motivate her to record the Dances of the Davis-Leaguers as a solo artist. She and Levy make lovely sense of the Lebhaft and Rasch sections as well, with Levy’s silk ribbon of tone perfectly wedded to the rapturous notes he intones.
–Gary Lemco
