CARL MARIA VON WEBER: Clarinet Quintet in B Major Op. 34; SIGISMUND NEUKOMM: Clarinet Quintet in B Major Op. 8 – Eric Hoeprich, clarinet/ Ensemble Les Adieux – NCA multichannel SACD 61070, 54:24 [Distr. by Naxos] ****1/2:
An interesting program for sure: here we have two quintets, one at the heart of the clarinet repertoire, and one that is surely unknown even by many professional clarinetists. The Weber is high-spirited and filled with the kind of musical high jinks that makes clarinetists’ reputations. In fact, as with all of his celebrated works for clarinet, Weber undoubtedly enhanced the career of the dedicatee, Heinrich Bärmann, clarinetist of the Munich Court Orchestra. A virtual compendium of all the leaps and runs and trills that a clarinetist can hope to bring off in the course of a single work, its second movement Fantasia is also an important document in early German Romanticism, exploiting the expressive possibilities of the clarinet. The movement creates the haunted nighttime landscape that Weber explored in the famous Wolf Glen scene of his opera Der Freischütz.
Then we have Sigismund Neukomm, which will probably be a new name to most music fanciers. Born in Salzburg in 1778, he studied with Michael Haydn and befriended Joseph, transcribing some of the latter’s music with his blessing. Neukomm composed and traveled prodigally and was prized in his day for his sacred choral music. He outlived Beethoven by thirty-some years, dying at the age of eighty.
Yet on the evidence of his Quartet Op. 8, Neukomm was a musical conservative where Weber looked steadfastly forward. Ultimately, though, Neukomm’s Quartet just isn’t terribly memorable, attractive as the music is. My favorite movement is the third entitled Thème russe, where the clarinet weaves a series of sinuous variations above the string accompaniment. It’s all very nice but won’t ensure the music gets much of an airing.
On the other hand, I have nothing but praise for the playing of Eric Hoeprich, principle clarinetist in one of my favorite period-instrument groups, the Orchestra of the 18th Century. An instrument maker as well as performer, he certainly knows his axe; these are beautifully fluid performances, very nicely accompanied by Ensemble Les Adieux.
I wish I could have heard the surround-sound version of this disc. Listening in stereo only, I was impressed with the warmth and airiness of the sound, though the notes say it was recorded in a studio. The perspective is close but very pleasingly so; however, if you have an issue with the sounds of keys being depressed, be forewarned you’ll hear some of that. And the disc gives short measure by today’s standards. Otherwise, I find this a very recommendable recording.
— Lee Passarella
