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“The Clarinet in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries from Solo to Quartet” – Music of ERNESTO CAVALLINI, DOMENICO SCARLATTI & others – Stark Quartet – Tactus

by Audiophile Audition | Dec 27, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

“The Clarinet in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries from Solo to Quartet” – Music of ERNESTO CAVALLINI, DOMENICO SCARLATTI & others – Stark Quartet – Tactus TC890001, 62:14 [Distr. by Naxos] (11/11/16) ***: Very nice playing in this collection for the true enthusiast. There is a decent amount of repertoire (well, pretty large actually) for clarinet ensembles. However, most of it lies in the transcriptions category or is to be found in the pre-twentieth century realm. The reasons for this are understandable in that many composers found the advances in clarinet making since the work of Klosé and Buffet quite intriguing. This, combined with the portability of these ensembles, often gave composers an attractive alternative to the standard string quartet sound or the very unique declamatory timbres of brass ensembles, so popular in the late Baroque. This album goes to show that there are some very nice works from the mid-nineteenth century to be sure but also some examples from the early to mid-twentieth century. (The advent of the true virtuoso player and extended techniques playable on very advanced instruments has given rise to more concerti and solo rep than any ensembles like this the past fifty to seventy years, […]