Carl Nielsen - Clarinet & Flute Concertos (Sabine Meyer; Emmanuel Pahud)

Information

Composer: Carl Nielsen

• (01) Flute Concerto, FS 119
• (03) Clarinet Concerto, Op. 57, FS 129
• (07) Wind Quintet, Op. 43, FS 100

Emmanuel Pahud, flute
Sabine Meyer, clarinet
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Simon Rattle, conductor

Date: 2007
Label: EMI

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

Polished and poised – is that the Nielsen way? Great Quintet, though

Nielsen’s two woodwind concertos and the genial quintet that prepared the way for those later, more acerbic works make a natural, though I think unprecedented, coupling on CD; and now that the starry team on this new disc has done it, any successors are going to find it hard to compete. Hard, but not impossible.

These are technically consummate performances – not something to be taken for granted, because the concertos in particular are not pieces even the most complete virtuoso could hope to pick up casually. It is undeniable, too, that a wealth of imagination has gone into the interpretations, not least in the accompaniments. What emerges is so polished and poetic, however, that those used to the sturdier old Danish tradition may feel that almost as much has been lost as gained.

Pahud’s approach is clear enough from his first phrase, moulded with a seductive eloquence that borders on the self-conscious. Yet Nielsen’s own programme-note talked of the “free, fantasising tone”, with the soloist moving “rather searchingly”, and reheard in the context of Pahud’s overall view of the piece, his phrasing is persuasive enough.

If the Clarinet Concerto has rarely sounded as poised or as reflective, that may be largely a function of Sabine Meyer’s impeccable technique. All the same, a little more self-assertiveness would not have done the music any harm, and for anyone who feels that irascibility and harshness is of the essence in this piece, such civilised playing will be no substitute for the tousled unkemptness of Ib Eriksson’s 1954 account.

Orchestral principals do not always make ideal chamber partners. But the Berliners’ account of the much-recorded Quintet is simply wonderful: surpassingly suave, again as one might expect, but also full of grace, wit and fantasy, plus the larger-than-life characterisation in the finale that I missed in the otherwise excellent recent version from the Copenhagen-based Diamant Ensemble.

-- David Fanning, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9
http://www.classical-music.com/review/nielsen-49
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/sep/07/classicalmusicandopera.shopping
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/e/emi94421a.php
https://www.allmusic.com/album/carl-nielsen-clarinet-flute-concertos-wind-quintet-mw0001421062
https://www.audaud.com/nielsen-clarinet-and-flute-concertos-woodwind-quintet-sabine-meyer-clarinet-emmanuel-pahud-flute-stefan-schweigert-bassoon-jonathan-kelly-oboe-and-english-horn-radek-baborak-frenc/
https://www.amazon.com/Nielsen-Clarinet-Concertos-Emmanuel-Pahud/dp/B000QCUA70

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Carl Nielsen (9 June 1865 – 3 October 1931) was a Danish musician, conductor and violinist, widely recognized as his country's most prominent composer. Although his symphonies, concertos and choral music are now internationally acclaimed, Nielsen's career and personal life were marked by many difficulties, often reflected in his music. Nielsen maintained the reputation of an outsider during his lifetime, both in his own country and internationally. It was only later that his works firmly entered the international repertoire, accelerating in popularity from the 1960s through Leonard Bernstein and others.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Nielsen

***

Sabine Meyer (born 30 March 1959 in Crailsheim, Baden-Württemberg) is a German classical clarinetist. Meyer studied with Otto Hermann in Stuttgart and then with Hans Deinzer at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover. She began her career as a member of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic. In 1983, Meyer left the Berlin Philharmonic to become a full-time solo clarinetist. By the 1990s, she had become a prominent solo clarinetist, recording regularly and exclusively for the EMI label. In addition to her work as a soloist, Meyer is a committed player of chamber music.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabine_Meyer
http://www.sabine-meyer.com/

***

Emmanuel Pahud (born 27 January 1970 in Geneva, Switzerland) is a Franco-Swiss flute player. Classically trained at the Conservatoire de Paris, he leapt into the international orchestral and solo music scene when he joined the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1992, and now shared the position of principal flutist. He plays in diverse music genres, whether baroque, jazz, contemporary, classical, orchestral, or chamber music. Though an enthusiastic consumer and commissioner of new music, the Berlin-based flutist is most known for his baroque and Classical flute repertory.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmanuel_Pahud
http://www.emmanuelpahud.net/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!