Williamson, McGill, Meyer and Shifrin blow up
Say what you will about piano playing, conducting, violin playing and, especially, composing: This is a very good age for clarinet playing, even a great one. We have Alessandro Carbonare, Martin Fröst, Kari Kriikku and Julian Bliss, among others. Four of those others played in New York during the month of January. Call it clarinet month, almost a celebration.
Sabine Meyer’s Trio di Clarone.
Two of the clarinetists appeared in concertos with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. The two used to be co-principals in that orchestra. But then one of them, Stephen Williamson, jumped to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Williamson played the Mozart concerto, arguably the greatest clarinet piece of them all (and one of Mozart’s greatest pieces, which is saying something). Under Maestro Fabio Luisi, the first movement began very fast, and there was not much grace. In fact, the music had a nasty edge, which is not this music at all. Moreover, the orchestra was spotty at so fast a tempo.
The soloist, on the other hand, was clean and graceful. Was the speedy tempo of his choosing? Probably. The second movement, Adagio, was appropriately heavenly, with Williamson giving tenors and other singers a lesson in how to sing a Mozart aria. I think his overholding of the last note was a little showy, however.
Like the opening Allegro, the closing Allegro was taken at a breakneck tempo. The licorice stick could handle it, the orchestra not really. Incidentally, Williamson squeaked once or twice—but I always say, “Life is not a studio recording.” And Williamson is a supreme player.
The other clarinetist on the afternoon, Anthony McGill, played the Copland concerto, written for Benny Goodman. It is in two movements, the first slow, the second fast. They are linked by a nifty cadenza. From McGill and Luisi, the first movement was mannered and stilted. The notes were placed just so, rather than flowing naturally. It must be said, though, that a wrong concept was executed beautifully.
Things perked up with the cadenza, in which McGill showed superb judgment. And the second movement really swung. That is, the American clarinetist swung while the Italian conductor did his best.
Sabine Meyer brought her clarinet trio—billed as Sabine Meyer’s Trio di Clarone—to the 92nd Street Y. Meyer gained worldwide fame in the early 1980s when Herbert von Karajan tried to install her in the Berlin Philharmonic. The old boys balked. Meyer walked, enjoying a rich solo career.
She knows the other members of her trio very well: One is her husband, Reiner Wehle, and the other is her brother, Wolfgang Meyer. The men are outstanding in their own right. But I personally couldn’t take my ears off Sabine, one of the most intelligent and elegant musicians around. She simply has the gift of “knowing,” and of doing.
So does David Shifrin, who played the next afternoon in Alice Tully Hall. He was joined by the pianist Wu Han and the cellist David Finckel, who are married to each other, and who are the artistic directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. They succeeded Shifrin himself.
Brits like to say of Queen Elizabeth II, “She never puts a foot wrong.” I say something similar of Shifrin. He is usually impeccable, but at the same time he’s not cautious or prim. He tackles music with relish. He does not have one sound, but dozens, as all good clarinetists do: He picks the one most suited to the note or phrase at hand. And he has an uncanny sense of the “stream” of music, its momentum.
I will give you two details from this concert: He took such a long breath in a Brahms trio, I thought, “Who does he think he is, Dmitri Hvorostovsky [the Russian baritone, who is suspected of having a third lung]?” And there is a Bruch piece that begins with a merry, quick tune, played by the piano. Shifrin had a look on his face that said, “I can’t wait to get it.”
In a final bit of clarinet news, Ricardo Morales has joined the New York Philharmonic as principal this season. Previously he was with the Met Orchestra and then the Philadelphia. He, too, is a master, a star. Yes, we are in a lucky age for the clarinet.
