United Kingdom Clandeboye Festival 2024 [2] – Brahms, Poulenc: Barry Douglas (piano), Michel Lithiec (clarinet), Michael d’Arcy (violin), Lidia Jewloszewicz-Clarke (violin), Ed Creedon (viola), David Kenny (viola), Arto Noras (cello), Killian White (cello). Clandeboye Estate, Northern Ireland, 21.8.2024. (RB)
Brahms – Viola Sonata in F Minor, Op.120 No.1; String Sextet No.1 in B-flat Major, Op.18
Poulenc – Clarinet Sonata
This concert from the Clandeboye Festival featured late sonatas by Brahms and Poulenc as well as the first of Brahms’s string sextets.
The concert opened with a performance of Brahms’s Viola Sonata in F Minor. This piece started life as the first of two clarinet sonatas which Brahms wrote for Richard Mühlfeld, the principal clarinettist of the court orchestra at Meiningen. Brahms subsequently adapted them as sonatas for violin and piano and viola and piano, often rewriting passages to make them more suitable for the respective instruments.
Barry Douglas and Ed Creedon joined forces for this performance. The opening Allegro appassionato was the least successful of the four movements. Douglas’s playing was slightly more dramatic and extrovert than that of Creedon and the movement did not seem to come together as well as it might. The second movement was much better with Creedon transforming Brahms’s gorgeous melody into an enchanting, rhapsodic nocturne to which Douglas provided a glistening backdrop on the piano. The third movement was superb with both players bringing a cultivated sensibility to the music and capturing perfectly the spirit of the Austrian Ländler. Douglas and Creedon seemed to relish the boisterous quality of the finale. They conjured up imaginative sonorities in the various transformations of the theme before driving the piece to its brilliant conclusion.
Poulenc’s Clarinet Sonata dates from 1962 and it is dedicated to Arthur Honegger, a fellow member of Les Six. It was commissioned by the American jazz clarinettist, Benny Goodman, who premiered the piece accompanied by the composer. It is the second of three woodwind sonatas which Poulenc wrote in the last years of his life.
Douglas was joined by Michel Lithiec for this performance. Lithiec’s performance was uneven and there was some untidy playing in the opening section of the sonata. Both players did a good job in conjuring up mood and atmosphere in the ensuing sections. The second movement Romanza is dominated by a melancholy chanson. Both players performed beautifully, and I loved the intoxicating, wistful quality they brought to the music and the natural ebb and flow of the movement. The finale was spiky and brilliant with both players clearly enjoying the riotous abandon in Poulenc’s score.
Brahms’s String Sextet in B-flat was written in 1860 when the composer was 27. In spite of being a Romantic composer, Brahms was heavily influenced by the Classical tradition. He revered the form of the string quartet and he published three works using this combination of instruments. However, he was also attracted to the idea of using a larger string ensemble, such as the one used in this piece, as this allowed him to explore richer and more luxuriant textures.
There was much to admire in this performance from Michael d’Arcy, Lidia Jewloszewicz-Clarke, Ed Creedon, David Kenny, Arto Noras and Killian White. The six players worked well together to achieve a varied range of textures and sonorities in the opening movement. The melodies emerged in an organic way from the elastic web of shifting textures and there was an admirable sense of structure and clarity across this long movement. The second movement is a set of variations, and the opening theme has featured in several films and TV shows. The six players navigated their way well through the variations bringing out the distinctive character of each one while maintaining a close eye on tempo and motivic relationships. The opening section of the Scherzo had an easy tread while there was more country dance enthusiasm in the trio. The very high level of playing continued in the finale where the sextet seemed to find the right balance between maintaining momentum and observing Brahms’s grazioso instruction. I particularly liked their handling of the minor key section where there was charged and vibrant playing.
Overall, there was a lot of very fine playing throughout the evening; so, congratulations to all the players.
Robert Beattie