CCMusic.com

Bach - Berio - Boulez: Marek svejkar's bold and brilliant debut

The clarinet is one of the instruments with the broadest spectrum of sonic

possibilities in terms of it's range of dynamics and pitches. It received

the greatest attention during the era of Classicism both in solo parts in

concertos and in the roles of a chamber music partner and an orchestral

instrument. It had to wait until the 20th century for works featuring it's

unaccompanied solo voice in it's full range of colours. Outstanding among

the composers who created such works are two figures who fundamentally

shaped musical thinking in the latter half of the 20th century: Luciano Berio

and Pierre Boulez. Commemorating the 100th anniversaries of both men's

birth, this recording covers their complete music for solo clarinet. Berio and

Boulez sought new ways to organise music in time and space, and both took

inspiration from poetry. Boulez gave symbolic expression to their quest:

"It must be our concern... to jettison the concept of a work as a simple journey

starting with a departure and ending with an arrival." One of the things that

inspired Berio's idea of "polyphonic music for a monophonic instrument"

were works by J. S. Bach. One of them, Partita in A minor for solo flute, is

heard on this recording in juxtaposition with the modernism of the 20th

century. The clarinettist Marek svejkar is a laureate of the Premier Prix from

Paris's prestigious Conservatoire National Superieur, and he has been a winner

of international competitions including events in Markneukirchen, Germany,

and in Carlino, Italy. He has appeared as a soloist with the Czech Philharmonic

and with Jiri Belohlavek, and having participated at the Karajan Academy

of the Berlin Philharmonic, he is now enrolled at the Accademia Nazionale

di Santa Cecilia in Rome under the tutelage of Alessandro Carbonare.

The elite circle of European clarinettists is now within Marek svejkar's reach.