A salutary effect of the
Cedille
label's work over the years has been its exposure of the depth of the composition scene in and around the city of Chicago. One may find it surprising that there is an album's worth of high-quality clarinet compositions from Chicago, but the clarinetist here,
John Bruce Yeh
, is responsible for some of them.
Yeh
, a longtime clarinetist with the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
(he was invited to join at 19), has commissioned various contemporary works, several of which are heard here. One,
Teresa Reilly
's
The Forgiveness Train
, is a duet for two clarinets, in which
is joined by
Reilly
, his spouse. It is quite an effective bespoke work, with constantly absorbing contrasts in tone between the two clarinets.
is also persuasive in the demanding
Spirit for solo B flat clarinet
of
Shulamit Ran
. There are older works, including the
Time Pieces for clarinet and piano, Op. 43
, of
Robert Muczynski
, the only piece in the whole bunch that has any kind of currency on the concert stage. Listeners may be surprised to note the presence of the
Clarinet Sonata in one movement
Alexander Tcherepnin
on the program, but he lived and taught in Chicago in his later years. Is there a consistent Chicago thread connecting these composers? Maybe not, but the program has a certain consistency, and it is beautifully played by one of the world's leading orchestral clarinetists. ~ James Manheim