German Romantic Music For Clarinet And Piano

"He [Halevi] and Greenberg make a focused and ideally balanced team." The Guardian This new release from Cobra Records begins and ends with the two immortal sonatas for clarinet and piano by Johannes Brahms. Not only heavyweights of the clarinet repertoire, these two sonatas also represent a high point of 19th century German Romanticism at its most mature stage, moments before it gave way to Modernism. These two masterpieces, somewhat underrepresented in the CD catalogue, are here given a thoughtful, fresh and exciting new interpretation on this recording. The Brahms sonatas are partnered with Schumann's Fantasiestucke, which set off this musical journey through German Romanticism, and which stand at the heart of the CD. The CD also includes a world premiere recording of Sven- Ingo Koch's Hommages for clarinet and piano, giving a first chance for musicians and music-lovers alike to acquaint themselves with this hauntingly rich and expressive piece of music, one which deserves to find its place, alongside Schumann, Brahms, and Berg, at the heart of the clarinet repertoire. Chen Halevi is one the world's leading clarinettists and is accompanied on this recording by Noam Greenberg who resides in London and is the artistic director for Music at Tresanton, a festival he founded in Cornwall in 2006.