Fox, C.: Clarinet Quintet / Feldman, M.: Clarinet and String Quartet

Album review

The pairing of Christopher Fox's Clarinet Quintet (1992) and Morton Feldman's Clarinet and String Quartet (1983) may seem unbalanced and peculiar, since these works appear to have little in common beyond their shared instrumentation. Fox's short, rhythmically active work is rather stiff and matter-of-fact in its punchy repetitions, while Feldman's music is almost otherworldly in its expansive, hypnotic stasis. There are some points of similarity, most notably in the composers' mutual interest in microtones and the close attention they pay to small intervals. There is also a tendency in both works for the clarinet to weave in and out of the strings' textures, perhaps due in both cases to a rethinking of the instrument's customary soloistic role. But in the end, Feldman's work is more affecting in its haunting harmonies and gently unfolding designs; in comparison, Fox's Quintet seems overly thought-out, game-like, and unmoving. Clarinetist Roger Heaton joins violinists Mieko Kanno and Davide Rossi, violist Bridget Carey, and cellist Sophie Harris in the sensitive performance of Feldman's meditative piece, and their controlled playing over its great duration -- 43:26 -- is admirable. However, they seem much less impressed with Fox's choppy, disconnected Quintet and deliver it with clinical dryness. Metier's sound is fine.
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