Arnold Cooke: Sonata For Clarinet & Piano

"A fabulous work for the clarinet repertoire. It is reminiscent of the Hindemith Sonata, indeed Arnold Cooke was a student of Hindemith I believe, and there are moments, the 2nd movement especially in which you can hear some of Hindemith's earlier work. It is in four movements which are brilliantly presented.
The first movement is largely based around musicianship with only a very few technical moments. I can only describe the melody as expansive and flowing. The piano has some wonderful moments in this movement especially in the two major buildups leading to two different climaxes, which when executed correctly are breathtaking.
The second movement is far more rhythmic and although more technical than the first it is not tremendously difficult. Cooke is masterful in his composition of this movement integrating multimeter rhythms over common time signatures. This movement requires perfect execution of both parts to be effective as Cooke interweaves the two in a kind of dialogue which verges on the brink of stumbling over itself time and time again.
The third movement is the slow movement of the work and is exquisite. I felt it was the most difficult of the four movements as it is extremely slow and the phrases are so long that it requires a great deal of control and finesse -something I think I failed to do in execution- It is very beautiful and is, in fact, my favorite movement of the entire work.
The final movement is the most challenging techincally speaking and demands some awkward fingerings if one lacks an Eb auxilary lever. It is 3 and half pages long but is a fast 6/8 so it zips right by.
Depending on your programing, I would put this piece on the first half of your recital as it doesn't finish with the kind of flair one might expect at the end, but it does quite nicely to finish a first half before intermission. A challenging work to put together with a pianist and as a whole is rather taxing but well worth the time and effort."

Rating:3/18/2004

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