KONCERTI ZA KLARINET - CLARINET CONCERTOS - FINZI - FRANÇAIX - KREK - ŽURAJ

Classical and Modern Music

Format: CD

Code: 114045

EAN: 3838898114045

When dipping into the comparatively rich repertoire of concertante works for clarinet and orchestra, clarinettists these days have a wide palette from which to choose: from the classicism of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his contemporaries Franz Kramář and Carl Philip Stamitz in the 18th century and the romanticism of Carl Maria von Weber, Louis Spohr and Gaetano Donizetti in 19th, to classics of the 20th century such as Debussy’s famous Rhapsodies, works by Nielsen, Finzi and Hindemith, and to post-war modernists and the avant-garde, where the playing techniques of wind instruments – including the clarinet – are significantly extended. Slovenian composers have made their contributions to this repertoire as well, usually at the request of excellent Slovenian performers and pedagogues – artists who over generations have established a true clarinet school in addition to excellent chamber ensembles and wind orchestras. Slovenian composers, from Lucijan Marija Škerjanc, Dane Škerl, Pavel Šivic, Uroš Krek and Janez Gregorc to Uroš Rojko and the younger generation of internationally successful composers represented most visibly by Vito Žuraj, have written a fair number of not only chamber and solo works, but also interesting concertante works as well.
Clarinettist Jože Kotar has already made a rich contribution to the archives of Slovenian Radio and can be heard on recordings of chamber and orchestral pieces with both principal Slovenian orchestras, the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra and the Slovenian Philharmonic, as well as with various chamber ensembles. For the current release he has chosen recordings of pieces composed in the first years following the Second World War (the three-movement Concerto for clarinet and orchestra [1948-49] by Gerald Finzi) up until the new century (the Concerto for clarinet and orchestra [2008] by Vito Žuraj). Joining him on the playfully virtuosic four-movement Double Concerto for clarinet, flute and orchestra by Jean Françaix, composed in Paris in November 1991, is the equally accomplished soloist, flutist Milena Lipovšek. The Concert Fantasy for clarinet and orchestra (1987) by Uroš Krek, a veritable classic of 20th century Slovenian music, rounds out the album.
It is interesting how entirely different the poetic worlds represented by the Finzi and Françaix concertos are on the one hand and the single-movement concerto works by the Slovenian composers on the other. If the first two seem to be particularly focused on creating prime interpretive opportunities for the soloist, framed by skillfully written orchestral parts in a formally conventional structure, the two Slovenian pieces, which are formally more modern, are more ambitious and expressive. The latter are not just concertante opportunities for a skilled soloist in which the orchestra dutifully accompanies, but rather they are distinctively expressed symphonic concertante works where both soloist and orchestra convincingly narrate a common story through absolute music.
Krek’s Concert Fantasy was premiered by clarinettist Slavko Goričar and the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Hans Graf on June 24, 1988, while Žuraj’s Concerto for clarinet and orchestra was first performed May 21, 2009, with clarinettist Sebastian Manz and the German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Saarbrücken led by Johannes Kalitzke.

Mojca Menart
(Translated by: Steven Loy)
 

Clarinettist and pedagogue Jože Kotar lives and works in Ljubljana, where for 12 years he served as principal clarinet of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra. Currently he holds the same position with the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra. He is tenured professor of clarinet at the Academy of Music and also teaches at the Conservatory for Music and Ballet, both in the Slovenian capital.
He regularly performs in Slovenia and throughout Europe, the United States and South America as a soloist, chamber musician and a member of various ensembles. He has led master classes for clarinet and chamber music in Croatia, Serbia, Italy, Hungary, Belgium, Israel, Ireland and Brazil, is frequently a member of juries at international competitions and is a regular guest at Slovenian and foreign festivals. He has performed and recorded as a soloist with many orchestras, led by conductors such as Marko Letonja, Uroš Lajovic, Marko Munih, George Pehlivanian, Roger Boutry, Tetsui Honna, David Itkin, Benoît Fromanger, David de Villiers and others.
He has given the world premieres, both as a soloist and as a member of numerous chamber ensembles, of more than 190 works by many composers both Slovenian (including Primož Ramovš, Pavel Mihelčič, Lojze Lebič, Ivo Petrić, Nenad Firšt, Marko Mihevc, Jani Golob, Maks Strmčnik, Janez Gregorc, Črt Sojar Voglar, Larisa Vrhunc, Urška Pompe and others) and foreign.
He is a member, co-founder and artistic director of the Slovenian Clarinet Orchestra and the Slovenian Clarinet Sextet, and is also a member many other ensembles including the Ariart Woodwind Quintet (with whom he received the Bettetova Prize in 2007), the Woodwind Trio of the Slovenian Philharmonic and the contemporary music ensemble MD7, with whom he received the first Lipovšek Prize in 2013. Since 2007 he has been the conductor and artistic director of the Trbovlje Workers Wind Orchestra.
He has recorded numerous compact discs, including four solo albums (with the Slovenian Philharmonic String Quartet, harpist Nicoletta Sanzin Fabri and the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra) and nine discs with ensembles, including the Ariart Wind Quintet, the ensemble MD7, the Slovenian Clarinet Quartet, the Slovenian Clarinet Sextet and the Slovenian Philharmonic Wind Trio. He has twice recorded the Rossini Introduzione, tema e variazioni, first with the Slovenian Police Orchestra and another with the Trbovlje Workers Wind Orchestra in a live concert in the Netherlands.


Milena Lipovšek is principal flute of the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra. She graduated with distinction from the Ljubljana Academy of Music in 1998, where in 2004 she completed post-graduate specialist studies with a performance of the Françaix Flute Concerto. She continued her training at numerous masterclasses with many well known professors and is the recipient of many first prizes at national competitions.
She has performed with the orchestra of Opera Lyon in France, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP), the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the orchestra of the Slovenian National Theater Opera and Ballet, Ljubljana.
Both as a solo flutist and a member of chamber formations she has given the world premieres of numerous works by Slovenian and foreign composers, performing in Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Belgium, Great Britain, Brazil, Montenegro, Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia, the United States and Australia. Many of her recordings can be found in the archive of Slovenian Radio and in 2006 she released her first CD, featuring works by Russian composers for flute and piano. Her success as a pedagogue at such institutions as the Conservatory for Music and Ballet Ljubljana and the High School for the Arts of the First High School in Celje, as well as at master classes in Slovenia and abroad, is reflected in the international success of her students. She is also professionally and scientifically active in the field of psychotherapy.

Since its foundation in 1955, the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra has established itself as an important component of Slovenian culture with archive recordings, concerts and guest appearances at renowned festivals throughout the world. It has been led by conductors Uroš Prevoršek, Samo Hubad, Stanislav Macura, Anton Nanut, Lior Shambadal and David de Villiers, and in September 2006 the position of chief conductor was taken over by the superb Chinese maestro En Shao, who has thrilled audiences with his penetrating and mature interpretations. The orchestra performs and records an extensive and diverse repertoire embracing almost the entire Slovenian symphonic output and a major part of the international symphonic repertoire, as testified to by the orchestra's international discography, which has been accompanied with excellent international reviews. In recent seasons, the orchestra has performed numerous resounding concerts at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Vienna's Musikverein and Konzerthaus, the Cologne Philharmonic Hall and elsewhere in Europe. The RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra is a member of the international network of orchestras ONE® - Orchestra Network Europe.

TRACKS:

Gerald Finzi: Clarinet Concerto, op.31
1. I.  Allegro vigoroso  8:00 (listen!)
2. II. Adagio ma senza rigore 11:15
3. III. Rondo: Allegro giocoso 8:17

Jean Françaix: Double concerto for flute, clarinet and orchestra
4. I.  Adagietto – Allegro moderato 5:05
5. II. Andante 4:11
6. III. Scherzando – Trio 4:08
7. IV. Rondo 5:05

8. Uroš Krek: Concert fantasy for clarinet and orchestra 12:12

9. Vito Žuraj: Clarinet concerto 14:20