Composer: Stacy Garrop, Robert Muczynski, Shulamit Ran, Teresa Reilly, Leo Sowerby, Alexander Tcherepnin
Performer: John Bruce Yeh, Patrick Godon, Teresa Reilly
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Cedille
Catalogue: CDR90000218
Release: 2023
Size: 280 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
01. Tcherepnin: Clarinet Sonata in One Movement
Garrop: Phoenix Rising for Solo Clarinet
02. I. Dying in embers
03. II. Reborn in flames
Sowerby: Clarinet Sonata, H 240a
04. I. Slow and sombre
05. II. Exuberantly, but not too fast
06. III. Quietly flowing
07. IV. Bright and merry
08. Ran: Spirit for Solo Clarinet
Reilly: The Forgiveness Train for Two Clarinets
09. I. The Derailment of Fear
10. II. Gifts Beneath the Wounds
11. III. The Rhythm of Birth
Muczynski: Time Pieces, Op. 43
12. I. Allegro risoluto
13. II. Andante espressivo
14. III. Allegro moderato
15. IV. Introduction. Andante molto – Allegro energico
John Bruce Yeh, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s celebrated assistant principal clarinet and solo E-flat clarinet for over 40 years, headlines a program of lyrical and engaging chamber and solo works by noteworthy Windy City compos-ers of the past and present, including three world-premiere recordings. Yeh, with Patrick Godon, the Chicago Symphony’s principal keyboardist, and freelance clarinetist Teresa Reilly, who per-forms with the CSO at home and on tour, presents mid-20th-century works by Alexander Tcherepnin and Leo Sowerby, a late-century work by Robert Muczynski, and recent pieces by Stacy Garrop, Shulamit Ran, and clarinetist Reilly. World-premiere recordings include the album’s centerpiece, Sowerby’s witty and inventive 1938 Sonata for Clarinet and Piano; Ran’s tender, heartfelt Spirit for solo B-flat Clarinet; and Reilly’s The Forgiveness Train for two clarinets, an insistently rhythmic, pandemic-fueled dreamscape about personal peril amid natural beauty. Garrop’s dramatic Phoenix Rising — a world-premiere recording of the version for clarinet — depicts the fiery death and triumphant rebirth of the Phoenix of Greek and Egyptian myth. The album opens with Tcherepnin’s vivacious Sona-ta in one movement for clarinet and piano. Muczynski’s Time Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, a popular repertoire staple, brings the program to a brilliant close.
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 Yeh is joined by Reilly, his spouse. It is quite an effective bespoke work, with constantly absorbing contrasts in tone between the two clarinets. Yeh 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 of 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.