COMPOSERS: Christopher Fox,Gavin Bryars And Ennio Morricone,Glyn Perrin,Morton Feldman,Steve Reich,Tom Johnson,Walter Zimmermann
LABELS: Clarinet Classics
ALBUM TITLE: Collection: Roger Heaton
WORKS: Music by Steve Reich, Glyn Perrin, Walter Zimmermann, Tom Johnson, Morton Feldman, Christopher Fox, Gavin Bryars and Ennio Morricone
PERFORMER: Roger Heaton (clarinets), Simon Limbrick (percussion), Dave Smith (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: CC 0009 DDD
Roger Heaton’s collection of contemporary music for clarinets comprises works by eight leading composers, all written within the last 15 years, including two which were specially composed for this disc. The music is stylistically varied, ranging from the one-and-a-half-minute Rational Melody No. 1 by Tom Johnson, a repeated six-note melody played by a solo bass clarinet, to the large-scale ensemble works of Steve Reich and Gavin Bryars. The best known and most widely performed is Reich’s New York Counterpoint, an immediately attractive work scored for 11 clarinets, all multi-tracked to produce a homogenous sound. Roger Heaton plays with tremendous vitality and, as he does throughout the disc, reveals great musical commitment. Gavin Bryars’s Three Elegies for Nine Clarinets, one of the pieces commissioned for this recording, is hauntingly beautiful, with long lyrical lines and rich harmonic textures, and Heaton displays both sensitivity and virtuosity, with some particularly impressive altissimo bass clarinet playing. Despite some reservations concerning the sound quality – occasional examples of excessive key noise (Bryars) and some painfully shrill high notes (Fox) – this is an important recording for all clarinet players and enthusiasts which may surprise some who are wary of contemporary music. Tim Payne