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Céleste Zewald debut CD Céleste Zewald (clarinet) and Jaap Kooi (piano) Céleste Zewald's debut recital on CD with pianist Jaap Kooi reinforces the excellent impression this Amsterdam-based clarinettist made at the Wigmore Hall's Rising Stars Day (ECHO) during the Easter Weekend. As there, her programming for the CD is astute. Schumann is represented by his Romances, originally for oboe; published sensibly by Simrock also for clarinet, despite the composer's express countermand. The clarinet is ideally suited to these melancholic songs without words, and they make a welcome change from the better known Fantasiestücke. Balance and rapport is perfect, likewise in the far more demanding Brahms sonata - here the clarinet is the original, the viola a successful alternate. This is a peak of the clarinet repertoire, equally demanding for the pianist, his part judiciously played with authority and complete command of its textures, which need clarifying, by Jaap Kooi (who also writes the liner notes) - as fine a performance of this masterwork as any on record. The recorded programme begins with the Poulenc sonata, which ended their Wigmore Hall recital together to fine effect, and here they finish instead with a very welcome novelty, the 24-year old Lenny Bernstein's first published work, an accomplished sonata (1948)with a typically tricky piano part; a jazz influenced work for the clarinet, which 'can best explore this border-area between two worlds: only she can dream like this, and at the same time yell and rage'. Clarinet enthusiasts should certainly acquire this CD by a Rising Star from the Netherlands, produced as part of the valuable Philip Morris Arts Prize 2002. |
