A wonderful sense of sheer delight permeates every minute of
this richly enjoyable disc. It comes from the tonal beauty and
sheer joyful facility of Martin Fröst’s playing;
from the impressive musicality of everything that goes on in
the changing groupings of friends involved on the disc; in the
fact that they are all friends, a sense of intimate -
but far from lazy - familiarity evident in all the musical relationships
to be heard here. Of none is that truer than of the partnership
of Martin Fröst and Roland Pöntinen. Though Fröst’s
clarinet is, given the nature of the music, necessarily the
dominant voice in the music that he and Pöntinen play together,
it would be quite wrong to speak of Pöntinen merely as
an accompanist. The interplay of the two is so complete, their
pleasure in one another’s musical company so obvious that
this feels like musical symbiosis, not simply soloist and accompanist.
The opening transcription from Scriabin, full of slow melodic
playing (from both) of great beauty, was written, Fröst’s
entertaining booklet notes tell us, before the two were fully-fledged
professional musicians. Like much else on the disc it is, in
the highest sense, ‘amateur’ music-making, done,
in other words, out of love rather than for mere income.
There isn’t a dull track on the disc, listening to which
is, at times, like being present at a particularly happy musical
party. So, for example, Let’s Be Happy is thoroughly infectious,
especially in its movement from its melancholic opening to its
later companionable secular ecstasy of sociability. In The Flight
of the Bumble Bee’ the contribution of mezzo Malena Ernman
is joyously interwoven with clarinet and piano in quasi-mesmeric
fashion, rich in eccentricity, humour and virtuosity. Again,
delightful! The Czardas - which in his booklet notes Fröst
relates to memories of his parents’ parties - starts calmly
enough but grows increasingly exhilarated (and exhilarating)
to close with a good - and carefully controlled - impression
of musical inebriety. Henryson’s Off Pist is full of skittering
motions and motoric patterns, Abrupt changes of direction, jazz
inflections, Swedish folk elements - an exciting miniature packed
with surprises.
But there is tenderness and lyrical beauty too. The Brahms and
Schumann pieces are true ‘songs without words, Dein Angesicht
a model of restrained, unpompous dignity; the Chopin Nocturne
luxuriates in emotional expressiveness without ever seeming
merely self-indulgent.
Some of the unfamiliar or unexpected items also fare very well.
Smile is relatively slight, but Chaplin’s music is played
with respect and some surprising depths are revealed in this
perceptive arrangement. Fröst’s own Improvisation
- which will interest admirers of Malcolm Arnold - is full of
tenebrous imaginings at its opening, evolving through complex
runs and leaps, some of them bluesy in phrasing. The whole is
self-evidently the work of a clarinettist who has a full and
mature understanding of the technical and aural possibilities
of his instrument. This is music played out of a lifetime’s
experience.
The same might be said for the disc as a whole - but it is a
lifetime in which the performer’s experience, far from
wearying him, has sustained - and perhaps even increased - his
joy in what he does. It is that joy which characterises all
the performances here. Played on my ipod this recital has sustained
me through more than one potentially irritating delay on the
trains; played at home it has attracted admiring comments from
more than just myself.
Glyn Pursglove
Track listing
Alexander SCRIABIN (1872-1915), arr. Pöntinen,
M. Fröst
Prelude in B major, Op.16, No.1 [3:03] a
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750) / Charles
GOUNOD (1818-1893)
Ave Maria [2:32] b
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Presto, from Sonata for solo violin in G minor, BWV 1001 [3:15]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Wie Melodien zieht es mir, Op.105 No.1 [2:02] a
TRADITIONAL , arr. Göran Fröst
Let’s Be Happy [3:23] c
Nikolai RIMSKY-KORSAKOV (1844-1908), arr. Pöntinen,
M. Fröst, M. Ernman
The Flight of the Bumble Bee [1:07] d
Fritz KREISLER (1875-1962), arr. Pöntinen, M.
Fröst
Liebeslied [3:41] a
André MESSAGER (1853-1929)
Solo de Concours [5:40] a
Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873-1943), arr. Leonard Rose
Vocalise [6:08] a
Fryderyk CHOPIN (1810-1849), arr. Pöntinen, M.
Fröst
Nocturne in E flat major, Op.9 No.2 [4:42] a
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
Dein Angesicht, Op.127 No.2 a
Vittorio MONTI (1868-1922) , arr. Pöntinen, M.
Fröst
Csárdás [4:52] a
Anders HILLBORG (b.1954)
The Peacock Moment (Påfågelsögonblick) [1:08]
a
Martin FRÖST (b.1970)
Improvisation (based on a theme by Malcolm Arnold) [2:26]
Charles CHAPLIN (1889-1977), arr. R. Pöntinen
Smile [4:02] a
Göran FRÖST (b.1974)
Brudvals för Karin och Martin [3:07] e
Svante HENRYSON (b.1963)
Off Pist [4:33] f
Eden AHBEZ (1908-1995)
Nature Boy [2:38] g
Other performers
a Roland Pöntinen; b Torlief Thedéen
(cello); c Christian Svarfvar, Åsa Hallerbäck
Thedéen (violin), Göran Fröst (viola), Torlief
Thedéen (cello), Svante Henryson (bass); d
Malena Ernman (mezzo), Roland Pöntinen; e Herman Stefánsson,
Sölve Kingstedt (clarinet), Åsa Hallerbäck Thedéen,
Christian Svarfvar (violin), Göran Fröst (viola),
Torlief Thedéen (cello), Svante Henryson (bass); f
Svante Henryson (cello); g Torlief Thedéen
(cello), Svante Henryson (bass)
Martin Fröst (clarinet) other performers listed below
[64:04] 
