Vivacious Meyer and partner sparkle in these delicious French pieces

Sabine Meyer’s credentials as a solo clarinettist need no advocacy from me; they are already borne out by a number of fine EMI recordings, especially of Mozart. Here she turns to delectable French music with equal success, well partnered by Oleg Maisenberg. She opens with Saint-Saëns, as melodically engaging as ever but more pensive in mood than usual – perhaps because it is a late work, written in his last year – until the vivacious closing Molto allegro, when both let their hair down. The delightful Poulenc Sonata follows, with tristamente and très calme dominating the mood of the first two movements, but again a burst of high spirits in the Allegro confuoco finale (très animé – and how!).

François Devienne takes us back to the second half of the 18th century. He was primarily a flautist (and wrote a treatise for the one-key instrument) but he well understood the possibilities of the C clarinet and anticipated the kind of music Weber was going to write, elegant, graceful and virtuosic, in Devienne’s case pleasing, but not truly memorable. However, the dashing closing work has all those attributes and wit too, plus irresistible audacity in its infectious Brazilian finale. Originally written for piano duo, Milhaud’s Scaramouche is a minor masterpiece and it sounds terrific here with Meyer leading the piano with her irresistible roulades. A most winning disc, truthfully recorded, with the clarinet dominating.

-- Ivan March, Gramophone [6/2007]