Starter Packs

Complete your collection with these curated titles, grouped at a special discount.

Shop Now
Chicago Clarinet Classics / John Bruce Yeh
Cedille

Chicago Clarinet Classics / John Bruce Yeh

$19.99

Details

Composer
Stacy Garrop, Robert Muczynski, Shulamit Ran, Teresa Reilly, Leo Sowerby, Alexander Tcherepnin
Artist
John Bruce Yeh, Patrick Godon, Teresa Reilly
Format
CD
Label
Cedille
Released
Mar 10, 2023
Catalog #
CDR 218
UPC
735131921824

About

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 composers 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 performs 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 Sonata 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.

REVIEWS:

John Bruce Yeh, longtime clarinetist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 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.

-- AllMusic.com (James Manheim)

John Bruce Yeh (b. 1957) is now the longest-serving clarinetist in CSO history, so it is not surprising that a series of events including being asked by the Chicago-based Cedille label about recording Leo Sowerby’s Wind Quintet would eventually lead to this album.

In the course of researching Sowerby, Yeh discovered his Sonata, a large, four-movement work that forms the centerpiece of this album. It is a solidly entertaining work; given that it was first published in 1944. While doing his research, Yeh next discovered the Tcherepnin Sonata, the sprightly little piece that leads off the program with a burst of joyous energy.

Although the whole album is enjoyable, especially if you are happen to be as big a fool for a clarinet as I am other highlights include the three pieces by women composers: Stacy Garrop’s colorful and evocative Phoenix Rising, in which Yeh is able to produce some startling tones from his instrument; Shulamit Ran’s Spirit, dedicated to a dear friend of the composer and expressing a wide range of emotion; and Teresa Reilly’s Train of Forgiveness, on which Yeh and Reilly play together, clearly enjoying the opportunity.

Don’t let the fact that this is music from the 20th and 21st centuries from composers with names that may be unfamiliar give the idea that this music must be harsh and forbidding. It is, rather, music that is enticing to the ear. Not syrupy sweet, but rather thoughtful and enduring. There are liner notes with helpful essays on the music and background information about the performers, and the sonics are up to the usual high Cedille standard.

-- Classical Candor

Tracklist 15 tracks

  1. 1 Clarinet Sonata in One Movement, Op. posth. 05:04
    Track
    1
    Title
    Clarinet Sonata in One Movement, Op. posth.
    Duration
    05:04
    Composer
    Nikolai Tcherepnin
    Performer
    John Bruce Yeh, Patrick Godon
  2. 2 I. Dying in embers 04:59
    Track
    2
    Title
    I. Dying in embers
    Duration
    04:59
    Composer
    Stacy Garrop
    Performer
    John Bruce Yeh
  3. 3 II. Reborn in flames 05:49
    Track
    3
    Title
    II. Reborn in flames
    Duration
    05:49
    Composer
    Stacy Garrop
    Performer
    John Bruce Yeh
  4. 4 I. Slow and sombre 05:46
    Track
    4
    Title
    I. Slow and sombre
    Duration
    05:46
    Composer
    Leo Sowerby
    Performer
    John Bruce Yeh, Patrick Godon
  5. 5 II. Exuberantly, but not too fast 05:07
    Track
    5
    Title
    II. Exuberantly, but not too fast
    Duration
    05:07
    Composer
    Leo Sowerby
    Performer
    John Bruce Yeh, Patrick Godon
  6. 6 III. Quietly flowing 07:43
    Track
    6
    Title
    III. Quietly flowing
    Duration
    07:43
    Composer
    Leo Sowerby
    Performer
    John Bruce Yeh, Patrick Godon
  7. 7 IV. Bright and merry 07:45
    Track
    7
    Title
    IV. Bright and merry
    Duration
    07:45
    Composer
    Leo Sowerby
    Performer
    John Bruce Yeh, Patrick Godon
  8. 8 Spirit 05:45
    Track
    8
    Title
    Spirit
    Duration
    05:45
    Composer
    Shulamit Ran
    Performer
    John Bruce Yeh
  9. 9 I. The Derailment of Fear 03:22
    Track
    9
    Title
    I. The Derailment of Fear
    Duration
    03:22
    Composer
    Teresa Reilly
    Performer
    John Bruce Yeh, Teresa Reilly
  10. 10 II. Gifts Beneath the Wounds 03:54
    Track
    10
    Title
    II. Gifts Beneath the Wounds
    Duration
    03:54
    Composer
    Teresa Reilly
    Performer
    John Bruce Yeh, Teresa Reilly
  11. 11 III. The Rhythm of Birth 04:06
    Track
    11
    Title
    III. The Rhythm of Birth
    Duration
    04:06
    Composer
    Teresa Reilly
    Performer
    John Bruce Yeh, Teresa Reilly
  12. 12 I. Allegro risoluto 02:44
    Track
    12
    Title
    I. Allegro risoluto
    Duration
    02:44
    Composer
    Robert Muczynski
    Performer
    John Bruce Yeh, Patrick Godon
  13. 13 II. Andante espressivo 06:06
    Track
    13
    Title
    II. Andante espressivo
    Duration
    06:06
    Composer
    Robert Muczynski
    Performer
    John Bruce Yeh, Patrick Godon
  14. 14 III. Allegro moderato 02:23
    Track
    14
    Title
    III. Allegro moderato
    Duration
    02:23
    Composer
    Robert Muczynski
    Performer
    John Bruce Yeh, Patrick Godon
  15. 15 IV. Introduction: Andante molto - Allegro energico 05:24
    Track
    15
    Title
    IV. Introduction: Andante molto - Allegro energico
    Duration
    05:24
    Composer
    Robert Muczynski
    Performer
    John Bruce Yeh, Patrick Godon