Clarinet sounds new and old brought to light
A review by Ruth L. Carver
Bermel and the CCP
Colorado Chamber Players offered a curious program mixing new and old on May 9 at St. John’s Cathedral. In an evening centered around guest artist and composer Derek Bermel, his clarinet played both starring and supporting roles in his own works and in the concluding Quintet for Clarinet and Strings by Johannes Brahms. The mix of textures and sounds achieved made for a fascinating look at a single instrument and its possibilities, with the intense support of CCP’s artists and artistry.
Petra (Anderson) Hogan, composer
Bermel has won wide acclaim and his presence here was a real coup for Denver audiences interested in new composition and radiant playing. With selections reaching back over twenty years, the first half of the program was a brief survey of Bermel’s compositional output, showing growth in creativity and an interest in non-classical genres and topics. Bermel was joined by CCP regulars Paul Primus and Andrew Cooperstock for Mulatash Stomp (1991) for clarinet, violin, and piano. Described by Bermel as an “all night party,” the piece displayed a dizzying array of effects and textures, sometimes sounding klezmer-like with its saucy clarinet part and wild rhythms. Colorado-born composer Petra Hogan was featured in a brief solo for Bermel, Rashim (2011), which Bermel brought to life with a mix of harmonics and low, guttural tones to start. The piece meandered with a subtle sense of direction into the upper registers of the clarinet, and a middle section made playful use of the clarinet’s register changes, which Bermel negotiated fluidly and with great style.
Cooperstock returned to the piano for a solo piano set, Bermel’s Funk Studies (1990), which began with an almost violent attack on a single note, before morphing into a somewhat cooler, jazz-influenced work. There was no obvious trace of “funk,” but the syncopated rhythms and Cooperstock’s purposeful, pointed playing gave this short set a lively air.
Bermel, CCP and audience after Boulder Library concert
The most successful of Bermel’s compositions was the most recent, A Short History of the Universe (2013), which closed the first half. Inspired by Bermel’s term as artist in residence at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, which brought him into daily contact with astronomers and physicists, the three-movement piece wonderfully combined the timbres of string quartet with clarinet. The first movement, “Multiverse,” had no obvious rhythmic or metrical structure, plaintively suggesting the vastness of space. Dolphin-like sounds from the clarinet and pitch-bending pizzicato from the strings constantly disrupted the ethereal expanse. “Heart of Space” likewise used some otherworldly effects, and its more formal structure centered around a ostinato pattern started in the second violin, gave this movement a fantastically evocative air. The final movement, “Twistor Scattering,” began with jaunty, uneven rhythms before suddenly shifting to an hymn-like chord progression above which the clarinet swirled unpredictably. Bermel and Primus were joined by Margaret Soper Gutierrez on violin, Barbara Hamilton on viola, and guest cellist Danielle Guideri. The ensemble gave this imaginative, vivid piece a fine and detailed reading.
Derek Bermel
Brahms’ Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 115 (1891) made for a somewhat gloomy close to the program, filling the second half with its densely-packed harmonies and late Romantic longing. The CCP and Bermel played with incredible finesse and expression throughout clearly drawing the chromatic richness of this piece while maintaining a sense of hushed urgency. Bermel was particularly effective in the second movement “Adagio – Più lento,” beautifully and effortlessly articulating his part as it blossomed from the balanced sound of the string quartet. This work comes late in Brahms’ output, and his maturity is evident in treating the clarinet as a fifth member of the ensemble rather than as a soloist supported by quartet. The elegant, old-world charm of his writing brought the concert to a close with the “Con moto (Theme and Variations)” movement. The sound of the clarinet (as played by Bermel) was the star of the evening, with a wonderful variety of effects and shadings produced in Bermel’s, Hogan’s, and finally Brahms’ writing. The mix of new and old brought compositional elements into focus, with CCP’s nuanced chamber playing as the lens.
Note: The CCP performed formal concerts with Derek Bermel at St. John’s Cathedral, Boulder Library Canyon Theatre, Opus Two Hall; and outreach concerts at East High School and on Colorado Public Radio in May 2014.
