From wordmadeflesh, from grooves and funk and reggae, to … ABC FM live from the Llewellyn Hall. It’s quite a discombobulating. This was a concert of fairly recent French music by Alan Vivian on clarinet, Alan Hicks on piano and Christina Wilson, mezzo-soprano. I felt most close to home with the final piece, Sonatina for clarinet and piano by Joseph Horowitz. It’s a modern work with major harmonies that are reminiscent of the jazz age and Gershwin. It’s not at all uncomfortable and the jazz-era likeness even fits the clarinet sounds, but it wasn’t my favourite. My favourite was Malcolm Arnold’s Sonatina for clarinet and piano, Op 29, which started the show and was very alive, punctuated with interesting chords and quite wry in its references. There was a very cute piece introduced as by a minor composer and which was quite lovely, Gabriel Pierné’s Canzonetta for clarinet and piano, Op 19. There were several songs by Charles Gounod, including an alternative Claire de Lune, and Claude Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie for clarinet and piano, which was all airy, arpeggiated chords, watery melodies and mystical dreams of nymphs. All very pretty and very identifiably Debussy. This was a civilised way to wile away an hour on a long, holiday weekend, and this one shared with all of Australia. Alan Hicks (piano) accompanied Alan Vivian (clarinet) and Christina Wilson (mezzo-soprano) at the Llewellyn Hall for a live broadcast to ABCFM. John Crawford was the compere for Sunday Live.
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