Day 349
Boris Blacher: Clarinet concerto
Dimitri Ashkenazy
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Vladimir Ashkenazy
I came across Boris Blacher in youth orchestra when we played his variations on a theme of Paganini (yes it was that theme!). That piece had quite a vogue for a while (I recall it turning up on Desert Island Discs) but since then it has rather faded away. I did listen to some more Blacher after that early youth orchestra experience but I haven't heard any of his music for ages.
This clarinet concerto dates from 1971 but is it very much in the same idiom as those 1948 variations. It is very much a throwback to the idiom of the inter-war years, with a strong suggestion of Hindemith and Neo-classical Stravinsky with a touch of jazz-infused rhythms. I found it attractive without being memorable. Blacher had a huge output and although he was an influential figure in German music after the war (he was one of those whose music was condemned by the Nazis as degenerate) I doubt that he has much of a standing now, even in German. But I still do like those variations and they bring back happy memories of youth orchestra days and discovering new music. Something I am still doing more than 50 years later.
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