Hindemith: Clarinet Concerto, Clarinet Quartet & Clarinet Sonata Sharon Kam

• Paul Hindemith (1865 - 1963): Clarinet Concerto:
• 1Hindemith: Clarinet Concerto: I. Ziemlich schnell07:39
• 2Hindemith: Clarinet Concerto: II. Ostinato. Schnell02:08
• 3Hindemith: Clarinet Concerto: III. Ruhig06:31
• 4Hindemith: Clarinet Concerto: IV. Heiter05:57
• Clarinet Quartet:
• 5Hindemith: Clarinet Quartet: I. Mäßig bewegt07:22
• 6Hindemith: Clarinet Quartet: II. Sehr langsam08:45
• 7Hindemith: Clarinet Quartet: III. Mäßig bewegt10:32
• Clarinet Sonata:
• 8Hindemith: Clarinet Sonata: I. Mäßig bewegt05:16
• 9Hindemith: Clarinet Sonata: II. Lebhaft02:44
• 10Hindemith: Clarinet Sonata: III. Sehr langsam06:01
• 11Hindemith: Clarinet Sonata: IV. Kleines Rondo, gemächlich02:30
• Total Runtime01:05:25

Info for Hindemith: Clarinet Concerto, Clarinet Quartet & Clarinet Sonata

Even if some people still consider him “too modern” today, Hanau-born Hesse Paul Hindemith is undoubtedly one of the most influential German composers of the generation after Richard Strauss. Few of his immediate colleagues have found their way into the international repertoire to the same extent that he has, or influenced subsequent generations through comparably extensive educational work. All three works for clarinet featured on this recording date from years of extensive travel: the Quartet for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano was written in 1938 around the time of his emigration to Switzerland, the Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in 1939 during the course of the tours of the USA that immediately followed the emigration, and finally, the Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in 1947 (written for and premiered by Benny Goodman) when Hindemith left his American exile to visit Europe again for the first time after the Second World War.

Sharon Kam has teamed up with her long-standing musical partners Enrico Pace, Antje Weithaas and Julian Steckel for the chamber music part of the album, and with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony under the musical direction of Daniel Cohen for the Clarinet Concerto.

Sharon Kam, clarinet
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Daniel Cohen, conductor
Enrico Pace, piano

Sharon Kam
is one of the world’s leading clarinet soloists and has been working with renowned orchestras in the United States, Europe, and Japan for over 20 years. Mozart’s clarinet masterpieces have been an object of artistic focus for Ms. Kam since the beginning of her career. At the age of 16, she performed the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in her orchestral debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Zubin Mehta. A short time later, she performed the Clarinet Quintet with the Guarneri String Quartet in Carnegie Hall, New York.

As part of Mozart’s 250th birthday celebrations at the National Theatre in Prague, her interpretation of the Mozart concerto was televised live in 33 countries and is available on DVD. In the same year, she was able to realize her longtime dream of recording the Concerto and the Clarinet Quintet using the basset clarinet. Contributing to the widely praised disc were eminent string players Isabelle van Keulen, Ulrike-Anima Mathé, Volker Jacobsen and Gustav Rivinus, as well as the Haydn Philharmonie.

As a passionate chamber musician, Sharon Kam regularly works with artists such as Lars Vogt, Christian Tetzla , Enrico Pace, Daniel Müller-Schott, Leif Ove Andsnes, Carolin Widmann and the Jerusalem Quartet. She is a frequent guest at festivals in Schleswig-Holstein, Heimbach, Rheingau, Risør, Cork, Verbier, and Del , as well as the Schubertiade festival. She is also an active performer of contemporary music and has premiered works by Krzysztof Penderecki (the Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quartet), Herbert Willi (the Clarinet Concerto, at the Salzburg Festival), Iván Erőd and Peter Ruzicka (at Donaueschingen).

Sharon Kam feels at home in a variety of musical genres – from classical to modern music and jazz – a fact reected in her diverse discography. She received the ECHO “Instrumentalist of the Year” award two times: in 1998, for her Weber recording with the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig and Kurt Masur, and in 2006, for her CD with the Leipzig Radio Orchestra featuring works by Spohr, Weber, Rossini and Mendelssohn. Her “American Classics” disc with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by her husband Gregor Bühl, was awarded the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik Prize.

Her most recent recording is a CD entitled “Opera!” The critically acclaimed disc includes transcriptions of operatic arias by composers ranging from Rossini and Puccini to Wolf-Ferrari arranged for clarinet and chamber orchestra. The release was accompanied by an inaugural tour featuring Ms. Kam with the Württembergisches Kammerorchester, conducted by Ruben Gazarian. To mark the 100th anniversary of Max Reger’s death in 2016, her chamber music partners from her Mozart recording rejoined to record the clarinet quintets by Reger and Brahms.

Booklet for Hindemith: Clarinet Concerto, Clarinet Quartet & Clarinet Sonata