Paul Hindemith - Clarinet Concerto, Quartet & Sonata (Sharon Kam)

Information

Composer: Paul Hindemith

• Clarinet Concerto
• Clarinet Quartet
• Clarinet Sonata

Sharon Kam, clarinet

Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra

Daniel Cohen, conductor

Antje Weithaas, violin

Julian Steckel, cello

Enrico Pace, piano

Date: 2021

Label: Orfeo

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Review

Israeli-born, Hanover-resident Sharon Kam (b1971) studied with Charles Neidich at the Juilliard School in New York. In a successful global career, she has evolved, as the late Edward Greenfield noted (12/11), ‘an exceptionally wide expressive range’, based primarily in Mozart (10/98, 12/11), Weber (7/03) and Brahms (12/09, 2/16) but taking in 20th-century music from Reger (2/16) and Penderecki’s Concerto (12/99) to jazz. Her playing has at times divided opinion in these pages – even from EG – but her later recordings have met with much greater acclaim, as in 6/13 when David Patrick Stearns praised her ‘lovely, warm tone and seamless legato’.

I am happy to report that her playing of Hindemith amply demonstrates that last judgement. Hindemith was, by all accounts, no mean player himself and wrote idiomatically for the instrument. Kam’s beauty of tone and expressive understanding of a composer sometimes thought problematic – though I have never understood why! – is audible throughout the Concerto (1947), in an account that is a match for any of her rivals’. If not perhaps as mercurial as Martin Fröst (BIS), her playing is more aligned to Hindemith’s sensibilities, scarcely less than Louis Cahuzac’s under the composer’s direction in their still marvellous-sounding mid-1950s EMI recording (much reissued, now available from Warner). The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Cohen provide first-rate support in top-notch sound.

The couplings are, to my mind, even finer than the concerto. The 1939 Sonata is one of the best ever penned for the instrument while the 1938 Quartet for clarinet, violin, cello and piano is simply one of the great chamber works of the 20th century. Kam’s understanding and rapport with her colleagues here, particularly pianist Enrico Pace, are manifestly complete. This is a strong rival to Paul Meyer and Eric Le Sage’s recent account of the Sonata, and I do not know of a stronger rival for the Quartet currently available.

— Guy Rickards

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Paul Hindemith (16 November 1895 – 28 December 1963) was a German composer and theorist. Studied in Frankfurt, he gained early experience as a violinist and became a prominent composer by the late 1920s. His works range from chamber music and song cycles to operas such as Mathis der Maler. He taught in Turkey, the United States and Switzerland. Opposed to twelve-tone techniques, he sought to revitalize tonality, developing his own harmonic theory, outlined in The Craft of Musical Composition. Hindemith also promoted Gebrauchsmusik ("utility music"), viewing composers as craftsmen serving social needs

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Sharon Kam (born 11 August 1971) is an Israeli–German clarinetist. She began playing the clarinet at age 12, and later studied at the Juilliard School. Kam rose to prominence after winning the ARD International Competition at the age of 21. Since then She has performed with leading orchestras worldwide and is an active chamber musician and festival participant. A strong advocate of contemporary music, she has premiered numerous works. Her award-winning recordings span both standard repertoire and lesser-known pieces. Since 2022, she has been teaching at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover.

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