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American Record Guide

Clarinetist, pianist, and musicologist Ronald Woodley is now Professor Emeritus at the Royal Birmingham Conservatory (RBC); and keyboardist Andrew West is currently professor of chamber music and accompaniment at both the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal Academy of Music in London. In the mid- 1990s, during West’s residency at Lancaster University, they began performing as a clarinet-and-piano duo; and they join forces again here for a program of 20th Century and contemporary British composers who have written for their medium, using the soprano clarinet, the bass clarinet, and the basset horn. 

Elisabeth Lutyens (1906-83) appears twice: `This Green Tide’ for basset horn and piano, written in 1974 for clarinetist and basset horn champion Georgina Dobree (1930-2008); and `5 Little Pieces’ for sopra- no clarinet and piano, completed in 1945 for the renowned clarinetist Frederick Thurston (1901-53). Edward Cowie (b. 1943) turns to his wife, Australian painter Heather Jean Cowie, for inspiration in Heather Jean Nocturnes, a 5-movement art gallery for bass clarinet and piano. 

In the first few months of the pandemic lockdown, Woodley contacted Christopher Fox (b. 1955) about playing again an older piece of his; but the composer insisted on new composition. Finished in August 2020, `This has happened before’ is a minimalist clarinet quartet that Woodley performs here with bass clarinet. 

When Woodley requested former RBC composition lecturer Liz Dilnot Johnson (b. 1964) to craft a work for basset horn and piano, she responded with `The Space Between Heaven and Earth’, a short 4- movement suite that ruminates on Greek mythology, medieval song, trauma recovery, and the seasons. in the early days of the COVID-19 scare, Woodley contacted Tanglewood Composition Fellow Angela Elizabeth Slater (b. 1989) about a short piece for bass clarinet and piano. Her `Around the Darkening Sun’ is a contemplation on the pandemic and the inevitable expiration of the heart of our solar system. 

The proud Scot Morris Pert (1947-2010) began his career as a prize-winning classical composer and percussionist, fulfilling several high-profile BBC commissions for large-scale choral and orchestral works. He was also a busy jazz and rock drummer; and in time he shifted to that line of work, appearing on stage with several famous British pop musicians, including Elvis Costello, Peter Gabriel, and Phil Collins. In 1972, at the age of 24, he wrote for Georgina Dobree the headline piece on this album: Luminos, a 16-minute tone poem for basset horn and piano that embraces all the strands of 20th Century modernism and pushes the keyboardist to execute several uncanny special effects. 

And yet, for all this context, the music is decidedly abstract and difficult to grasp. The English countenance of Elgar, Holst, Vaughan Williams, and even Benjamin Britten, who pursued a more internationalist vein, are long gone, replaced by bizarre, over-intellectual musings that seem devoid of identity. 

Woodley pours his soul into the entire program, shaping each phrase with a wide range of dynamics and executing all requested extended techniques, from flutter-tonguing to multiphonics. His diffuse sound has roots in the British clarinet dialect of the past; and his articulation can be either somewhat wild or impressively disciplined. West is a first-rate keyboardist, handling the demands of each score with marvelous dexterity.