Reviewed 9 September 2025
Four contrasting contemporary works for the intriguing combination of clarinet and wind orchestra played by a British clarinettist with a fine Hungarian ensemble
In 2021, clarinettist Peter Cigleris released Rediscovered, a disc of forgotten British clarinet concertos from the 1930s and 1940s [see my review], and his subsequent recordings on SOMM included a disc of music by Ruth Gipps, and a disc of British chamber music, Eclogue.
He is continuing his quest, but his latest disc Clarinet Concertos on SOMM casts its net rather further afield. Along with the Hungarian ensemble, Győr Symphonic Band, Cigleris has recorded four works for solo clarinet and wind orchestra, including two world-premiere recordings. These are conducted by László Marosi, the world’s foremost authority on Hungarian wind music, and Ferenc Szabó, the founder of the Györ Symphonic Band.
The concertos are Concerto Semplice by Hungarian composer Frigyes Hidas, Concerto for Clarinet and Band by British composer Simon Milton, the Concerto for Clarinet and Wind Orchestra by American composer David Maslanka, and the Clarinet Concerto by one of the leading Japanese composers of music for wind instruments, Satoshi Yagisawa.
Györ Symphonic Band is quite a substantial ensemble with over 50 players being listed in the booklet. The disc has an excellent booklet note by Robert Matthew-Walker which presents each of the composers and their works, but fails to answer an intriguing question. What came first? Is this a disc aimed at presenting Györ Symphonic Band in a selection of diverse repertoire, or is it aimed at presenting concertos for clarinet and wind band? If this latter, Matthew-Walker's note fails to explain the fascination of this genre, why it is generally so neglected and why focus on it now? Thus, though the disc is remarkably enjoyable, there are questions hanging over it.
Despite his prolific output, music by Frigyes Hidas remains little known outside his native Hungary. His Concerto Semplice (Clarinet Concerto No. 2) was written in 1977 in a version for clarinet and string orchestra. It was so well received, that the composer create a new version for clarinet and wind orchestra which appeared in 1996. The work is in three movements, Allegro giocoso, Sostenuto and Allegro.
Frigyes Hidas spent much of the 1950s to the 1970s working as musical director in first the Hungarian National Theatre and the Budapest Operetta Theatre, and judging by this concerto his music has an immediacy and approachability. More than that, there is almost a flavour of a Light Music composer such as Eric Coates here too. The opening Allegro giocoso is full of colour and movement, with a popular feel to it, yet all done with a great deal of charm. The second movement, Sostenuto is slow and lyrical with long clarinet lines interweaving with the orchestral wind, crating something touching. The Allegro finale is great fun, full of engaging, perky drama.
Born in Cornwall, Simon Milton studied with John Pickard and in 1999 he won the Cornish Young Composers Competition. His output includes a number of works for clarinet, and Peter Cigleris gave the premiere of his Sonatina in One Movement. The work is in three movement, Fragments with Cadenza, Ecstasy: Moderately and expressively and Finale: With humour.
The first movement, Fragments with Cadenza, begins with fragments of rather edgy percussion material, the intense clarinet solo then being accompanied by some rather haunted music which overall gives a very filmic feel to the drama which climaxes in an intense cadenza, again with some rather eerie percussion. The second movement, Ecstasy: Moderately and expressively, is intense and edgy, real powerful stuff. The final is lively, yet has a dark rather filmic edge to it. The movement is marked 'with humour' yet I find it rather intense, and as the material develops there is a relentlessness to it. Powerful, but not really humorous.
David Maslanka was born in Massachusetts and died in Montana. He studied with H Owen Reed, the composer and teacher who was a pupil of Schoenberg, Copland and Roy Harris. He wrote a significant number of works for concert band including the Concerto for Clarinet and Wind Orchestra in 2014. The work is in two substantial movements, Lamentation and Dance. Lamentation begins with a sense of slow build, and a clarinet part which seems to hint at Spanish influences. When the piano arpeggio figures come in, the ear is immediately drawn to a Bach/Gounod Ave Maria-like sound word, though for reasons that are not apparent. The movement has a strange, unresolved feel and though the composer describes it as free improvisation there seems a hidden story somewhere. Dance begins vivid and lively with hints of Bernstein, yet is suddenly vibrantly hymn-like. A fast, intense clarinet solo leads to a cadenza and, after some quietly touching material with piano, ultimately to an engaging up tempo end. As with the first movement, we feel that we are missing the story.
Satoshi Yagisawa has written several concertante works for instruments and wind orchestra including piano, trumpet, trombone, saxophone and percussion. His Clarinet Concerto was written in 201 for Shinsuke Hashimoto, principal clarinettist of the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra and the Higashi-Hiroshima Wind Ensemble who premiered the work in 2010. The work is in three movements or sections, Allegro, Intermezzo:Adagio and Vivacissimo which play without a break
The work begins with an unaccompanied rhapsodic clarinet solo as a prelude with the vivid orchestral introduction where the music has a very big band sound. When the clarinet returns the material is remarkably perky and Yagisawa successfully balances his big orchestral sound with the solo part. The music is very traditional, not to say backwards-looking yet full of character and drama. The slow middle section is all quiet and calm, the clarinet solo unfolding against a richly sustained backdrop. There are moments of a 'big tune' but always the sense of the clarinet unfolding. The finale has a big, vibrant sound with a busy clarinet cadenza. For much of the movement the music has a rhythmic catchiness too.
The big advantage of this disc is the combination of Peter Cigleris' playing which is admirably virtuosic yet sympathetic to the various different styles, along with the fine sound of the wind orchestra itself.
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Elsewhere on this blog
- Johann Joseph Abert: A musical portrait - record review
- Profound, contemplative & meditative aethereal beauties: Vox Clamantis & Jaan-Eik Tulve's birthday present for Arvo Pärt on ECM - record review
- Sung poetry: soprano Véronique Gens in subtle & supple form with pianist James Baillieu in French song at Wigmore Hall - concert review
- Two of the greatest concertos of the 21st century: Julian Bliss on recording Clarinet Concertos by Magnus Lindberg & Kalevi Aho - interview
- A restless soul: Matthias Goerne & David Fray in late Schubert - review
- Making restitution: Sir Arthur Bliss' The Beatitudes returns to BBC Proms after a gap of 60 years - concert review
- Angel of Peace: The Sixteen's 25th Choral Pilgrimage moves from the 12th century to the present day - concert review
- BBC Proms: Two tempests, a fire and a swan, Thomas Adès conducts Sibelius, Gabriella Smith & his own music - concert review
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