Yoanna Prodanova, Somi Kim, Joseph Shiner - Brahms: Works for Clarinet (2019) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Joseph Shiner and Somi Kim perform the last chamber works ever written by Brahms: his Clarinet Sonatas, heard here alongside his sublime Clarinet Trio, for which they are joined by cellist Yoanna Prodanova. Brahms was so enchanted by the playing of clarinetist Richard Muhlfeld that he came out of retirement in order to write four chamber works for the soloist. Three of those works are featured on this album, interpreted by the exciting up-and-coming clarinetist Joseph Shiner, with Somi Kim at the piano and, for the Trio, cellist Yoanna Prodanova. As so often in Brahms’s paired works, the two sonatas have contrasting characters, the second gentler than the first, although both are highly nuanced, balancing taut structures with expressive, often wistful lyricism. The Trio is an expansive piece which includes in its first movement a theme originally intended for what would have been Brahms’s Fifth Symphony.

Tracklist:
1 Clarinet Trio in A Minor, Op. 114: I. Allegro 07:42
2 Clarinet Trio in A Minor, Op. 114: II. Adagio 07:09
3 Clarinet Trio in A Minor, Op. 114: III. Andantino grazioso 04:28
4 Clarinet Trio in A Minor, Op. 114: IV. Allegro 04:28
5 Clarinet Sonata in F Minor, Op. 120 No. 1: I. Allegro appassionato 07:49
6 Clarinet Sonata in F Minor, Op. 120 No. 1: II. Andante un poco adagio 04:49
7 Clarinet Sonata in F Minor, Op. 120 No. 1: III. Allegretto grazioso 04:16
8 Clarinet Sonata in F Minor, Op. 120 No. 1: IV. Vivace 05:07
9 Clarinet Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 120 No. 2: I. Allegro amabile 07:49
10 Clarinet Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 120 No. 2: II. Allegro appassionato 05:05
11 Clarinet Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 120 No. 2: III. Andante con moto - Allegro 06:41

Personnel:
Joseph Shiner, clarinet
Somi Kim, piano
Yoanna Prodanova, violincello