THE WASHINGTON POST: NAREK ARUTYUNIAN’S PLAYING REACHES PASSIONATE DEPTHS
PanARMENIAN.Net
December 8, 2011 – 13:39 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – The clarinet is a tricky instrument, challenging the
player with some treacherous hurdles to overcome. If the lowest notes
are blown with an indiscriminate fortissimo, the instrument honks like
a Canada goose. If the upper range is handled carelessly, its warbling
sounds pierce the human ear like an out-of-tune air-raid siren. But the
19-year-old Armenian-born clarinetist Narek Arutyunian shows complete
command of his instrument, says an article on The Washington Post.
At his Washington debut Tuesday, December 6, at the Kennedy Center’s
Terrace Theater, Arutyunian’s deepest notes were at once vibrant and
enveloping. His highest range had the clarity of a vibrant coloratura.
With his remarkable pianist, Steven Beck, Arutyunian opened with
Francis Poulenc’s Sonata, Op. 184, Jean Francaix’s Tema con Variazione
and Carl Maria von Weber’s Grand Duo Concertante in E flat, Op. 48.
The second half of the program included Joseph Horovitz’s Sonatina, an
arrangement of Paul Schoenfield’s Four Souvenirs and Edison Denisov’s
Sonata for solo clarinet.
The event was sponsored by the Young Concert Artists series, which
has launched such musicians as Emanuel Ax, Pinchas Zukerman and the
Tokyo String Quartet into major careers. And the series has picked
another winner.
Arutyunian’s playing reaches passionate depths with seemingly
effortless technical prowess, beguiling sensitivity and an energetic
stage presence. He plunged up and down his instrument with gleaming
homogeneity, propelling the Poulenc at lightning speed in the allegros
and, in the Romanza, portraying the composer’s signature casual air
with utmost fluidity and meaningful phrasing, the article says.
Arutyunian exposed a similar Gallic wit as in Francaix’s bizarre waltz
and dazzling cadenza. Both musicians gave an elegant account of von
Weber’s rather superficial duo, impeccably surmounting its virtuoso
difficulties. The performers lost none of Horovitz’s blues color and
jazzy rhythm interplay – perfect Benny Goodman fare. In the Denisov,
Arutyunian exhibited the clarinet’s endless vocabulary of effects –
flutter tongue, micro-tones and wobbling tremolos. The Schoenfield
offered a feisty set of stylized Latin dances and a Tin Pan Alley
movement of unabashed swing. Along with an entertaining encore, these
last pieces bared the clarinetist’s taste for the theatrical nicely,
as long as he keeps it reined in, it concludes.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Disclaimer: This article was contributed and translated into English by Emil Lazarian. While we strive for quality, the views and accuracy of the content remain the responsibility of the contributor. Please verify all facts independently before reposting or citing.
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