Two imaginative works for clarinet performed by a leading young player.
Selected by ECHO (the European Concert Hall Organisation) as one of its
‘Rising Stars’ of the 2009/10 season, the Swedish clarinettist Emil
Jonasonhas become increasingly visible on the international music scene. For his
first disc on the BIS label he has chosen to record a concerto written for him
by his com-patriot Christian Lindberg, composer, conductor and legendary
trombonist. As Lindberg remarks in his own note on the work, the soloist was
involved at all stages of the compositional process. But the Erratic Dreamsare
the composer's own -as is the figure of Mr Grönstedt, the main character of
those dreams, and of the six movements that make up the colourful score.
In his teens, Emil Jonasonwas attracted by klezmer music, and played in various
klezmer bands. It was therefore a natural choice to combine Lindberg's concerto
with the Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov'swork The Dreams and Prayers of
Isaac the Blind. In contrast to Lindberg, Golijovfound inspiration in a historic
figure, the medieval rabbi Isaac the Blind, and his lifelong dedication to the
ideas of the Kabbalah. Golijovdescribes the movements of his work being written
in three of the different languages spoken by the Jewish people throughout its
history: Aramaic, Yiddish (‘the rich and fragile language of a long exile’)
and Hebrew. The work includes references to Jewish prayers as well as to klezmer
tunes and the clarinettist is specifically requested by the composer to acquaint
himself with the idiom of klezmer music.