Martin Fröst, clarinet
Norwegian Chamber Orchestra (soloist conducting)
You can hear the recording of Benny Goodman with Aaron Copland conducting on Youtube, the composer and the man who commissioned him to write the piece. Goodman was a responsible virtuoso commissioning works from fine composers for his instrument.
I was a little skeptical when I came across this performance because Martin Frost is so good looking. It was like the first time I encountered Hillary Hahn, beautiful young soloists arouse my skepticism wondering if it's more marketing than musicianship but sometimes the looks are just incidental to really fine playing. And sometimes even homely soloists aren't great. Martin Fröst plays the long cadenza like solo in a way I might need to get used to, but Copland was notably accepting of soloists playing his pieces in different ways. As I recall he remarked that the people playing his violin sonata had found bell-like sounds in it he didn't realize were there. This isn't Benny Goodman's playing but it's pretty good. I understand he often leads the orchestra as soloist which might not be a bad idea if you can do it.
Just a sort of desert after the Copland Series. I hope it stays up longer than the Leo Smit recordings of the Four Piano Blues, which seem to have been taken down already, one of the hazards of basing a post on a Youtube.
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