Various composers: Knotwork, Fell Clarinet Quartet

Knotwork is at once engaging and intriguing - it is a disc of relatively under-performed compositions for clarinet quartet that demonstrates the versatility and scope for what is a relatively new kind of chamber ensemble and one that certainly deserves more airplay. The opening work is the funky and aptly-titled Vent by Graham Fitkin. Fell Clarinet Quartet (who, in brief, formed at the RNCM in 1999 and take their name from the late Sydney Fell, a highly regarded clarinettist who taught at the Royal Northern). The work is punchy and rhythmic, accentuated by the addition of bass clarinet. The Fell demonstrate watertight ensemble playing throughout.

Celtic Knotwork by Eddie McGuire is in stark contrast - it is a work that is seemingly played without pause for breath as a single note is passed from one player to the next. Thankfully the intonation of this ensemble is spot on. The opening movement of Dubois’s Quatuor displays the more playful side of the clarinet and is a charming work in four movements.

Also included on disc is Alfred Uhl’s Divertimento which is in an entirely different style again. The name Uhl is usually enough to leave any clarinet player heading out of the practice room door (he wrote 48 fiendishly testing studies for the instrument) yet this work demonstrates a more human side to the composer. There is no doubt that Uhl knows the instrument inside out - he writes exquisitely for it and indeed shows not only some tongue-in-cheek humour in his writing but also a highly expressive side. The Fell gauge each nuance perfectly - the slow movement is expansive with a welcome and almost choral feel whilst the finale gathers the right amount of momentum to bring it to its emphatic close.

The final work on the disc is an arrangement of Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango which works very well and includes the use of the higher-pitched E-flat clarinet (which is ideally suited to this kind of repertoire and gives yet more diversity to the ensemble). The Fell are clearly wonderful ambassadors for the clarinet quartet; I hope they go on to record more of this great music. The disc was recorded in the ideally resonant acoustic of Prestonkirk Church, East Lothian and contains four world premiere recordings.