Peter Cigleris - Hidas, Maslanka & Others: Clarinet Concertos (2025) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

SOMM Recordings is pleased to release Clarinet Concertos, four works for solo clarinet and wind orchestra, including two world-premiere recordings. The soloist is the English clarinettist, Peter Cigleris, who enjoys a wide and varied career and is in great demand as a soloist and chamber musician. His burgeoning career as a clarinet soloist has taken him to Festivals in Spain, France, the Netherlands, and the U.S. Recently, he was invited to perform in Győr, Hungary for the European Clarinet Festival, which led to a special invitation from the Győr Symphonic Band to record four hugely enjoyable concertos for clarinet and wind orchestra. These are conducted by László Marosi, the world’s foremost authority on Hungarian wind music, and Ferenc Szabó, the founder of the Györ Symphonic Band.

This release opens with the première recording of Concerto Semplicefor clarinet and wind orchestra by the prolific Hungarian composer Frigyes Hidas (1928–2007). The concerto is written in a direct, almost classical, tonal language that portrays the composer’s belief in traditional forms and syntax.

Cigleris has given première performances of a number of new works for the clarinet, and he played the first performance of Sonatina in One Movement by the award-winning British composer Simon Milton. So, when composing his Concerto for Clarinet and Band, Milton knew that he “could push what I felt was playable and turn it into a challenge, whilst also maintaining a lyrical and sweet sound to the clarinet part.” SOMM presents the première recording here.

The Concerto for Clarinet and Wind Orchestra, written in 2014 by American composer David Maslanka (1943–2017), is an imposing composition in two large movements: “Lamentation” and “Dance.” He described these as relating to “old forms such as the toccata and fugue – a free improvisatory movement followed by a rhythmically energized and formally strict second movement.”

TRACKLIST

1 Concerto semplice (Version for Clarinet & Wind Orchestra): I. Allegro giocoso
2 Concerto semplice (Version for Clarinet & Wind Orchestra): II. Sostenuto
3 Concerto semplice (Version for Clarinet & Wind Orchestra): III. Allegro
4 Clarinet Concerto: I. Fragments with Cadenza
5 Clarinet Concerto: II. Ecstasy: Moderately and Expressively
6 Clarinet Concerto: III. Finale. With Humour
7 Clarinet Concerto: I. Lamentation
8 Clarinet Concerto: II. Dance
9 Clarinet Concerto



Thanks to the Original customer.