Stark Quartet - The Clarinet in the 19th & 20th Centuries from Solo to Quartet (2016)

The key to this album presented by Stark Quartet is the exploration of the XIXth and XXth century clarinet repertoire. Here the four musicians juggle between virtuosity and melodic inspirations performed in various different settings. The varied overview of composers presented here is both surprising, for the unexpected presence of an author like Joseph Gherardeschi known for his nineteenth-century style organ composition, and relevant for the importance of others like Ernesto Cavallini (called ""the Paganini of clarinet""), yet, reaching contemporaries like Valentino Bucchi, with its important concert for solo clarinet, and Henghel Gualdi, pioneer of jazz clarinet in Italy.