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Comprised of clarinetist Jon Manasse and pianist Jon Nakamatsu, two of America’s most distinguished artists, the MANASSE/NAKAMATSU DUO immediately established itself with a highly acclaimed 2004 performance in Boston. Subsequent coast-to-coast touring has included appearances on some of the country’s most prestigious series: Washington’s National Gallery of Art, Eastman School of Music, Charlottesville’s Tuesday Evening Concert Series, Des Moines Art Center, Duke University, Montalvo Center for the Arts, St. Bonaventure University. The artists are also heard at the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, which they serve as co- directors. Following a summer that was highlighted by a pair of Mostly Mozart Festival performances at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Avery Fisher Hall, the Manasse/ Nakamatsu Duo’s season includes a performance for the Van Cliburn Foundation in Fort Worth, as well as appearances in California, North Carolina and Rhode Island. |
  January 12, 2008 BRAHMS: CLARINET SONATAS Jon Manasse, clarinetist; Jon Nakamatsu, pianist Harmonia Mundi HMU 907430 In an otherwise humdrum orchestral performance for American Ballet Theater a few years back, a clarinet solo wafted from the pit and riveted a listener’s (er, viewer’s) attention. The player, a glance at the program showed, was Jon Manasse, already valued for his other freelance work in New York. But Mr. Manasse was known fondly for larger solo stints as well, and here he takes center stage in two peaks of the clarinet literature, Brahms’s Op. 120 Sonatas, in F minor and in E flat. Again the results are compelling. Brahms wrote these works, along with a trio and a quintet, late in life under the influence of the young clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld. Warm, ripe and prevailingly mellow, they all testify eloquently to Mühlfeld’s lyrical gifts as well as to his virtuosity, and they have continued to challenge the depth and versatility of clarinetists ever since. Mr. Manasse meets the call with deft technique, exquisite sensitivity and smooth, flowing tone. In any Brahms work with piano the term accompaniment is of limited usefulness, so inventive and assertive is the composer’s writing for the instrument. Especially in the scherzolike Appassionato movement of the E flat Sonata but in other movements as well, the clarinet and the piano are thoroughly, sensuously intertwined in a subtly shifting balance. So Jon Nakamatsu’s contribution is just as important as Mr. Manasse’s, and their partnership is complete. In the middle of that Appassionato, the pianist takes the lead with something like one of those ineffable late Brahms piano pieces, and Mr. Nakamatsu’s playing is as meltingly beautiful as Mr. Manasse’s. Elsewhere Mr. Nakamatsu’s pianism is playful, sturdy or pushy, as appropriate.
The recorded sound is also crucial to the balance of the piano and clarinet, and Harmonia Mundi’s production is impeccable, capturing such disparate instruments in full color and a lifelike perspective. |
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"Sunday afternoon’s opening concert of the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival was, in a word, superb. Clarinet Jon Manasse and pianist Jon Nakamatsu - the festival’s new co-directors - dazzled the audience with their seamless, hand-in-glove combination of technical wizardry, refined musicianship and the poetic level of their interpretations." |
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BRAHMS - CLARINET SONATAS, Op. 120 Jon Manasse, clarinetist Jon Nakamatsu, pianist harmonia mundi usa CD: 907430 |
| 8/7/2009 (7pm) MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL 8/8/2009 (7pm) Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Brahms: Clarinet Sonata #1 11/14/2009 (8pm) DEL VALLE FINE ARTS PRODUCTIONS 3/2/2010 (8pm) UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST FINE ARTS CENTER 4/13/2010 (7:30pm) VAN CLIBURN FOUNDATION |
