5 stars review in Danish Newspaper Politiken
August 27, 2023
Thomas Michelsen
Google Translation:
5 hearts: He takes the clarinet to completely new places on terrific album.
Jonas Frølund's solo album connects Carl Nielsen and Wagner with new Danish music and Stravinsky. The result is terrific.
The clarinet, I say, and then you think jazz? Or Carl Nielsen's wild concerto for clarinet and orchestra? Or Mozart's balsamic ditto?
A new album from one of Denmark's remarkable young people on the instrument is a bit of the above. But mainly it is a whole lot of other things.
Jonas Frølund's passion is to take his instrument to new places. He is just as happy to play folk music as he is to take the mouthpiece off the clarinet and see what it says when he blows through it from the wrong end.
It is not easy, because you have to play percussion at the same time.
As an international calling card, he is now releasing the album 'Solo alone and more', which is made as one long journey through highly diverse music, which Frølund wants you to listen to.
This is Carl Nielsen. But only the improvisational solo cadenza from his clarinet concerto. Here is Wagner. Music from the opera 'Tristan and Isolde', which Jonas Frølund doesn't mind cutting from the oboe instrument the English horn and playing the clarinet.
Nielsen's cadenza, like the plaintive English horn from 'Tristan', appears as a new work in its own right, and the cadenza slides surprisingly naturally into three pieces for solo clarinet written by Nielsen's great international contemporary, Stravinsky.
Take you on a journey.
Works by living Danish composers show Frølund's format. Bent Sørensen's fragments of a waltz that sounds like it came from far away.
Mette Nielsen's 'Alone' for the basset clarinet – the one on which Mozart is played – on the other hand shows snarling anger, before the determined hum of the musician and the clarinet turns into discreet farts, and Simon Steen-Andersen's 'De profundis' Frølund manages to perform in a version where the small clarinet is replaced by the large bass clarinet.
It's all superbly played by a musician who thinks outside the box.
It is not easy, because you have to play percussion at the same time. With the sound of a Tibetan singing bowl, the music is intoned, before voices and moods turn the performance of the long work into something as unusual as a pure sound recording of a work by the otherwise always also visual Steen-Andersen.
Frølund was born in 1996. But he has already trained on the clarinet in both Copenhagen and Paris. He has long since received the Danish music critics' artist award, and with 'Solo alone and more' he invites you on a journey that in every way says goodbye to the normal limitations of the clarinet and hello to the music itself.
The result is a little outdone, but with great care it is possible to get the diverse kinds of music to hold hands, so that the album becomes a holistic experience.
If you take the journey several times, you will discover many new things on each trip, and it is all superbly played by a musician who thinks outside the box and has the technique on his instrument to realize his unconventional thoughts. Thomas Michelsen, Politiken, August 27th
5 hjerter: Han tager klarinetten helt nye steder hen på forrygende album
Jonas Frølunds soloalbum kobler Carl Nielsen og Wagner med ny dansk musik og Stravinsky. Resultatet er forrygende.
Klarinet, siger jeg, og så tænker du jazz? Eller Carl Nielsens vilde koncert for klarinet og orkester? Eller Mozarts balsamiske ditto?
Et nyt album fra en af Danmarks bemærkelsesværdige unge på instrumentet er lidt af ovennævnte. Men især er det en hel masse andet.
Jonas Frølunds passion er at tage sit instrument nye steder hen. Han er lige så glad for at spille folkemusik som for at tage mundstykket af klarinetten og se, hvad det siger, når han puster gennem det fra den gale ende.
Det er ikke let, for der skal samtidig spilles på slagtøj
Som et internationalt visitkort smider han nu albummet ’Solo alone and more’, der er lavet som én lang rejse gennem højst forskelligartet musik, Frølund vil have dig til at lytte til.
Her er Carl Nielsen. Men kun den improvisationsagtige solokadence fra hans klarinetkoncert. Her er Wagner. Musik fra operaen ’Tristan og Isolde’, som det ikke generer Jonas Frølund at hugge fra oboinstrumentet engelskhorn og spille på klarinet.
Nielsens kadence kommer ligesom det klagende engelskhorn fra ’Tristan’ til at fremstå som et nyt værk i egen ret, og kadencen glider overraskende naturligt over i tre stykker for soloklarinet skrevet af Nielsens store internationale samtidige, Stravinsky.
Tag med på en rejse
Værker af nulevende danske komponister viser Frølunds format. Bent Sørensens fragmenter af en vals, der lyder, som kom den langt væk fra.
Mette Nielsens ’Alone’ for bassetklarinet – den, man spiller Mozart på – viser til gengæld snerrende vrede, inden musikerens og klarinettens viljefaste brummen bliver til diskrete prutter, og Simon Steen-Andersens ’De profundis’ klarer Frølund at opføre i en udgave, hvor den lille klarinet er erstattet af den store basklarinet.
Det hele er forrygende spillet af en musiker, der tænker ud af boksen
Det er ikke let, for der skal samtidig spilles på slagtøj. Med klang af tibetansk syngeskål intoneres musikken, inden stemmer og stemninger gør opførelsen af det lange værk til noget så usædvanligt som en ren lydindspilning af et værk af den ellers altid også visuelle Steen-Andersen.
Frølund er født i 1996. Men han har allerede uddannet sig på klarinet i både København og Paris. Han har for længst fået de danske musikanmelderes kunstnerpris, og med ’Solo alone and more’ inviterer han dig på en rejse, der på alle måder siger farvel til klarinettens normale begrænsninger og goddag til selve musikken.
Resultatet er en lille smule outreret, men med stor omtanke lykkes det at få de forskelligartede slags musik til at holde i hånd, så albummet bliver en helhedsoplevelse.
Tager du rejsen flere gange, opdager du mange nye ting på hver tur, og det hele er forrygende spillet af en musiker, der tænker ud af boksen og har teknikken på sit instrument til at realisere sine utraditionelle tanker.
Thomas Michelsen, Politiken, August 27th
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