Emma's first recording for Universal Classics was a collection of shorter pieces with something for everyone. The tracks include everything from film and TV themes to modern classical pieces, including some remarkable jazz-inspired performances along the way! The album was an enormous success, spending 26 weeks in the UK classical charts, peaking at number 3.

Emma Johnson (clarinet)

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by Julian Reynolds

with John Lenehan (piano)

Track Listing

1. Clarinet Candy (Anderson)
2. Caprice XXIV (Paganini)
3. Fantasy Impromptu (Chopin)
4. Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring (Bach)
5. Scarborough Fair (Traditional)
6. Georgie (Johnson)
7. The Entertainer (Joplin)
8. Forlana (Finzi)
9. The Flight of the Bumble Bee (Korsakov)
10. Tribute to Benny Goodman (Gershwin)
11. Theme from Inspector Morse (Pheloung)
12. Cinema Paradiso (Morricone)
13. Passaggio (Einaudi)
14. My Love is like a Red, Red Rose (Traditional)
15. Autumn Song (Tchaikovsky)
16. The Force of Destiny (Verdi)
17. La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin (Debussy)
18. Pavane pour une Infante Defunte (Ravel)
19. L'Heure Exquise (Hahn)
20. Returning Home (Barry)

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3117 in Music
• Released on: 2004-04-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 73 minutes

Album Description
Track Listing:

• 1 Clarinet Candy (Anderson)
  
• 2 Caprice XXIV (Paganini)
  
• 3 Fantasy Impromptu (Chopin)
  
• 4 Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring (Bach)
  
• 5 Scarborough Fair (Traditional)
  
• 6 Georgie (Johnson)
  
• 7 The Entertainer (Joplin)
  
• 8 Forlana (Finzi)
  
• 9 The Flight of the Bumble Bee (Korsakov)
  
• 10 Tribute to Benny Goodman (Gershwin)
  
• 11 Theme from Inspector Morse (Pheloung)
  
• 12 Cinema Paradiso (Morricone)
  
• 13 Passaggio (Einaudi)
  
• 14 My Love is like a Red, Red Rose (Traditional)
  
• 15 Autumn Song (Tchaikovsky)
  
• 16 The Force of Destiny (Verdi)
  
• 17 La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin (Debussy)
  
• 18 Pavane pour une Infante Defunte (Ravel)
  
• 19 L'Heure Exquise (Hahn)
  
• 20 Returning Home (Barry)

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Customer Reviews

A voyage of delight
Driving along the other day I tuned into Classic FM - one of my two favourite stations. I was struck by the beauty of the clarinet sound on the piece being played ("Jesu joy of man's desiring"). When the name of the soloist was announced I resolved to buy the album to hear more. It was delivered in 3 days and has been played many times since. This is a collection of "lollipops" a wide variety of short pieces designed to show off the instrument and the artist. It succeeds brilliantly. The opening "Clarinet Candy" with accompaniment provided by the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra under Julian Reynolds gets off to a cracking start. This is followed by the rythmic "Caprice", arranged by Benny Goodman. The jazz connection is repeated later with a personal arrangement of "The Entertainer" and Emma's "Tribute to Benny Goodman", which really swings along. My own favourite? The wistful and lyrical "Georgie". Twenty tuneful tracks. A sheer delight!

Clarinet Candy
Emma Johnson is one of the world's best and most popular clarinettists, and since winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year title in 1984 has recorded just about all of the classical repertoire for the instrument. Of course the clarinet has such a range and versatility that it is just as suited to more popular, folk and jazz tunes, and her first album for Universal is designed to show this off to the full.

The first track, one of Leroy Anderson's trademark light orchestral pieces, aptly describes the collection; it is "Clarinet Candy", or a collection of lollipops such as you might hear as encores at concerts. Most of them were not written for clarinet, but they sound quite at home with it.

For variety the first half of the album is the best. After the overture-like opening, there's the pop variation of Paganini's Caprice, the spectacular Benny Goodman arrangement of Chopin's "Fantasie Impromptu", followed by the calm of "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring".

After the "Flight of the Bumble Bee" (curently being shown in video as a 1 min 20 sec appetiser on Classic FM-TV) and the tribute to Benny Goodman (actually a medley of George Gershwin tunes) the pace and tone settles down to the more mellow, with some of the pastoral melodies of such as Ravel and Tchaikovsky as well as more modern screen tunes from the likes of John Barry and Ennio Morricone.

Throughout Emma's playing is as assured as you'd expect it to be; soft or spectacular she makes it sound effortless, and the 73 minutes running time goes by far too quickly. She is well forward in the mix (turn up the volume and it's almost as if she's in the room with you) and the orchestral backing is just that, backing and unobtrusive. I'd have liked a little more sparkle and contrast in the second half of the programme, but on the whole this is very good start and might hopefully lead to more of the same soon.

British clarinettist tackles varied material
With John Lenehan on piano and Julian Reynolds conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Emma Johnson plays a selection of music drawn from a variety of sources. The set opens with Clarinet candy, a track on which Emma plays four clarinets. Ah, the wonders of recording technology. I'd like to see her play four clarinets live simultaneously.

Elsewhere, there are traditional folk tunes (Scarborough fair, My love is like a red red rose), a tribute to Benny Goodman (a medley of Rhapsody in blue, Lady be good, The man I love and I got rhythm) and other popular tunes (The entertainer, Inspector Morse main theme). There are plenty of pieces drawn from classical music's traditional repertoire by composers such as Chopin, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Verdi and Ravel, but the most recognizable classical piece here is probably Flight of the bumblebee. Sometimes the music is mellow and at other times up-tempo, providing plenty of variety.

Emma Johnson is not the only clarinettist to have recorded instrumental albums but there haven't been many that have made a successful career that way. Acker Bilk is one name that springs to mind, albeit he played jazz rather than classical music. Yet the clarinet has a lovely sound and it's nice to hear it occasionally as the main instrument.

From what I've seen, Emma's other albums stay more firmly within the classical repertoire, but the variation of sources may help this album reach a broader market.