Clarinet (and Piano) brings together Amsterdam composer Dante Boon and Swiss clarinetist Jürg Frey for three works at the porous boundary of composition and improvisation. In the long opening duo “O’Hare,” Boon’s gentle piano arpeggios glow beside Frey’s quietly expressive clarinet, combining spiraling lyricism with stately stillness across nearly twenty-five minutes. The piece unfolds in a gradual arc, eschewing conventional development for the slow revelation of timbre and intervallic resonance; each note blooms in real time, giving space for subtle dynamic shading.
The solo “3x” explores the clarinet’s full register across three staves - Frey moves between them with unfussy grace, shaping the work through melodic detail, well-placed breaths, and a gently searching tone. The duo “Wolken/veld” closes the album in a spirit of shared listening and open forms. Boon’s piano interventions are sparing but decisive, shadowing Frey’s fluid lines and letting intervals and pitch constellations emerge naturally from the interaction. Across all three works, Boon champions flexible structure: performers are encouraged to find their own pace and articulation, shaping the music to the moment without disrupting its underlying calm.
Throughout the album, Frey’s understated approach magnifies the delicacy and spaciousness at the heart of Boon’s writing. The timbral sensitivity and freedom from prescribed gesture set the recording apart; the listener is invited to focus on presence, anticipation, and the suspension of narrative. Clarinet (and Piano) offers a luminous blend of rigor and expressive ease - music that ripples out from each note’s center, cultivating beauty through patience and finely tuned ensemble chemistry.
