Czech Clarinet Quartet: Echoes from Stone.

Czech Clarinet Quartet: Echoes from Stone

Jina vlna & Czech Clarinet Quartet

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The Czech Clarinet Quartet was founded by students, today graduates of the Prague Music Academy HAMU. Over the few years of its existence it has developed a wide repertoire from classical music to Jazz and Jewish songs. On the CD Echoes from Stone the members of the quartet give rein to their own composing ambitions.

The combination of four clarinets (three and one bass clarinet) create a special compact sound that can be exploited in interesting ways, as Steve Reich showed in the famous New York Counterpoint. On the other hand, the result can also be monotonous. This seems to have been the reason why the clarinettists decided to diversify the recording with other instruments (saxophone, guitar, bass guitar, percussion), vocals and electronics. The latter is used mainly to layer the rhythmic models, with the result that the similarities with Reich are very often marked (e.g. Vltava). Orlik or 3+CQ are more orientated to jazz. In terms of sound Wave 931 is also particularly interesting, using the clarinet like a percussion instrument. There are some elements that are more debatable. For example the pseudo-Pygmy chant in Pygmy song fails to convince. In this piece there is also a quotation from the melody Sweet Lullaby popularised by the Deep Forest group as Pygmy (in fact it is from the Pacific). Trancid (on the CD and the corresponding videoclip) is a little disappointing too, an interesting layering of motifs breaking off into a simple house rhythm. Spring Retro also works with undertones of dance electronics, but in a much more interesting and less stereotypical way, Vocals appear not just in Pygmy Song but also in Zaba na prameni [Frog at the Spring] and Little Love (with Radka Fisarova as guest). While the second is pleasant pop, the first is a kind of New Age a la Enya brew.

The CD gives the impression of technically highly skilled musicians playing with studio equipment and testing out its possibilities. In many cases the music that emerges is an interesting combination of different influences, pleasant to the ear but not predictable. In Czech conditions it is also a brave experiment in combining pop approaches with inspirations from elsewhere. But more discrimination wouldn't hurt, since the separate tracks are diverse to the point of incongruity.