MPR117 From the Airwaves

A programme of British music for Clarinet and Piano broadcast from the earlier days of the BBC by John Bradbury (Clarinet) and Ian Buckle (Piano).

This fascinating programme of clarinet music, lovingly researched by BBC Philharmonic Principal Clarinettist John Bradbury contains many forgotten ‘treasures’, mainly in the light music genre, but we also hear two very substantial masterpieces, John Ireland’s ‘Fantasy Sonata’ and Ruth Gipps’s ‘Sonatina’, both receiving definitive performance from this superlative duo. We also hear ‘lighter’ pieces by the likes of Adam Carse, Frederic Curzon, Edward German, Frederick Kell, Harold Samuel and Edith Swepstone. Most of these lighter items are not familiar to us but all receive loving and virtuosic performances. The recording was made in the beautiful acoustic of the Pamoja Hall at Sevenoaks School with recording engineer Tony Faulkner.