The clarinet is one of the instruments with the broadest spectrum of sonic possibilities in terms of its range of dynamics and pitches. It received the greatest attention during the era of Classicism both in solo parts in concertos and in the roles of a chamber music partner and an orchestral instrument. It had to wait until the 20th century for works featuring its unaccompanied solo voice in its full range of colours. Outstanding among the composers who created such works are two figures who fundamentally shaped musical thinking in the latter half of the 20th century: Luciano Berio and Pierre Boulez. Commemorating the 100th anniversaries of both men’s birth, this recording covers their complete music for solo clarinet. Berio and Boulez sought new ways to organise music in time and space, and both took inspiration from poetry. Boulez gave symbolic expression to their quest: “It must be our concern...to jettison the concept of a work as a simple journey starting with a departure and ending with an arrival.” One of the things that inspired Berio’s idea of “polyphonic music for a monophonic instrument” was works by J.S. Bach. One of them, the Partita in A minor for solo flute, is heard on this recording in juxtaposition with the modernism of the 20th century.

The clarinettist Marek Švejkar is a laureate of the Premier Prix from Paris’s prestigious Conservatoire National Supérieur, and he has been a winner of international competitions including events in Markneukirchen, Germany, and in Carlino, Italy. He has appeared as a soloist with the Czech Philharmonic and with Jiří Bělohlávek, and having participated at the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic, he is now enrolled at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome under the tutelage of Alessandro Carbonare. The elite circle of European clarinettists is now within Marek Švejkar’s reach.