The Carnegie Hall website is offering free listening (and in some cases, free downloads) of new music commissioned by them. Visit http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/sound_insights/works/commissions/wrk_commissions.html to listen.

Maybe I’m prejudiced by being a clarinet player and all, but I highly recommend Gumboots for Clarinet and String Quartet by David Bruce, played on bass and Bb clarinet by Todd Palmer. I sure wish that piece was available for download. David Bruce talks about the piece on his website. This is one score I HAVE to have!

Five Chairs and One Table by Daniel Bernard Roumain is for (what sounds like) a wind octet, and has some really cool bassoon in it!

John Adams has a really good piece up called Son of Chamber Symphony. Not quite as captivating as The Chairman Dances: Foxtrot for Orchestra, but very powerful. I listened to it three times in a row, and found it better with each listen.

My ears are still in heaven after just hearing Sabine Meyer play Camille Saint-Sa?ns?s Sonata Op. 167 in E-flat. This particular piece is my favorite of all the clarinet repertoire that I have ever studied, and I have only recently heard recordings of it, one performed by Reginald Kell and the other by Harold Wright.

When this piece began (I’m listening to WGBH right now), I knew immediately that this performance would be incredible, even though at the time I didn’t know who was playing. There are certain spots in which I’m used to hearing the clarinet go over the register break, and I didn’t hear them. Also, there are other spots where intonation is tricky, and hers was flawless. The tempos she played in were quite fast, and her tounging and technique were again flawless. Her tone quality is rich, full and very smooth (liquid gold).

This was, of course, not the first time I’ve heard Sabine Meyer play. However, the most memorable piece I’ve heard her play to date was one of Spohr’s. It so inspired me that I purchased it, only to see how difficult it really was. She just made it sound so easy and so beautiful!

Read more about Sabine Meyer at EMI’s website. I am going to purchase this new CD of hers? “French? Recital” right now!

My clarinet teacher told me he was playing with the Boston Pops Orchestra on the 4th of July, so Vin and I put on the TV and watched the show! I don’t normally go for watching these kinds of events on TV (they are sooo much better live), but I missed last year’s concert, and my teacher had played in that one as well.

We actually really enjoyed the concert, at least most of it. First, the announcers should just be quiet. I won’t say any more about that. Secondly, I don’t particularly care for John Melloncamp, but I won’t say anymore about that either.

The lineup included a fife and drum corps (now that I have a piccolo, I want to play with them!), some pops search contest winner with a beautiful voice singing Sondheim, a performance by the Blue Man Group, the Boston Children’s Chorus, and some really great fireworks. The orchestra played some good music too: Samuel Barber, songs from the musical “42nd Street,” and those perennial favourites “The 1812 Overture” and “Stars and Stripes Forever.” Just wonderful.

And it was so cool to see my teacher on TV! During Stars and Stripes, we saw a lot of him, and Vin decided that his clarinet was blue. I insisted, no it couldn’t be, I KNEW his clarinet was NOT blue. I kept insisting it was the lights, and Vin kept insisting it was blue.

Hmmph, guess who was right? Not only was my teacher’s clarinet blue, the other two players’ instruments were white and red!

View the photo here. Sorry, but I had to password protect it! If you know the name of my beloved kitty, you can enter it as the username and password to view my teacher and the other two clarinetists with their festive instruments!