Jérémie Bigorie / Diapason
MAREK ŠVEJKAR CLARINET
BERIO: Sequenza IX. Lied. BOULEZ: Domaines. Dialogue de l'ombre double.
BACH: Partita BWV 1013.
YYYYY (5 diapasons)
A student of Philippe Berrod and Jérôme Comte at the Conservatoire de Paris, Marek Švejkar brings together two kindred figures of the late twentieth century in his first solo album. His natural and refined playing avoids the stiffness often associated with “contemporary music,” favoring instead a singing quality. Rather than sharpness, his tone is distinguished by a velvety timbre; he lends flexibility and eloquence to the iridescent arabesques of Boulez’s semi-open work Domaines, where the agility and reversibility of the clarinet part reign supreme.
One must admire the skill with which he embraces the capricious variations of the second movement, Miroir, whose material later served as the basis for Boulez’s Dialogue de l’ombre double, dedicated to Luciano Berio. In a line rich with ornamentation there is no acidity; rather, one hears a somewhat Baroque manner of alternating fuller and lighter strokes, symbolically placing the piece within the lineage of François Couperin. The microphones capture particularly well the transition between the natural sound and its amplified, reverberant counterpart produced by the piano’s soundboard.
Compared with the finely shaped legato of the Czech clarinetist, the recording by Alain Damiens (DG, 1996) places greater emphasis on the performer’s breath. The choice of a broad tempo, which in Boulez might seem exaggerated, proves in Berio to be very faithful to the indications of Sequenza IX, whose numerous fermatas are marked with a variable number of seconds. Švejkar takes full advantage of the expressivity of wide intervals, allowing him to inhabit several registers (with a particularly insistent high B♭), while mastering multiphonics and dotted rhythms with complete ease.
The more serene writing of Lied comes naturally under his fingers. Without attempting to imitate the sometimes frivolous lightness of the flute, this Partita in A minor BWV 1013 arranged for clarinet highlights the rich palette of colors of the instrument (Buffet Crampon Divine).