Kathleen Jones - Caribe Clarinete [CD]

This is a unique and varied collection of seven works for clarinet by Puerto Rican composers, blending classical and Latin styles. The first and last tracks are traditional 'Danzas,' the latter depicting teenagers (the clarinet being the girl, and the trombone a boy) flirting over the internet. Three works are for clarinet alone: 'Voces del Barrio,' (which sounds like salsa, montuno, and plena at times,) the meditative 'Crepúsculo,' and Roberto Sierra's evocative 'Cinco Bocetos.' The other two selections are a sonata based on folk idioms, and a character piece. Notes in English and Spanish give the listener a better appreciation of this fascinating repertoire. Kathleen Jones, born and raised in a musical family in Eugene, Oregon, has been the professor of clarinet at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico (CMPR) and the principal clarinetist of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra (PRSO) since 1975. She is a founding member of the chamber group Camerata Caribe, in residence at the CMPR since 1982. She holds a Master of Music in clarinet performance from Northwestern University, where she was a student of, and assistant to, Robert Marcellus. Her Bachelor of Music degree is from the University of Southern California, with Mitchell Lurie, with whom she also worked for two summers at the Music Academy of the West. In addition, she studied with William McColl at the University of Washington, in Seattle, Leon Russianoff, in New York, and Clark Brody, in Chicago. She attended Tanglewood in 1982, where she coached chamber music with the violinist Rafael Druian. Caribe Clarinete was recorded in 2007-08, during a sabbatical Ms. Jones was granted by the CMPR, and was produced with additional support from the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture and the Luis A. Ferre Fine Arts Center. CMPR colleagues Diana Figueroa, piano, and Luis Fred, trombone, collaborate.