julian liss - music productions

Julian Bliss

“unfailingly musical” Fanfare Magazine

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Music Productions Ltd Pinewood Studios, Pinewood Road, Iver Heath. Bucks. SL0 0NH. UK Tel: +44 (0) 1753 783739

Claire Long, Manager [email protected]

Meg Davies [email protected]

Biography

Julian Bliss is one of the world’s finest solo clarinettists excelling as concerto soloist, chamber musician, jazz artist, masterclass leader and tireless musical explorer. He has inspired a generation of young players, as guest lecturer and creator of the Leblanc Bliss range of affordable clarinets, and introduced a large new audience to his instrument. The breadth and depth of Julian’s artistry are reflected in the diversity and distinction of his work. He has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and performed chamber music with Joshua Bell, Hélène Grimaud, Steven Isserlis, Steven Kovacevich and other great interpreters. Born in St Albans (UK), Julian began playing at the age of four. He moved to the United States in 2000 to study at Indiana University and subsequently received lessons from Sabine Meyer in Germany. Julian’s prodigious early career included performances at the prestigious Gstaad, Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Rheingau and Verbier festivals, and critically acclaimed debuts at London’s Wigmore Hall and New York’s Lincoln Center. His first album for EMI Classics’ Debut series was greeted by five-star reviews and public praise following its release in 2003. Released on Signum Classics in September 2014, Julian’s live recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Royal Northern Sinfonia was Classic FM disc of the week upon release. The release was accompanied by a performance at Classic FM Live at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Julian stands today among the finest musicians of his generation. He launched the Julian Bliss Septet in 2012 at Wigmore Hall and Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London and fronted their debut disc, Benny Goodman –The King of Swing. This programme has gone on to be performed across the world, including a sell-out performance at the Concertgebouw. Julian’s 2015 engagements see him travel across the world, including performances with the Chamber Orchestra of Paris, the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and the Auckland Symphony Orchestra as well as returning to The Sage Gateshead with the Royal Northern Sinfonia.

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Recent Releases

Mozart & Nielsen Clarinet Concertos Royal Northern Sinfonia Mario Venzago Conductor Release Date: 15th September 2014

Including the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A Major and the Nielsen Clarinet Concerto, recorded at The Sage, Gateshead. “...enormously accomplished. He has a supple, well-focused sound and an uncanny, crystalline technique. His playing in the Mozart Concerto is gorgeous, with an exquisite pianissimo at the reprise of the Adagio . His phrasing and articulations are unfailingly musical.” Fanfare Magazine

“All the works collected here showcase the attractive qualities of Bliss’s playing, rich and fruity in the showier passages, effortless in the demanding runs made by Nielsen in particular and, at the sublime moments, appropriately mellifluous and sonorous.” ClassicFM

Julian Bliss & Bradley Moore

Bradley Moore Piano Release Date: 2nd June 2014

Including works by Debussy, Francais, Glinka, Milhaud and Prokofiev.

“One of the most talented young musicians of our time, and an enthusiastic and prolific chamber player, Julian Bliss’ list of professional honours and accomplishments is already lengthy despite his youth.” ClassicsOnline

A Tribute to Benny Goodman Julian Bliss Septet Release Date: 4th June 2013

“We have a new shooter on the jazz clarinet front and his name is Julian Bliss…From classical to jazz to making music affordable for the next generation, Julian Bliss and his Septet certainly have earned their five stars!” Critical Jazz

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Discography

The Ancient Question Hila Plitmann Soprano Release Date: 5th December 2011 Label: Signum Classics

"Julian Bliss threatens to steal the show on clarinet” Norman Lebrecht, La Scena Musicale

Psycho Tippett Quartet Release Date: 11th March 2011 Label: Signum Classics

"...thrillingly, chillingly delivered … it is impossible to imagine more expert renditions than these." Gramophone

Krommer, Spohr. Clarinet Concerts Sabine Meyer Clarinet Release Date: 2nd July 2007 Label: EMI Classics

“Their individual talents shine in the two Spohr solo concertos, taking one each - Bliss in the Second, Meyer in the Fourth - though, if truth be told, the "pupil" brings the more tonally alluring sound.” The Telegraph

Music for Clarinet and Piano

Julien Quentin Piano Release Date: 15th September 2003 Label: EMI Classics

“Solo de concours […] shows the considerable agility this gifted artist has with his instrument.” AllMusic

Prom at the Palace

Various Artists Release Date: 1st July 2002 Label: EMI Classics

Featuring Julian’s performance of Andre Messager’s “Solo de concours” live from Buckingham Palace.

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Julian Bliss Septet The Julian Bliss Septet have performed across Europe at leading venues and festivals including London’s

Wigmore Hall, the legendary Ronnie Scott’s and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Live and on record, the Julian Bliss Septet recreate the exciting sound of swing from the 30’s and 40’s in A Tribute to Benny Goodman. Julian Bliss leads his sextet through some of the great tunes of the swing era, staying true to the authentic feel but with a modern twist. Julian became enamoured with the performances of Benny Goodman at the age of seven, and in 2010 decided to form a group to perform Goodman’s music. The album “A Tribute to Benny Goodman” was recorded in 2011 and released on Signum Records in June 2012 to critical acclaim from both jazz and classical reviewers. For live performances, Julian Bliss and pianist Neal Thornton offer an unbiased point of view about the work of Benny Goodman, talking the audience through the music and sharing anecdotes and stories about Goodman’s life, all delivered with humour. Following the success of “Julian Bliss and the King of Swing”, Julian turns his attention to the rich world of Latin American music. Dominated by the influences of Cuba and Brazil, this musical heritage stretches back over 200 years with popular styles ranging from the elegant Rumba to the wildly exciting Samba. This project explores the growth of Latin music from the early days of the Habanera to the complexity of modern Salsa rhythms, including Ravel’s Bolero, the 1940s classic Besame mucho and the famous Brazilian choro Tico tico, made famous in films by Walt Disney and Woody Allen. The Julian Bliss Septet will tour the US in November 2015 and early 2016 as well as performances at festivals in Europe and the UK.

“Bliss is capable of swinging mightily and adapting his formidable technique to the task at hand.” The Jazz Times “The Julian Bliss Septet and A Tribute To Benny Goodman celebrates not only the virtuoso pioneer of American swing music but captures the vibrant joy of a simple unadorned melody played with feeling and conviction.” Critical Jazz "Benny Goodman would be proud." The Arbuturian

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Selected Concert Reviews

“It isn’t just his technique, though that is astonishing enough. It’s the wit, poise and vivacity in his playing. In short, it is the pure intuition leading him straight to the heart of what he plays”

The Times

“Clear technical mastery of the concerto left plenty of scope to create a fairly personal and engaging reading for such a familiar work. His own dynamics and phrasing were obvious throughout, and his physicality on stage served to highlight these. In the outer movements his playing was fluid and agile, even in the lower

register, where the darker colours of the basset were shown.” Bachtrack

"Bliss is capable of swinging mightily and adapting his formidable technique to the task at hand."

The Jazz Times

“But the Queen did hear one top-class performance: Mozart’s clarinet concerto, played on the authentic basset clarinet (with its vital extra bass notes) by the 17-year-old Julian Bliss. Sinuous, immaculate and

unfussy, he reserved his subtlest powers for the end of the sublime adagio, delivered so quietly that 6,000 people held their breath.”

The Times

"Julian Bliss is a rara avis: a distinguished classical musician also enraptured with great jazz." AcousticMusic.com

“energy, wit and compassion”

Irish Times

“A show-stopper saw Bliss wander through the hall, letting rip on his conveniently wireless-amped clarinet while drummer Matt Skelton thundered from the stage. “

The Scotsman

“Bliss, on top of his game, rose to the occasion with great skill and versatility, especially in the passages of gnawing conflict between clarinet and snare drum, finely played by Graham Johns.”

The Journal.

Contact

Julian Bliss

General Management: Music Productions Ltd Claire Long: [email protected]

Tel: +44 1753 783 739

Australia & New Zealand John Cristian Productions

Cristian Pilditch: [email protected] +64 431 098 222

France

Philippe Maillard Productions Philippe Maillard: [email protected]

+33 1 48 24 16 29

Julian Bliss Septet

General Management: Music Productions Ltd Claire Long: [email protected]

Tel: +44 1753 783 739

IMG Artist (North America) Stephanie Reiss: [email protected]

Tel: +1 212 994 3521

Live: Julian Bliss & Julien Quentin. Wigmore Hall By Richard Morrison

JULIAN BLISS had not even taken the safety-catch off his clarinet, and already I was amazed. Was it the sentence in his programme biography which told us that he is now studying at the Royal Academy of Music “after graduating from Indiana University with a postgraduate Artists Diploma”? Or the bits about his Japanese tour, his CD, his television series, his performances at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, the Proms... It isn’t just his technique, though that is astonishing enough. It’s the wit, poise and vivacity in his playing. In short, it is the pure intuition leading him straight to the heart of much of what he plays. I write “much of” rather than “all”, because this Wigmore recital, with Bliss alertly accompanied by the young pianist Julien Quentin, revealed that he still has some areas to develop (thank goodness). He can cartwheel and somersault through a whizzbang showcase such as André Messager’s Solo de concours with insouciant ease, throwing in a riotous cadenza of supersonic arpeggios for good measure. Similarly, the wacky flutter-tonguings of Jean Françaix’s exuberant 1974 Tema con variazioni hold no terrors for him. He was less persuasive in more introspective music, particularly early in the recital, when his timbre seemed a little breathy. Martinù’s humdrum Clarinet Sonatina needed more interpretative fantasy to justify its inclusion. The long, lyrical lines of Schumann’s Fantasiestücke were admirably phrased, but a creamier tone would have enhanced them further. Fittingly, perhaps, Bliss reserved his best playing for the best work: Poulenc’s 1962 Clarinet Sonata, written as a homage to the Swiss composer Arthur Honegger, but full of impish humour as well as a genuinely elegiac slow movement. Because its character shifts so suddenly and disconcertingly it is a difficult piece to sustain. Here it made complete sense. The anguish; the anger; the violent mood swings; the determination to pursue joie de vivre no matter what — all these contrasts and contradictions were presented as if in a crazy mosaic: bracingly unreconciled, like the jumble of life itself. A blissful insight, you might say.

Album: Krommer: Concerto for two clarinets Op 91. Spohr: Clarinet Concertos Nos 2 & 4 Sabine Meyer, Julian Bliss (clarinets) Krommer's Double Clarinet Concerto offers the perfect display piece for teacher and pupil: the former Berlin Philharmonic clarinettist Sabine Meyer and her British protégé Julian Bliss, just turned 18. In fact, they are ideally matched in terms of tone, and their phrasing in the work's many passages in octaves, thirds and sixths has amazing unanimity of purpose. Their individual talents shine in the two Spohr solo concertos, taking one each - Bliss in the Second, Meyer in the Fourth - though, if truth be told, the "pupil" brings the more tonally alluring sound. The accompaniments from the Academy of St Martin in the Fields are crisp, and the whole disc is beautifully recorded.

Fanfare Magazine

The Telegraph

Fanfare Magazine

The Independent on Sunday

Album: Julian Bliss ( clarinet ) Sabine Meyer ( clarinet ) Concerto for Two Clarinets, Franz Krommer Concerto No.2, No.4, Louis Spohr St.Martin-in-the-Fields, Kenneth Sillito As you may in these pages, this is a good age for clarinetists, and one of the leaders of the pack is Sabine Meyer. She is the German musician who made worldwide news 25 years ago when she became the first female member of the Berlin Philharmonic. (Some of the boys didn't take it so well.) But she has long since been a soloist, setting a standard wherever she goes. On her latest disc, she has a partner: another clarinetist, Julian Bliss. Who's he? He is an English teenager — b. 1989 — and a student of Ms. Meyer's. He is one of the great phenomenons on the musical scene today. And there is something touching about a disc shared between a teacher and a student now matured. The disc (from EMI Classics) offers three concertos by two composers: Franz Krommer and Louis Spohr. Krommer was a Moravian-born composer (1759–1831) whose Op. 91 is a concerto in E flat for two clarinets. It's a cool piece, too: sprightly, stylish, and even somewhat jazzy. If you can keep from smiling during the final movement – Alla polacca — you're having a bad day indeed. And Ms. Meyer and her charge play the concerto splendidly. They are spiffy, smooth, and complementary. They exhibit

notable musicality, doing nothing even hinting of the vulgar, dim, or clumsy. And similar praise goes to the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, directed by Kenneth Sillito. The orchestra is crisp and engaged, without ever lapsing into "period practice" (thank goodness). Then we have two concertos — for solo clarinet — by Spohr (1784–1859). Spohr is a mainstay of the clarinet, along with Weber, Bernhard Henrik Crusell (1775–1838), and a few others. Ms. Meyer plays Spohr's Concerto No. 4 in E minor, and Mr. Bliss plays his Concerto No. 2 in E flat. Thus is equal time observed. About Ms. Meyer, there is little more to be said, after all these years: She is simply a musical and technical paragon. Her student is no slouch either, different from her — in tone, for example — but admirable on his own terms. Yes, this is a fine age for clarinetists, given David Shifrin, Ricardo Morales, Martin Fröst, Jose Franch-Ballester, and several others. By the way, EMI's CD booklet includes no information whatsoever about Ms. Meyer and Mr. Bliss (although there's plenty of information about Krommer and Spohr). I find this baffling. It can't be in the interest of the company, and it's certainly not in the interest of the buyer/listener.

Album: Mozart/Nielsen: Clarinet Concertos Julian Bliss/Royal Northern Sinfonia/Mario Venzago Two masterpieces for the clarinet, effortlessly played by a young British artist. The brilliant Julian Bliss continues to demonstrate his considerable talent by tackling the two greatest works in the repertoire for his instrument - Mozart's evergreen Clarinet Concerto and the concerto by Carl Nielsen. He also presents his own clarinet arrangements of two Mozart arias, 'Der Liebe himmlisches Gefühl' and 'Non che non sei capace'. All the works collected here showcase the attractive qualities of Bliss's playing, rich and fruity in the showier passages, effortless in the demanding runs made by Nielsen in particular and, at the sublime moments, appropriately mellifluous and sonorous. A youthful addition to the many excellent versions of the Mozart already available, and a fine introduction to the Nielsen for those who are not familiar with it.

Live: Mozart Clarinet Concerto Julian Bliss/BBC Philharmonic/Juanjo Mena Between the Beethoven and Mozart, young British clarinettist Julian Bliss was soloist for the Mozart. He played the concerto on the basset clarinet for which it was written, which allowed access to a greater range in the lower register. Performances on modern clarinets are forced to transpose up to avoid passages requiring these notes, but Bliss’ use of the older instrument gave his performance an extra level of impressiveness. Clear technical mastery of the concerto left plenty of scope to create a fairly personal and engaging reading for such a familiar work. His own dynamics and phrasing were obvious throughout, and his physicality on stage served to highlight these. In the outer movements his playing was fluid and agile, even in the lower register, where the darker colours of the basset were shown. The famous slow movement seemed to improve with time. The first half didn’t quite touch the listener as it might have done, until a particularly beautiful moment when emerging from the cadenza. The strings here played with a breathily quiet pianissimo, and the remainder of the movement was far more moving. The concerto as a whole was certainly very good, and Bliss’ ovation was well-deserved.

http://www.classicfm.com/composers/mozart/music/mozarts-clarinet-concerto-revealed/

http://www.classicfm.com/composers/nielsen/

http://www.classicfm.com/composers/mozart/album-reviews/clarinet-concerto-bliss/#bghDiitrrlOBaQAW.97



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