An hour of clarinet music by Verdi, Simeon Bellison, Gershwin, Milhaud, and Steve Reich, who turns ninety this month. Five pieces, five worlds — opera, klezmer, the American songbook, French modernism, and minimalism.

At the center is Reich’s New York Counterpoint, a cornerstone of the modern clarinet repertoire that is almost never heard the way it was built to be heard. Rey plays the live part against ten clarinet parts he recorded himself, played back through speakers set around the room rather than aimed at the audience from a stage. The sound arrives from every direction at once. You don’t so much listen to this music as sit inside it.

Rey introduces each piece from the stage: who wrote it, when, why it belongs on a program called The Jewish Clarinet, and how being Jewish shaped the music.

Program

Verdi, La forza del destino, arranged for clarinet and piano
Bellison, Four Hebraic Pictures
Gershwin, Three Preludes, arranged for clarinet and piano
Milhaud, Duo concertant
Reich, New York Counterpoint

Rey Abolofia, clarinet
Lee Melaugh, piano
Cory Johannsen, sound design