Mihael Paar » Reviews

Sensational, seasonal showpiece of considerable worth

MihaelPaar.com — Sat, 06 Dec 2014 21:59:53 +0000

ln the lnternet age it is increasingly common to have seen or heard a piece of music multiple times without fully registering the performer or composer involved. This is not necessarily a reflection on the quality of the performance, but rather an unfortunate consequence of our increasingly fast-paced clicking habits. Many of our readers, myself included, may not know Mihael Paar’s Little Christmas Fantasy by name, but with nearly 20,000 hits on YouTube, many will have seen the composer’s brilliantly virtuosic rendition of his own work flying around various social media sites. lt is not known whether Paar published the work as a direct consequence of the video’s online popularity, but whatever the reason, this is a sensational, seasonal showpiece of considerable worth and a welcome addition to the repertory.

Croatian-born clarinettist Paar is a young, emerging artist with an ever-growing reputation at home and abroad. His Little Christmas Fantasy takes the well known Christmas tune we all love to hate, Jingle Bells, on a light-hearted, humorous journey through a variety of styles. But if you are looking for a simple little piece to sight-read to your grandma on Christmas day after a few glasses of sherry, be warned, this piece is not for the faint-hearted! Mihael Paar is a performer who possesses a brilliant virtuosic technique, which he aptly demonstrates in his YouTube performance of the work.

The Fantasy uses a number of extended techniques including flutter-tonguing, slap-tonguing, double-tonguing, high notes up to Super C and a particular favourite of mine, an unusual effect where the performer is asked to play and release air outside the mouthpiece simultaneously to create an off the-beat percussion effect. To make the work more accessible, Paar has written a number of ossia lines and has suggested some useful cuts which remove some of the work’s more technically demanding passages, but I would still say that even the abbreviated version of the work is of a grade eight standard, especially if performed at the given tempi.

If you are up for the challenge, I would highly recommend learning the Fantasy in its entirety, along with all the extended techniques Paar incorporates so effectively into the work. lt is a superbly crafted little piece, which is highly effective, texturally interesting, fun to play and is sure to put a Little Christmas smile on your face. Bah Humbug!

Michael Pearce

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Charming and virtous variation

MihaelPaar.com — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 10:18:54 +0000

Little Christmas Fantasy for clarinet solo by Croatian clarinetist and composer Mihael Paar stands as a charming and virtuous variation on the well-known Christmas song. The influence of jazz is as notable as its call to make you dance, even though the work is performed only by one instrument.

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Clarinet Videos: Best of 2011

MihaelPaar.com — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:45:39 +0000

“And finally, before the holiday tunes have faded from our memory, check out Croatian clarinetist Mihael Paar’s rendition of Jingle Bells. This professionally-made video has great audio that highlights his smooth sound and polished technique. His unique arrangement of Jingle Bells seamlessly weaves several variations of the classic tune together and is complemented nicely by the video footage of the recording process. For more information about Paar and his current projects, visit his website at www.mihaelpaar.com”

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Recital at the Epidaurus Festival

MihaelPaar.com — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:46:33 +0000

“Fantasy on aria Là ci darem la mano from Mozart’s famous opera Don Giovanni showed us outright that, in front of audience, there were two skillful musicians, especially the clarinetist with already notable international reputation. Playing music was irreproachable, with the interpretation and virtuosity that Mr. Paar immediately imposed himself with. The three-movement Poulenc’s Sonata introduced to us all the qualities of Paar’s interpretation of melancholic, romantic and dynamic sections… Hommage á Manuel de Falla for clarinet solo by Béla Kovács brought out the artist in the special light confirming again his high performing technique and virtuosity. Mangani’s Pagina d’album was a real delicacy… Rosenblatt’s Fantasy on themes from Bizet’s opera Carmen could not leave us indifferent…

In the entire repertoire, Mihael Paar distinguished himself as a great performer. Though his great affection for the classics is obvious, he promotes contemporary music as well… Duo Paar – Pernicki not only made us acquainted with skillfully selected and excellenly performed program but they have also proved themelves to be young Croatian musicians who are welcome to the musical podium. The Festival connected the two young artists, while their inspiring playing music confirmed the slogan of the Epidaurus Festival, ‘Living with arts’.”

September 30st, 2011

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Zagreb Artists to Zagreb Audience

MihaelPaar.com — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:47:30 +0000

“The climax of the evening was the premiere of the brilliant composition by a Croatian composer Ivana Kiš, written for the basset clarinet & guitar – Rosa’s Way Home, which the author wrote for the two of her coevals. It is a story about a woman who gets lost on her way home and is walking distractedly step by step trying to find the right path. From the initial tones which symbolize frightened pattering, the music associates with panic in progressive gradation, ending in a ritardando accompanied by maniac ostinato in crescendo. The impressive, only six minute piece was masterfully performed.

M.Paar & K.Bedek have reached highest level of chamber musicianship and revealed perfect harmony of their instruments supported by the beauty of tone, technical perfection and virtuosity. Contented audience rewarded the young artists with ovations and in return the encore was a popular Nana by M. de Falla.”

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#1 Osijek Summer Festival – Bjelinski Concerto with Franjo Krežma Chamber Orchestra

MihaelPaar.com — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:48:03 +0000

“With particular curiosity we have been awaiting the performance of the clarinetist Mihael Paar. Performing the Concerto for Clarinet & Strings by B.Bjelinski the musicians joint the composer’s century birthday celebration. Clarinetist Mihael Paar has alongside with the chamber orchestra ‘Franjo Krežma’ showcased acoustic and dynamic diversity of themes and phrases with distinctive musicality and technical perfection. As a special encore in the Paar’s style we were offered Chopin’s Brilliant Etude op.10-2 in arrangement of the soloist himself.”

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#2 Osijek Summer Festival – Bjelinski Concerto with Franjo Krežma Chamber Orchestra

MihaelPaar.com — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:48:46 +0000

“Special guest star was the brilliant young clarinetist Mihael Paar who has recently been invited to the prestigious Summer Music Festival in Toronto. He reveals his delightedness to accept this invitation and to represent Croatia at the Festival. There he will also attend the master class with Karl Leister, one of the most important clarinetists of our time.”

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Europassion – Mozart Quintet with Zagreb String Quartet

MihaelPaar.com — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:49:26 +0000

“First part of the concert featured the clarinetist Mihael Paar as a soloist in the Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A-major K581. This 4-movement piece of profane attributes in a formation fast-slow-menuet with trio-fast (closing Theme with variations) was composed in 1789 and inspired by clarinetist Anton Stadler, the solo-clarinetist of the Vienna’s Court’s Kapelle.

Mihael Paar shows the features of his basset clarinet performance acquired by many European clarinetists, and these are – in addition to outstanding intonation, superb techinque, great dynamic range – compilance in the chamber texture.”

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The Young Artists Tribune Darko Lukić

MihaelPaar.com — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 14:50:58 +0000

“Mr. Paar made a distinctive impression, notably for his overall approach to music. His interpretations reflected a fine synthesis of intellectual and rational in expression with a profound artistic gesture. It is without saying extraordinary young musician.”

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Recital for the Zagreb Concert Management

MihaelPaar.com — Fri, 11 May 2007 14:51:57 +0000

“The chamber music cycle Piano pianissimo (Concert Management Zagreb) placed in the Zagreb historic Illyrian Hall, hosted a young Croatian virtuoso Mihael Paar and a Japanese pianist Hiroyo Imagawa. The clarinet which made a break as a solo-instrument only in the 19th century, on the concert podiums stays less present even today. This made a good occasion for the audience to witness its unique sound in, what seemed to be quite a comprehensive program composed in two rather simetrical parts. Thus each part had an opening piece of somewhat easier material, followed by the central piece firmly connected to the tradition, through which a much deeper and complex sonata form was reached. Likewise, the selection of composers (Gershwin, Benjamin, Brahms, Lovreglio, Klobučar, Poulenc) witnessed a wide range of performers’ affinities and capacities. Mihael Paar, a multiple winner of several international competitions and a frequent figure of numerous concert projects in his homecountry and abroad, equally copes, as seen in his resume, with all music genres, amongst them both, stylized jazz and contemporary music.

Effective cohesion of classic and jazz, which at the start of the 20th century came as an exceptionally grateful genre for the clarinet, was noticeable at the very beginning in the Gershwin’s Three Preludes, originally composed for piano alone. Hiroyo Imagawa, a young artist with a distinguished career of a concert pianist, who lives today in Salzburg, established herself in Gershwin’s showpiece as an equal piano partner. An Interesting sound, skilful mesh of both instruments and a display of clarinet technique set out the composition Le Tombeau de Ravel by which the Australian Arthur Benjamin gave his tribute to Maurice Ravel and to the French impressionism. Afterwards, the Brahms’s four-movement Sonata for clarinet and piano in f-minor op.120 sounded rather serious and inhibited, but the interpretation of Mihael Paar and Hiroyo Imagawa pointed to the range and the power of Brahms’s experience of clarinet and piano combination. Concert Fantasie on the motives from Verdi’s La Traviata by Donato Lovreglio put the tehnical facilities of the clarinet in the spot, and Paar provided an appropriate respond followed by Klobučar’s Suite in its rather short, but distinct movements which brought more introvert, but still clear and stable sound of both instruments. The concluding Sonata by Poulenc, one of the key works of modern clarinet literature with a demanding part of the leading instrument – quick leaps, tempo alterations and a complex treatment of the clarinet in general – but with a solid piano support, rounded the impression of performing maturity of Mihael Paar and Hiroyo Imagawa.”

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