Richard Stoltzman is that rare breed of classical musician, an artist whose communicative skill and buoyant personality seem effortlessly to transcend all musical boundaries.
With his pianist son Peter John, Stoltzman served up an engaging, energetic and consummately played program of classical and jazz for Sunday Afternoons of Music in Coral Gables.
Acrid, smoky air from the Everglades fires was so insidious it permeated the outer lobbies of Gusman Concert Hall but seemed to have no effect on the clarinetist's fabled technique. Stoltzman is now a youthful 65, and his ease of production, seamless phrasing and remarkable range of colors, dynamics and tone remain as impressive as ever.
The mostly classical first half was framed by music of Debussy and Leonard Bernstein. Debussy's Premiere rapsodie led off in fine style; the clarinetist's pure-toned legato and mastery of the long line were were ideally suited to the music's languor.
While still a student at Harvard, Bernstein wrote the concise Clarinet Sonata for his friend David Oppenheim, and it remains the earliest Bernstein work still in the repertoire. The dense counterpoint of the opening betrays the shadow of Hindemith, but the second movement is all Lenny, with its heart-easing lyricism, brash jazz accents and rhythmic insistence.
Peter John Stoltzman's keyboard work sounded a bit cautious next to his father's swagger and full-throated abandon. The men formed a more equal partnership in a jazz medley of songs from Bernstein's West Side Story, with Stoltzman pere mining an array of rhythmic modulations in Something's Coming.
Loud coughs, a metallic door slam from rude latecomers and varied noisy contributions from a videographer caused Stoltzman to stop his playing in the hushed opening bars of Messiaen's L'Abime des oiseaux (Abyss of the Birds). After politely speaking of the rich humanity and delicacy of this music for solo clarinet -- the third movement of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time -- he started over again to a more respectful silence.
Even by Stoltzman's elevated standard, the performance was magnificent, proceeding from a near inaudible sliver of tone to a deeply moving eloquence. Written in a Nazi prisoner of war camp, this music is a testament to the human spirit, and Stoltzman's tour de force brought out all of the isolation, spirituality and stoic strength with remarkable subtlety and expressive force.
The close bond between father and son was clear in the second half devoted to jazz. Both displayed musical rapport and improvisational ingenuity in the Duke Ellington set, equal parts bluesy evocation and up-tempo drive.
Pianist Stoltzman took the spotlight in the Thelonius Monk set, weaving introspective keyboard solos of great delicacy in 'Round Midnight and Monk's Dream, his father leaning back on his high stool and proudly looking on.
In music from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, the clarinetist's sleazy, insinuating take on It Ain't Necessarily So was fully worthy of the charming rogue Sportin' Life. Stoltzman showed his quirky spontaneity in the central Prayer, casually jumping off the low Gusman stage and working an array of spontaneous solo lines while sauntering up the side aisle.
Stoltzman's blues-tinged encore of Amazing Grace, his late mother's favorite hymn, ended the afternoon on a characteristic note of tradition and impish humor. ''I know my mother's up there,'' the clarinetist said, ``and I hope she's listening to my CDs.''
