Acclaimed clarinettist Emma Johnson’s new release explores music composed against a background of war, taking a cue from the title of Aldous Huxley’s 1931 novel ‘Brave New World’.

Emma has arranged Prokofiev’s elegant neoclassical Flute Sonata Op.94 (1943) for clarinet and piano – a world premiere recording.

Hindemith’s Clarinet Sonata (1939) is haunted by the shadow of war. “…its pastoral opening interrupted by military motifs, its mischievous scherzo continually beaten into submission. I find the slow movement one of the most despairing pieces in all of Hindemith’s work”, writes Emma.

Nina Rota’s Sonata (1945) in three movements “seems to be intent on beguiling us with a vision of hope for the future”.

Messiaen‘s 'Abîme des oiseaux' (or ‘Abyss of Birds) from the Quartet for the End of Time finds, by contrast, beauty in desolation with its sadness, its weariness.

Emma Johnson OBE is one of few clarinetists to have established a busy solo career. This has taken her to major European, American and Asian venues as well as to Africa and Australasia. Emma grew up in London and in 1984 she won the BBC Young Musician of the Year. Early successes launched her career whilst she was still at school, but she decided to study Music and English at Cambridge University before embarking full time on a musical path. A Patron of CLIC Sargent, the childhood cancer charity, Emma was also the first woman to be made an Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge and was honoured by the Queen with an MBE in 1996.