Sarah Williamson
Reviews
A superb player
Michael Church, The Independent, 2008
The audience was able to relish in the instrument’s acrobatic capabilities as well as its gift for expressive variations in tone.
Eastern Daily Press, September 2008
All said, it was an evening which crackled with electricity, inspired in no small way by clarinettist Sarah Williamson, a
musician of consummate skill. (Weber Clarinet Concerto with Leicester Symphony Orchestra)
Leicester Mercury 2007
(Finzi 5 Bagatelles arr for String quartet & Clarinet)
Sarah Williamson emphasised that wistful, yet confident, sound which seems to come only from English composers.
(Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet)
In a performance that overall perhaps emphasised the cheerful rather than the sombre emotions in the music, Williamson
blended seamlessly in and out of the string writing – it sounded as if she had been a lifelong member of the Carducci team.
Giles Woodforde, Oxford Times 2007
‘An imaginative programme, beguiling tone, and zestful presentation spiced the stage of the Purcell Room on 18 May in the
Kirckman Concert Society recital by clarinettist Sarah Williamson, a finalist in the 2002 BBC Young Musician of the Year
Competition’. Chief amongst many merits was Sarah Williamson’s eloquently shaped tone, light and delicately shaded with a
warm chalumeau where necessary, as in the slow movement of the Poulenc Sonata and Weber’s Grand Duo. The duo’s
precise co-ordination and flow were especially appealing in the rhythmically complex Sonatina by Frank martin, with its slinky
Chromatic slow movement and jazzy finale. Poulenc’s Sonata bristled with bonhomie, contrasting Weill-like piquancy with the
characteristic harmonic richness and wit of Les Six, the final swaggering with sparkle…. Williamson’s graceful virtuosity was
most boldly evident in the tour de force, Weber’s grand duo, as enjoyable for audiences as it is challenging for performers,
with its fizzing musical repartee. Two cadenzas dazzled in the fascinating works chosen to frame the programme: the Hungarian
Dances by Leo Weiner….and the tuneful Solo de Concours by Andre Messager. The duo’s first-rate performance throughout
was capped by their panache in the thrilling encore, James Cohn’s arrangement of a Gershwin Prelude’.
Musical Opinion Purcell Room July 2004
‘If the reception young clarinettist Sarah Williamson received…is anything to go by, then Britain has a new golden girl of
classical music…. For not only is she an outstanding musician but she really is a great performer…. The entire performance was
fresh and full of her own personality… Her sustained pianissimo sections were outstanding and the performance was full of
expression and definition’
John Manning – The Herts Advertiser, January 2003
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