Reviews
“Hartig is, quite simply, an amazing talent, one of the few wind players I’ve heard in the past quarter century who made me like her due to the extraordinarily high quality of her feeling and phrasing.” (CaraClarina CAROLINE HARTIG plays Classical to Klezmer, Vol. I, Bremen Radiohall Records, #1401) Full Review
- Fanfare Magazine
"I was little prepared for the coiled virtuosity that sprang at me from Caroline Hartig... There are simply no weaknesses in this woman's playing, and believe me, I look close and hard. Technically, she is as first-rate as I have heard... Hartig dazzles with numbing, blazing fluidity and rich. luxuriant, gypsy-like fervor... I am confounded at the depth of perception and understanding that is brought to this performance, unusual for a player who is confined to the literature of a solo wind instrument." (Clarinet Brilliate, Centaur #2572)
- American Record Guide
"All of the works on this disc require the utmost technical facility, and this Hartig has in abundance. Her finger fluency, control of dynamics and articulation, flexibility, and mastery of extended-techniques are breathtaking. Her sound is ultra-focused, consistent and even throughout the range of the clarinet, warm in the soft and middle dynamics and brilliant in the loud ones, and eminently well suited to this repertoire. Beyond this technical command, moreover, her musical intrepretation brings out the full drama of each composition. This recording was beautifully engineered at the Music and Sound Program at the Banff Centre in Canada, and the clarinet sound is impeccably true...Fine recordings of good contemporary music like this one are a real pleasure to encounter." (Chalumeau, Centaur #2965)
- The Clarinet
There’s a staggering virtuosity to the compositions here, and Hartig brings a primal energy to her interpretations of these solo pieces for clarinet,most of them by composers I’m unfamiliar with. There’s such a vitality and edge to the music, all enveloped by Hartig’s amazingly warm clarinet sound. There’s a melodic and rhythmic vocabulary here that I feel really close to, and parallels much of the language of modern improvisers. (Chalumeau, Centaur Records #2965)
- Jim Macnie, writer for Village Voice
Michigan-based Caroline Hartig has shown in three previous CDs that she is a brilliant virtuoso, with technique to spare and a particularly fine ear for dynamics. All the contemporary composers featured here should thank her for performances that seem to me as faithful as they could possibly be." (Chalumeau, Centaur Records #2965)
- The Clarinet & Saxophone Magazine
Clarinet Brilliante II is every bit as sensational as the first, loaded down with exceptionally dazzling technical display. Hartig is a flash player, one who seems to thrive on on the finely-walked virtuoso display, and she does it as well as I have ever heard. There's a remarkably controlled and constrained Debussy, Premiere Rhapsodie, as if to show another aspect of her playing. The playing is simply mastery itself...Clarinet Brilliante II
- American Record Guide
Dancing Solo is a wondrous work, dedicated to clarinetist Caroline Hartig, whose Clarinet Brilliante I and II on Centaur are two of the finest clarinet albums ever released. Clarinet Brilliante & Clarinet Brilliante II
- FANFARE Magazine
Hartig shows both her intuitive timing abilities and her virtuosity....the playing is exciting and her brilliant and breathtaking performance is really terrific. Hearing Hartig's songful approach in these pieces, her delightful risks in dynamic contrast, lyricism, and dashing virtuoso playing all make this disc worthwhile...these works all happily hand together bound by the exuberance she transmits in performance. Clarinet Brilliante II
- THE CLARINET
"For some sweet-sounding barnburners, Caroline Hartig weaves a spellbinding recital." Honored as a Critics' Choice by ARG...(Clarinet Brilliante, Centaur #2572)
- American Record Guide
"Just once in a while a CD comes along for which even the most scintillating superlatives are but poor recompense for the performance to which one has been listening... For any real enthusiast of the clarinet and its repertoire possibilities, this CD is without doubt one of the most spectacular and heart warming to appear in recent times. Don't hesitate. Buy it!" (Clarinet Brilliante, Centaur #2572)
- CLARINET & SAXOPHONE Magazine
"In short, Hartig's playing on this recording is remarkable. She tackles eight demanding virtuoso pieces and the delightful adaptation of the Gershwin preludes with great aplomb." (Clarinet Brilliante, Centaur #2572)
- The Clarinet
"What a fantastic recording!... Not only is the music wonderful, but Caroline Hartig is simply virtuosic in her performance of it... It is in Dancing Solo that Ms. Hartig really demonstrates her musicality and prodigious technique." (Dancing Solo, Innova Recordings, #512)
