Disk of 2024

Archive: 2024 2023 2022 | 2021 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013

Clarinetist Nicola Boud and pianist Anthony Romaniuk. Works by Johannes Brahms. CD Review – February 17th, 2026

On November 14th, 2025, an album with chamber works by Johannes Brahms was released on the Fuga Libera label. The performers are two exceptional musicians, originally from Australia and now based in Belgium, with rich concert and recording careers: clarinetist Nicola Boud and pianist Anthony Romaniuk.

Their album includes the two Op. 120 Sonatas for clarinet and piano by Johannes Brahms, scores from the final creative period of the German composer, when he discovered the special tonal colors of the clarinet. In addition to these works written in 1894, the disc's program also features the first Lied from the Op. 105 set, in a transcription for clarinet and piano by the two performers, as well as the 3 Intermezzi Op. 117 for solo piano, pieces of distinctive lyricism, emotional and melancholic, as we can admire in the sensitive interpretation of pianist Anthony Romaniuk.

Anthony Romaniuk pursues his career in Brussels, after studying in his native Australia and later at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. He has a diverse repertoire, performing jazz, classical works, electronic music, and Baroque pieces on period instruments. He has released two solo albums to date, in addition to this disc dedicated to the music of Johannes Brahms, recorded together with clarinetist Nicola Boud, a soloist and teacher. The musician has collaborated with renowned ensembles such as Concerto Copenhagen, English Baroque Soloists, and the Baroque Orchestras of Helsinki and Freiburg, and she teaches clarinet at the Paris Conservatoire.

Nicola Boud and Anthony Romaniuk perform on historical instruments from the period in which Brahms's Op. 120 Sonatas were written, a copy of a 19th century clarinet and an 1875 Steinway piano, in order to offer an interpretation that is as authentic as possible, close to the Romantic musical style of Johannes Brahms's time.

Larisa Clempuș