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There’s something about walking into Carnegie Hall that makes you feel a bit awestruck. It’s an imposing building — taking up an entire city block in midtown Manhattan — that dominates everything around it. Couple that with the iconic composers and performers who have graced the Hall’s multiple stages: Tchaikovsky (who conducted Carnegie Hall’s opening night performance), Judy Garland, Duke Ellington, Maria Callas, Dave Brubeck, The Beatles, Antonin Dvorak (who premiered his New World Symphony at Carnegie Hall), and so many more, and you arrive simultaneously excited and humbled.

Now it was PARMA’s turn to stage a performance at one of music’s most historic venues.

On Friday night, PARMA Music Festival presented “ART FOR TWO:  The Music of Arthur Gottschalk” at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.  The performance featured clarinetist Sauro Berti, pianist Naomi Fujiya, and the Eccher School of Music Vocal Ensemble.  Hailed by Gottschalk as a “master of the bass clarinet,” Sauro Berti’s mastery was instantly apparent as he teased subtle, delicate sounds and profound wails from his instrument with equal ease.  Pianist Naomi Fujiya performed with style and grace never once flustered by the dramatic changes in mood and tempo of Gottschalk’s compositions.