For more details, click on the titles

For more details, click on the titles

This Sonata in 4 movements comes from a group of 3 Sonatas for wind instruments (oboe, clarinet and bassoon) composed in May and june 1921. They are the last in the catalogue of Saint-Saëns' works. - RENAUD ESCRIVA

This Andante is the 2nd movement of the Sonata in E flat Major composed by Mendelssohn in 1824 at the age of 15. It is very beautiful dialogue between Clarinet and Piano which demands deep understanding between the two musicians.

Here is a very beautiful Adagio written in 1821 by Heinrich Baermann, the celebrated dedicatee of works for clarinet written by Weber. For a long while considered to be a youthful work by Richard Wagner, it was only in 1964 that it was realised that this unsigned manuscript, discovered in 1922, was in fact the Adagio from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings No. 3 Opus 23 which had become detached from the original score. - Renaud ESCRIVA

Here is the sight-reading test used for the Clarinet examination at the Paris Conservatoire in 1910. The "Première Rhapsodie" was the extract given. What a year! - Renaud ESCRIVA

The anglo-Irish composer, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, composed seven works for clarinet. Of these compositions, the Three Intermezzi Op.13 and the Sonata Op.129 are well-known. - Renaud ESCRIVA

Charles Oberthür, virtuoso harpist born in Munich, wrote Six Nocturnes called "Wedding Presents" for the mariage of the Duke of Nassau. Le Désir - Opus 65 is one of these pieces, where the version for clarinet is dedicated to Henry Lazarus, for 50 years the "Clarinetto Supremo" during the reign of Queen Victoria. - Renaud ESCRIVA

Here is a very pretty Romance by Princess Marie-Elisabeth von Sachsen-Meiningen (1853-1923). A talented pianist, she was also a composer and in 1892 she wrote this Romance in F Major which was to be performed by Richard Mühlfeld, the dedicatee of Brahms clarinet works. This piece is a good introduction to Romantic music. - Renaud ESCRIVA

Niels Gade, the Danish composer and friend of Mendelssohn and Schumann, had a profound influence on the musical life of his country. Composed en 1864 and edited in 1865, the Opus 43 Fantasies for clarinet and piano are considered pearls of the Scandinavian Romantic School.

Niels Gade, the Danish composer and friend of Mendelssohn and Schumann, had a profound influence on the musical life of his country. Composed en 1864 and edited in 1865, the Opus 43 Fantasies for clarinet and piano are considered pearls of the Scandinavian Romantic School.