 | Saint-Saens, Camille - Sonata in Eb Major for Clarinet and Piano Opus 167 Clarinet, Piano |
Sonata in Eb Major for Clarinet and Piano
MP3 (15.85 Mo) : 
(by Magatagan, Michael)602x⬇ 1,115x
Sonata in Eb Major for Clarinet and Piano
MP3 (1.65 Mo) : (by Magatagan, Michael)535x⬇ 848xVidéo :
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| Composer : | Saint-Saens, Camille (1835 - 1921) | ||||
| Instrumentation : | Clarinet, Piano1 other version | ||||
| Style : | Modern classical | ||||
| Arranger : | MAGATAGAN, MICHAEL (1960 - ) | ||||
| Publisher : | MAGATAGAN, MICHAEL | ||||
| Date : | 1921 | ||||
| Copyright : | Public Domain | ||||
| Added by magataganm, 14 Aug 2012 In the last year of his life, at the age of 85, Camille Saint-Saëns was still active as a composer and conductor, traveling between Algiers and Paris. Besides a final piano album leaf, his last completed works were three sonatas, one each for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. He sensed that he did not have much time left; he wrote to a friend, "I am using my last energies to add to the repertoire for these otherwise neglected instruments." He intended to write sonatas for another three wind instruments, but was never able to. Saint-Saëns began the pieces early in the year while in Algeria and completed them in April in Paris. He was not alone in wanting to write for these instruments. English composers, such as Holst and Bax, and other French composers, such as Honegger and Milhaud, were also starting to expand the literature for woodwind instruments around the same time. In fact, Saint-Saëns' sonatas have pastoral and humorous moments that are similar to those others' works, relying on simpler melodies and textures than are found even his earlier chamber works, yet retaining Classical forms for their structure. Although all three sonatas were published before Saint-Saëns' death, they were not premiered until later. This, the Sonata for clarinet and piano in E flat major, Op. 167, is cherished by many performers. Saint-Saëns' Clarinet Sonata has four movements, and thus might be said to reach back past the Romantic sonata tradition, with its normal three-movement vessel, to the Classical tradition that Saint-Saëns loved so dearly. The opening melodic strains of the Allegretto first movement float upon a sea of utterly calm eighth note waves in the piano (bobbing up and down in 12/8 meter); the composer is in no hurry to reveal the secrets of the movement, but there is still passion aplenty as we go along, even if the movement as a whole is not especially long. A scherzo movement comes next, taking up A flat major, and then Saint-Saëns provides a Lento in the dark key of E flat minor; its steady half notes and, in time, quarter notes, are so persistent in their slow plodding that we almost feel anguish at their inability to break free from the dirge they create. Much happier, though, is the Molto Allegro fourth movement that follows it without pause. Here the clarinetist is given a chance to whirl and spin to some very florid virtuoso stuff, but at the end it is the quiet tone, and even in fact the very music, of the first movement that the composer uses to close. Sheet central : | Sonate pour clarinette en mi bémol majeur (2 sheet music) | | |||
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