Jorg Widmann, an internationally sought-after soloist and professor of clarinet at the Freiburg Musikhochschule, displays the exquisite refinement of contemporary clarinet sound in 'Funf Bruchstucke' (already published) for clarinet and piano (KLB 54) and in the present 'Fantasie' for solo clarinet. While noise, as a means of expression, is given much attention in 'Funf Bruchstucke', 'Fantasie' is largely based on the usual Romantic melodious sound, though this time with ironic side trips into dance, klezmer and jazz music, the clarinet's equivalent of light music.

'Fantasie' for solo clarinet is my first real piece for my own instrument, the clarinet. With its eccentric virtuosity and its cheerful, ironic fundamental character, it reflects the experience with Stravinsky's 3 Pieces for solo clarinet of 1919 and the tonal innovations which did not appear in music before Carl Maria von Weber's notation for the clarinet, and takes them further in a new way. It is a little imaginary scene uniting the dialogues of different people in close proximity in the spirit of the commedia dell'arte.

- Jorg Widmann