A sonata (from the Latin/Italian word sonare, ‘to sound’) is a musical term for a large musical work consisting of three or four movements, all of them differing in tempo and style, very much like a three-course meal: the first movement was like a fresh crunchy salad, an introductory piece which would contain the main theme which would reoccur at the end (during the recapitulation of the primary subject); the middle movements were often slower and were played as dances, the succulent roast beef meal with roast potatoes, steaming vegetables and lashings of gravy; the final movement was the huge ice-cream sundae with all the fillings and decorations on top, the grand finale containing the main theme to end the mighty work. Hungry?

For this recital, I have decided to perform the listed-above works in their movement number order rather than chronological order. That way, I will be remaining faithful to the original sonata form structure for which they were written.

Movement I, Saint-Sæns

French romantic composer, Camille Saint-Sæns (1835-1921), was a professor at the Paris Conservatoire of Music and wrote sonatas for every woodwind instrument – possibly even for every instrument – as test pieces for his students. His ‘Carnival of the Animals’ suite is one of his most commonly played pieces, but he did not want to be typecast as a humorous composer, for he was also famous for his organ symphony, his opera ‘Samson and Delilah’ and ‘Danse Macabre’, meaning ‘dance of death’ which has been used in films and television series such as ‘Jonathan Creek’.

He was a melodic composer and used complicated harmonic language, as can be seen in this piece. This first movement is written in ternary form with an ABA structure and it is not typical of sonata form, as it is not very quick, nor is it in sonata form.

Movement II, Poulenc

Another French composer, Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) and he too wrote sonatas for every woodwind instrument. French composers, particularly Romantic and Modern ones, are renowned for using complex romantic harmonies and Poulenc is no exception. This piece appears experimental, as it contains unexpected chords, harmonies and accidentals in both the clarinet and the piano part.

Like Saint-Sæns’ first movement, it is melodious and is very much a duet between the clarinet and the piano (as expected in true sonata fashion), as both instruments take it in turns to express the main theme of the piece. Unlike the previous movement, however, it is slow – typical of sonata form.

Movements III-IV, Tartini

Italian Baroque composer, Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770) was a violinist as well as a composer. He was not afraid to push the boundaries of what an instrument could do, as shown in his ‘Devil’s Trill Sonata’ for violins and this fourth movement. The structure of these movements is similar to that of a Trio Sonata – there is a solo instrument, a harpsichord (the baroque equivalent of a piano, which was not fully invented until the end of the 1700’s) and a bass part. The third movement is a slow movement, whereas the fourth movement is much quicker in pace and tempo with complicated rhythms and swift changes between quavers and triplet quavers.

There are two odd and interesting things about these two movements: firstly, they were not written for the clarinet (which probably explains the lack of places to breathe!), as the clarinet was not invented until the turn of the 18^th century and did not become a clarinet as we know it today until much later, when the register key was added in 1843, providing the clarinet with a considerably higher range. These pieces were adapted for the clarinet by an English composer, Gordon Jacob, who also provided it with a complete piano part - it was no longer in ‘figured bass’ – a series of numbers written underneath the music that would tell the player what chord to play. The piano part now contains themes, solos and even bits of the clarinet part, making this an involved sonata. Secondly, these two movements are not from the same piece – Jacob just put them together.

Movement IV, Brahms

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was born in Germany and worked in Austria. The musical Romantic era was one where one didn’t abandon the rules of the great Baroque and Classical composers, but expanded on them and developed one’s freedom and individuality with writing music. This Romantic composer was an extreme perfectionist and allegedly destroyed many of his own works because he deemed them unsatisfactory for performance – whole sonatas and symphonies were thrown into the fire!

This final movement from his clarinet sonata in F minor is a typically fast, quick-paced movement and was written for both the clarinet and the viola. There is a common theme running throughout the clarinet part, which opens with the instruction scherzando, meaning ‘joking around’. You will hear that the first four bars of the clarinet’s main theme begins legato (smooth) and then suddenly becomes staccato (detached), as if two different characters - an opera singer and a clown for example - are fighting over who should be standing in the limelight. (No theme is wasted)

This is a real test piece for both instruments, but some may also argue that the piano part is harder than the soloist’s!

Special thanks from the soloist:

• Mrs Trott and Mr. Grant-Jones for all their musical support and guidance
• Mrs Monkton and Mrs Snare for their kind use of the library for this performance
• For all of you for coming – you have been tremendously supportive.