Here's a YouTube version of the first movement (not by Hilton and Swallow):
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Opus 167
The other day I heard a lovely piece of music on the car radio. Remarkably, I remembered to check the station's web site when I got home and I learned that it was Saint-Saëns's Clarinet Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 167. Somehow I had guessed the instrument (which doesn't sound much like the thing Benny Goodman used to play) and that the composer was a 20th century Frenchman. Okay, so Saint-Saëns was born in the 19th, but he died in the 20th and I think the clarinet sonata is one of his later works. Anyway, it's worth checking out (and this recommendation comes from someone who usually restricts his listening to violin, cello, and piano); I especially like the slow third movement. The version I bought from iTunes is performed by Janet Hilton and Keith Swallow.
Here's a YouTube version of the first movement (not by Hilton and Swallow):
Here's a YouTube version of the first movement (not by Hilton and Swallow):
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1 comment:
You are correct about this piece being written late in Saint-Saens career, it was one of the last pieces he ever wrote and has some "modern" elements that suggest the future course that music would take after his death.
The Sonata Form changed trememdously during Saint-Saens extremely long life and how he developed and enlarged on that form is evident in this sonata.
I especially enjoy that 4th movement, which nearly ends by returning to its original motif - except for the brief coda that returns to the very beginning of the entire piece. It is truly as masterful work.
If you think it is a pleasure to listen to, you should play it sometime: it is not only a challenge but also a delightful collaboration between clarinet & piano.
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