The Poulenc Sonata for Clarinet & Piano 7

The Poulenc Sonata for Clarinet & Piano

‘Poulenc confided to Simone Girard in 1959, ‘I’m working. I’m finishing the lament of a Sonata for clarinet and piano dedicated to Arthur’s [Honegger] memory. I think it’s quite moving.’ Aware that for him ‘concentrating on woodwind is the solution … at the moment’.

 He dedicated one of his last works to Arthur Honegger, the first of Les Six to die. Though they had known each other a long time, they were only really close during Honegger’s last two years, when he was ill. ‘Arthur found [my music] too light and… I found his too heavy! … We respected each other a lot, but we didn’t like each other’s music till towards the end of Arthur’s life.’

The Sonata for clarinet and piano was performed three months after Poulenc’s death, on 10th April 1963 in New York’s Carnegie Hall, by Benny Goodman and Leonard Bernstein.’

 - Naxos

Listening
This piece has become a staple part of the Clarinet repertoire, and has been performed by the Clarinet greats of the world today. A couple of personal favourites include:

 - Sharon Kam: live performance recording from her album: “Sharon Kam…pour clarinette” [opens Spotify]
 - Sabine Meyer: from her album “French Recital” [opens Spotify]
 - Michael Collins: Britain’s best performs this piece at the 2007 Verbier Festival [opens YouTube in a new tab]

 - Martin Fröst: Click the audio links to listen to his performance of this sonata [opens Tumblr in a new tab/window] 

Click here for The Prokofiev Flute Sonata

16 February 2012 ·

7 notes

  1. purrrrpledinoclarinet reblogged this from amusiclibrary
  2. alexander-edwards said: I played the first movement for my grade 8 :)
  3. amusiclibrary posted this

Me

Hey, my name's Alex :) 19 years old from London, England UK I play the Clarinet, Piano and Recorder, and I love French <3 This blog is a mixture of classical music and some personal stuff. I also do competitions, so if you're interested keep an eye out! I have a Flute and Clarinet cycle, which is a compilation of all Flute and Clarinet audio tracks I have uploaded onto my Tumblr so far, check them out! Also, have a listen to my compositions! If you want to get to know me more then just message me or add me on Twitter Hope you like the stuff on here :) Thanks guys x Alex Shaw

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