The ‘Reed and Resonance’ duo

Join us for an evening that traces the clarinet’s most eloquent chamber voice: a dialogue between clarinet and piano that moves from French Romantic passion to modern bite.

Ernest Chausson’s Andante et Allegro (completed in 1881, published only a century later after its rediscovery in the 1970’s) sets the tone with nostalgic and exceptionally beautiful melodies, transforming into a stormy passion that dazzles and breaks your heart at the same time.

Norbert Burgmüller’s Duo, Op. 15 (1834) follows with Romantic freshness: noble singing phrases and glittering finesse passed back and forth, as if the instruments are finishing each other’s sentences. Saint-Saëns’s Clarinet Sonata, Op. 167 (1921) (one of his last works) contains hauntingly beautiful melodies, light-hearted humour and virtuosic flair. It joins that special lineage of composers like Mozart and Brahms who wrote some of their most cherished clarinet works at the end of their lives. The concert also salutes a living South African composer, Hendrik Hofmeyr (b. 1957). His Clarinet Sonata’s third movement is bold and brazen—a sly, mischievous ride with flashes of the grotesque and a few genuinely mysterious turns along the way. Never a dull moment.

To end the concert, Arnold’s Sonatina, Op. 29 (1951) brings a tongue-in-cheek confidence. It seals the evening with a finale that tumbles to the end like it knows it’s right and couldn’t care less who’s offended. You’ll leave with melodies in your ear—and a slightly raised eyebrow, in the best possible way.