Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble

Clarinet Serenade, September 21 & 22, 2010

Francis Poulenc, Sonata for Two Clarinets, op. 7:  Poulenc (1899-1963) was born to a wealthy French family, which afforded him the private study of piano and composition.  Initially intrigued by the music of Debussy, Ravel, Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Bartók, he became a member of the Les Six group which stressed lack of pretension, nostalgia and overt sentimentalism in their music.  He believed that the French, like the Germans and Russians, could “write profound music” but French music was “leavened with that lightness of spirit without which life would be unendurable.”  Poulenc’s Sonata for Two Clarinets is one of his earliest works, written at age 19 while he was in the French military service.  This short “miniature” work in three movements is scored for one B-flat clarinet and one A clarinet.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Serenade No. 11 for Winds in E-flat Major, K.375:  Mozart (1756-1791) wrote this work at age 26, early in his stay in Vienna.  After learning that the Austrian emperor Joseph had founded his own wind ensemble, Mozart composed three masterpieces for wind ensemble, including this work.  He originally wrote this work in 1781 as a sextet for two clarinets, two bassoons and two horns; the following year he revised it for an octet that added two oboes, the “Harmoniemusik” ensemble preferred by Emperor Joseph.  This Serenade is a five-movement work.  The central third movement is an Adagio, which is bounded on either side by Minuettos in the second and fourth movements, which are in turn bounded by Allegros in the first and fifth movements.  Mozart was himself serenaded on his name day (November 7) in 1781 by the original sextet version of the Serenade, which Brightmusic will play.

Bernard Hermann, Souvenirs de Voyage:  Hermann (1911-75) was a 20^th Century American composer whom many believe was the greatest film composer America, or perhaps the world, has yet produced.  He studied with Percy Grainger at NYU, began conducting on Broadway at age 20 and founded the New Chamber Orchestra.  He scored and conducted for the CBS radio network, and became the conductor of the CBS Symphony Orchestra in 1940.  When CBS eliminated its orchestra in 1955, he began an eight-film collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock.  Hermann is remembered for film scores such as Citizen Kane (1941), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), Fahrenheit 451 (1966) and Taxi Driver (1976).  Hermann viewed himself as a composer who sometimes wrote music for films, not as a “film composer.”  Among his concert works is Souvenirs de Voyage (1967), a three-movement piece for clarinet and string quartet.  The movements are labeled “Andante Pastorale – Allegro,” “Berceuse” and “Andante Tranquillo Quasi Barcarolla.” 

Amilcare Ponchielli, Il Convenio: Ponchielli (1834-1886) was a gifted 19^th Century Italian composer, primarily of operas, as well as a teacher, whose students included Puccini.  He started composing and conducting operas at age 21, after graduating from the Milan Conservatory.  It has been said that his humble and kind demeanor, and his lack of personal ambition, have constrained his place in music history.  Ponchielli composed Il Convenio (“The Tryst”) before 1857 as a divertimento for two clarinets and piano.  During the 19^th Century it was arranged for two clarinets and a string quintet, which is the version Brightmusic will play.  One critic has called it “a grand showpiece.”