Miklos Rozsa – Sonata for Clarinet Solo Op. 41

Description

Rózsa had written a two-movement clarinet sonatina in 1951, but thirty-five years later he produced this more ambitious three-movement work: the Sonata for Clarinet Solo Op. 41. It was premiered in 1987 by no less a soloist than Gervase de Peyer.

The first movement, Allegro con spirito, is not in the strict sonata-allegro form in which Rózsa excelled; rather, it’s a looser structure playing a vigorous theme off a faintly Hungarian dance tune calling for brilliant technical display, with some relief coming in the movement’s slower, more singing central section.

The slow movement, Andante semplice, revolves around a long-spun, lonely, nocturnal theme; a graceful, somewhat quicker melody offers contrast midway through, but the movement ends with the material with which it began.

The finale follows the pattern of Rózsa’s other late solo sonatas, a rondo alternating an especially witty dance-like theme (Allegro capriccioso) with more lyrical material, culminating in splashy runs.