BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY OF NORTHERN IRELAND Price 1971-1972 FIRST RECITAL under the auspices of THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST GERVASE de PEYER (clarinet) PETER WALLFISCH (piano) SIR WILLIAM WHITLA HALL Queen's University, Belfast : TUESDAY, 12TH OCTOBER 1971 t 5p

Sonata in C minor, Op.1, No.8 Adagio Allegro Adagio Allegro This is an arrangement by an American clarinet player of a Sonata which Handel wrote originally for violin and keyboard. Sonata in A flat, Op.49 Allegro affanato Vivace Handel-Glazer Larghetto Prestissimo assai Max Reger 1873-1916 Max Reger was born in Bavaria and died in Leipzig at the early age of 43. He was a prolific composer of classic and romantic music, who, although he wrote with facility. and a good understanding of technical problems, came in for a great deal of criticism from his contemporaries on the grounds that his writing was too derivative and that he lacked a sound instinct for form. He held many academic positions and was a good pianist appearing less as a soloist than as an accompanist or chamber music performer through his recitals many of his songs and chamber music first became known. The Sonata in A flat is one of two Sonatas for clarinet and piano, Opus 49. Cobbett says these were "probably inspired by and certainly resemble, the Brahms Sonatas". At any rate the writing in the first movement of the A flat is reminiscent of Brahms particularly in the texture of the piano part with its spreading passages of accompaniment and cross rhythms. The move- ment is peppered with marks of expression - "affanato" by the way means "panting", i.e. (says Percy Scholes) "in a distressful manner" - rather a peculiar instruction. surely for a wind player?! After much "molto agitato" the movement ends tranquilly.

The second movement is in E flat. The clarinet's waltz- like opening tune is marked "sweetly and in a coaxing manner". It climbs and falls, often chromatically and is later imitated by the piano. The contrasting middle section in C flat is marked "sostenuto". The slow movement is a good example of cantabile writing - more chromaticism here and the work ends with a move- ment marked for a really fast tempo- this is unusual for Reger. Five Dance Preludes 1. Allegro molto 2. Andantino 3. Allegro giocoso 4. Andante 5. Allegro molto Witold Lutoslawski 1913- Lutoslawski has specialised in writing music for wind instruments - these dance preludes were preceded by three sets of miniature pieces for wind, and a Trio for oboe, clarinet and bassoon. The five pieces contain some very complicated rhythmic patterns. For instance in the first one, there are variously two, three, four, five and six crotchets in a bar. Sonata in F minor, Op.120, No.1 Allegro appassionato Andante un poco Adagio Allegretto grazioso Vivace Brahms This is a late work. In Meiningen, in 1891, Brahms met, and became very friendly with Richard Mühlfield, a brilliant clarinet player. This inspired him to write (in the year of this meeting) the Trio for clarinet, cello and piano and the Quintet for clarinet and strings. Later in 1894 three years before the composer's death came the two Sonatas for clarinet and piano, Op.120 of which the F minor is the first.

The first movement (in 3/4) has been variously described as "gloomy", "profound", and "full of passionate melan- choly". The clarinet swoops above a thickly spread piano part. There are typical cross rhythms - the Brahms habit of scanning six quavers in two ways, i.e. in two groups of three, alternating with three groups of two is in evidence, particularly in the quieter second subject. In the coda there is canonic develop- ment of a figure arising out of the main theme. Sonata (1962) Allegro tristamente Romanza Allegro con fuoco Poulenc 1899-1963 Francis Poulenc was a member of the group known as "Les Six" two other members were Honneger and Darius Milhaud. All these composers reacted against the writing of the French "impressionist" school (the generation of writers immediately preceding their own to which Debussy belonged). Poulenc, for instance, disliked romantic sentiment and liked plain statement. In his early writing he was influenced by popular music, sometimes using instrumental combinations found in ball- rooms and music-halls. The Sonata for clarinet and piano is a late work. It is one of a set of Sonatas which Poulenc planned to write for solo wind instruments but he only completed those for flute, oboe and clarinet before his death in 1963. The first movement has the title "Allegro Tristamente but it is actually marked "Allegretto" (crotchet beat 136). There is a short introduction in which the clarinet enters ff with a short, reiterative, rhythmic figure. This leads quickly to the main theme which begins with the clarinet climbing up over an accompani- ment of broken octaves on the piano. There is a middle section marked "très calme" which begins in A flat; the recapitulation of the first ideas is brief. The second movement (in 3/4) is in the form of a Romance and there are many graphic expression marks "pp tres doux et melancolique" - for the clarinet - over a piano accompaniment marked "effleurer- beaucoup de pedale). The last movement (4/4) calls for agility from both players and is marked "forte" practically throughout. Long pedal notes are a feature of the piano part.