Description

Composed in an imaginative, crisp dodecaphonic style, the Three Fantasies for clarinet and piano Op. 42 (1953–54) present widely differing characters and textures. The first fantasy is an angular dialogue that sets the virtuosic clarinet line in an incongruous manner against rather grotesquely-punctuated piano statements. The central movement is a lonely and keening lament for solo clarinet underscored by three somber invocations in the piano part. The introspective final movement begins as a leisurely duo and builds to a passionate conclusion. Three Fantasies expressively reveal the tonal and technical resources of the clarinet.

[writer unknown: from the programme leaflet for Erik Bergman Concert in Carnegie Hall, November 21, 1983]

Instrumentation

cl, pno

Category

Chamber Works

Opus no.

op.42

Premiere

Paris, 1954

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