IDENTITY

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) was a French composer, organist, pianist, conductor and writer on music. His Sonata for clarinet and piano, Op. 167, was written in 1921 and is dedicated to Auguste Périer, professor at the Paris Conservatoire.

A cornerstone of the repertoire, the sonata is loved for its elegance, beauty and flawless construction. The clarinet’s opening melody immediately sets the lyrical, expressive mood that runs through the whole work. The second and fourth movements offer livelier lines without ever tipping into mere virtuosity. The mournful third movement evokes the organ – the instrument for which Saint-Saëns was famous – and ends with ethereal, gently rising piano chords that lead seamlessly into the finale, which brings back the opening melody in an almost nostalgic way. The classical forms reflect the composer’s deep reverence for his predecessors, above all Mozart and Bach.

Legend tells of an ancient people called Ge Tian Shi. Three dancers holding ox tails moved in slow steps and sang eight songs praising the earth, the black-bird totem, plants, grain, nature, the sky, the weather and thriving livestock. Imagining these gestures inspired the composer’s first movement.

The Tang-dynasty poet Bai Juyi described the Hu Xuan dance in his poem “The Hu Xuan Girl”: an energetic dance of constant fast, whirling movement that came to China from the West in ancient times. Chen Yi captures this image in the lively second movement.

These three fantasies come from one of the happier periods of Schumann’s life. He wrote them quickly in Dresden in February 1849, and they were published the same year. Originally conceived for clarinet and titled “Soiréestücke”, Schumann noted they could also be played on violin or cello. The three pieces form a unity, moving from darkness to light and from inner reflection to exuberance – culminating in a surging coda in which Schumann twice asks for “faster”.

“Peach Blossom Takes the Ferry” comes from Taiwanese folk opera (Chariot Drum Theatre). Young Taohua wants to cross a river and meets a clumsy ferryman. They agree on a singing contest: if she wins, she crosses for free; if he wins, he may marry her. The lyrics follow the twelve months and their festivals, an early forerunner of flirtatious call-and-response songs between men and women.

One June night the boto, the pink river dolphin, leaves the Amazon and turns into a handsome young man. Dressed all in white, with a hat covering the blowhole still on his head, he seduces an unsuspecting young woman at a Festa Junina dance – and by morning has vanished back into the river. To this day in Brazil, a child whose father is unknown is said to be “o filho do Boto”, the son of the boto. Originally written for trombone, guitar and percussion, the piece is heard here in a new version for clarinet and piano.