Andante et Allegro, for clarinet & piano

• Date: 1881
• Composer: Ernest Chausson
• Period: Post-Romantic (1870-1909)

Review

Chausson was 22 when he began to compose. It is relatively easy to follow the rapid unfolding of his powers and maîtrise -- his first indisputable masterpiece on a large scale, the Piano Trio, dates from the end of 1881. Already, in October 1879 -- the month in which he enrolled in Massenet's orchestration class at the Conservatoire -- he had made his single Baudelaire setting, the powerful L'Albatros, and balanced it with the engaging, delicate Le Charme. Four more mélodies followed in June 1880 -- Nanny, Les Papillons, La dernière Feuille, and Sérénade italienne -- to be rounded off with Hébé and Le Colibri in 1882 and published as his Opus 2, Sept Mélodies, all of which entered the repertoire in France and several of which (notably, Les Papillons and Le Colibri) have maintained a place in recitals of French song across the world. Hand-in-hand went more ambitious projects -- La veuve du roi basque, a ballad for soloists, chorus and orchestra (May-August 1879) and Jeanne d'Arc, a scène lyrique for soloists and women's voices (1879-1880), and -- tellingly -- elaborate sketches (filling four notebooks) for a scene from Victor Hugo's Esmeralda (Act IV, scene 1), begun in April 1880 after a trip to Munich to hear Der fliegende Holländer and the Ring in November, during which he caught a glimpse of Wagner. It is worth noting that when, under the impulsion of Wagner's music, the teenage Lekeu wished to spread his dramatic wings he set portions of Hugo's Les Burgraves. Chausson, oscillating between grandiosity and scale, on one hand, and miniatures of great charm, elegance, and fastidiousness on the other, was achieving more success with the latter. One finds both in his Opus 1, the Cinq Fantaisies (1879) for piano, which he published then withdrew. Not until his exposure to Franck's teaching at the Conservatoire would he possess the tools for grander designs. Nor was he immune from the blandishments of the fashionable salons where, though he might play Bach and Beethoven in piano duets with Odilon Redon, charm was the order of the day. Inevitably, these currents rise to a shallow surface in the Andante et Allegro for clarinet and piano completed on April 28, 1881 -- an extended exposure of the young composer playing some nine minutes. The choice of clarinet is Chausson's only original touch. Facile lyricism in the Andante gives no hint of the powerful melodist to come as it gives way to pyrotechnically fraught writing for the clarinet in the melodramatically rife Allegro. ~ Adrian Corleonis, Rovi

Albums with Complete Performances of the Work

Title	Date
Chausson: Poème; Piano Trio; Pièce; Andante and Allegro	1998
Clarinet Brilliante II	2006
Compositions For Clarinet & Piano	1991
French Clarinet Art	1992
French Clarinet Music	1998
French Music for Clarinet	1993
French Portraits	2004
Musique Française pour Clarinette et Piano	2006
Musique française pour clarinette & piano	2000
Récital de Musiques Française	2008
Vocalise	2005

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