Music TheoryPrint

Francis Poulenc

Sonata for clarinet and bassoon

The Sonata for clarinet and bassoon (Sonate pour clarinette et basson), FP 32a, is a piece of chamber music composed by Francis Poulenc. This sonata is the third work of chamber music of the composer

Structure#

Like most of the composer’s chamber music pieces, with the exception of the Cello Sonata, the sonata for clarinet and bassoon has three short movements: This sonata is close in clarity and precision to that for two clarinets composed four years earlier.

Reception and legacy#

From its creation, critiques were positive, especially those of Charles Koechlin, which Poulenc reports in one of his letters. He specifies that his master very much liked his “stuffs, which he found very well written. That is essential.” Biographer Henri Hell found that the two pieces written the same year were “acid and tender, well written for wind instruments, they had all the quality of the sonata for two clarinets, contemporary of the Trois mouvements perpétuels”.

Discography#

  • Karl Laystera and Milan Turković (bassoon)
  • Paul Meyer (clarinet) and Gilbert Audin (bassoon): Francis Poulenc - Intégrale Musique de chambre - RCA Red Seal

References#

Footnotes Bibliography * * *

  • Sonata for clarinet and bassoon on YouTube
  • Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) Complete Chamber Music, Volume 3 on Naxos
  • Sonata for clarinet and bassoon, 1st mvmt on Archive.org
Composer
Francis Poulenc