Fauré’s Improvisation from his Opus 84 in an intermediate level arrangement for clarinet in A with piano accompaniment Both the clarinet player and the pianist should be aiming for a singing legato in their playing and be prepared to use rubato, an approach to playing from Chopin’s time that embraces give and take in respect to tempo. Use of the sustaining pedal is suggested and indicated in the score but the sound needs to be controlled without too creating too ambient a sound. It is a short intense movement in which many change of moods are expressed and tonal ambiguities implied. The sheet music requires careful reading and there is some triplet figuration in place that creates a number of 3 against 2’s cross rhythms. In character the music is quite fragmentary and whilst there are some repeating elements and textural variation the essential shapes create memorable impressions and great beauty suggesting the composer very much understood contemporary times. The realisation lacks the fluidity and sensitivity of a live performance. This is not a typical Fauré piece composed at the beginning of the 20th century when Debussy’s music was widely coming to the fore in Paris. This is an the ideal encore piece possibly without suggesting the name of the composer but do suggest the century of its composition? Piano accompaniments are in place playing at 68, 70, 72 and 74 quarter note (crotchet) bpm. A clarinet in A part appropriately transposed is appended to the full score.
