Sonata Cover/First Page

Michael Riddall (dedicatee)

Gervase DePeyer and Gwenneth Pryor (clarinet and piano)

Janet Hilton (clarinet)

Peter Frankl (piano)

Krzysztof Zbijowski - Clarinet

Maciej Grzybowski (piano)

Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1959) - Opus 1
This webpage provides information about the André Tchaikowsky Sonata for Clarinet and Piano - Opus 1. First are music links (as *.mp3 files) and then text that lists all known details regarding this composition from the book, The Other Tchaikowsky - A Biographical Sketch of André Tchaikowsky.

Music/MP3
While there are no professional recordings available for the Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, Opus 1, several recordings are available, including the following two recordings: André Tchaikowsky (piano) and Janet Hilton (clarinet); and Carol Archer (piano) and Gervase DePeyer (clarinet). Both are listed below as *.mp3 files. The work is in a single movement in sonata form with a free recapitulation.

    00_tchaikowsky_hilton_opus_1_complete.mp3

    00_archer_depeyer_opus_1_complete.mp3

Additional performances have taken place in Poland featuring Maciej Grzybowski (piano) and Krzysztof Zbijowski (clarinet). Maciej Grzybowski is a champion of André's music, playing the Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (opus 1), the Inventions (opus 2), Seven Sonnets of Shakespeare, the Piano Concerto (opus 4), and the Trio Notturno (opus 6).

Known Details:
The following text is from the book, The Other Tchaikowsky - A Biographical Sketch of André Tchaikowsky, and describes what is known about the Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1959) - Opus 1.

Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1959) - Opus 1
André wrote the Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, Opus I, for Michael Riddall. In this composition the clarinet portion gives the appearance of being more difficult than it really is. The first performance of the clarinet sonata was given by Gervase DePeyer, clarinet, and André Tchaikowsky, piano, on July 4, 1966, for a BBC broadcast. Both the publishing of the Sonata and the BBC performance were at the urging of DePeyer. Judy Arnold remembers:

"Gervase pushed André to submit his Sonata for Clarinet and Piano to the BBC for broadcast. In the end, it was Gervase who submitted it, and when it was accepted, André ran away and said he didn't want to do it, that he couldn't play the piano part. Gervase insisted, and it was all right in the end, but only after a terrible hoo-ha."

A tape was made of the broadcast and de Peyer sent it to music publishers, Josef Weinberger urging them to publish the work. They agreed and, in late 1969, it became André's first published composition. Weinberger remained André's publisher for all of his works, except for the "Inventions," Opus 2, which was published by Novello, but later assigned to Weinberger.

Niall O'Loughlin, the Musical Times music critic for newly published woodwind scores, described the Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, Opus 1, work in March, 1970:

A Sonata for Clarinet and Piano by the pianist André Tchaikowsky will come as a surprise to many people. It is an unassuming, but well written work of only moderate difficulty. Most of the musical interest is melodic, with some debt to Bartok. There is no piano bravura, but carefully imagined and sustained contrapuntal thinking.

Another review for newly published scores in Musical Opinion in March, 1970:

André Tchaikowsky's Opus 1 is now ten years old, but it carries its age very well. It is in one movement, dominated by a single theme which, at first, looks serially-based, but is not. It is presented in changing patterns, both rhythmic and melodic, and is thoroughly developed in both instruments. Performers should find it mutually rewarding.

Subsequent performances of the Sonata for Clarinet and Piano include BBC performances with Janet Hilton, clarinet, and Peter Frankl, piano, on June 17, 1973; and and third BBC performance with Janet Hilton, clarinet, and André Tchaikowsky, piano. The first live public performance didn't occur until October 27, 1985 when it was presented at Wigmore Hall as part of the Josef Weinberger Centenary Concert Series, with pianist Julian Jacobson and clarinetist Anthony Lamb. Gervase DePeyer played it on January 14, 1987, at Merkin Hall in New York City, with pianist Carol Archer, and in London, on February 12, 1987, with pianist Gwenneth Pryor.

For the New York performance on January 14, 1987, Bernard Holland wrote in the New York Times:

Clarinet: Gervase DePeyer

Wednesday night's curious collection of clarinet pieces at Merkin Concert Hall had a common denominator - their personal associations with the featured performer, Gervase DePeyer. Mr. DePeyer arranged the sonatas by Handel and Schubert and has given the premieres of all the other items on this program except one. Of the newer pieces, André Tchaikowsky's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano was impressive for its sustained and tightly argued contrapuntal thinking. Carol Archer, pianist, was an excellent partner in all this music, especially in the Tchaikowsky piece.

A musical description of the work is provided by music publisher Josef Weinberger:

A quiet, meditative opening explores the upper and lower reaches of both instruments' range: this is the first subject. The second subject is a brisk and rhythmical theme announced first by the clarinet, then taken up by the piano. A subsidiary theme follows a short cadenza and proceeds to develop the phraseology of the second theme, with anacrusic semi-quavers and wide intervallic movement. With the return of the broad and expansive first subject the development section commences; however, the accompaniment now highlights the melody by shifting from lively static octave embellishment to flurries of movement. The clarinet eventually joins the piano in a frenetic exchange over pedal points on A flat, and C sharp (the enharmonic tonic, though the work is not in any particular key). The recapitulation is fairly free in construction and includes a short solo section for the piano which ruminates on the first subject. The sonata closes with the clarinet becoming less apparent amidst the piano's singing melodies and ringing chords.