Acht Bagatellen für Klarinette (in A) und Klavier

Written for Cerha’s frequent clarinetist collaborator Andreas Schablas, solo clarinet with the Bavarian State Orchestra, Acht Bagatellen consists of brief movements of contrasting tempos and textures. Mostly sparse, the music has freedom to breathe in Cerha’s atonal style. Triadic figures are occasionally used cadentially. The writing for clarinet and piano is mostly imitative. However, there are exceptions. One is in the movement marked “Klezmeriana” and, of course, in the solo clarinet movement Bagatelle. Klezmeriana is lovely and slow – practically static – with expressive grace notes in the clarinet against the sounds of the piano strings played by fingernail. Acht Bagatellen is moderately difficult and includes one altissimo B-flat in the clarinet.(Gregory Barrett, THE CLARINET – December 2013)