Classical Music | Clarinet Music

Recorded on 10/30/2019, uploaded on 04/02/2020

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Vocalise-étude en forme de Habanera, arranged by Sam Boutris

Although cosmopolitan Parisians did develop an appetite for the exotic around the turn of the 20th century, French composers had long been interested in Spanish music in particular. Bizet’s Carmen and Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole represent French precedents in the Spanish style, but Ravel had the added personal influence of his Basque mother, who sang Spanish folk songs to him as a child. With its simple basic contour and improvisatory decorations, Ravel’s Vocalise-étude en forme de Habanera does indeed exhibit folk elements, but perfumed by the seductive flavor of Impressionistic harmony and hitched to the mesmerizing oscillation of the distinctive habanera rhythm.    Notes by Graeme Steele Johnson

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.