Catalogue | Chamber Music

Works for Clarinet and Piano by Schumann, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Poulenc and Arnold

• Fantasiestücke op. 73
• Zart und mit Ausdruck (03:17)  
• Lebhaft, leicht (03:22)  
• Rasch und mit Feuer (04:32)  

• Première Rhapsodie (08:03)  

• Clarinet Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 167
• Allegretto (04:05)  
• Allegro animato (02:08)  
• Lento (03:49)  
• Molto allegro (05:12)  

• Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
• Allegro tristamente (05:07)  
• Romanza (04:26)  
• Allegro con fuoco (03:17)  

• Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano
• Allegro con brio (02:44)  
• Andantino (03:31)  
• Furioso (02:24)  

Presenting works by German, French and British composers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Arthur Campbell and Helen Marlais (piano) exhibit the enormous dynamic and sonic spectrum of the clarinet. At the heart of this recording are the late works of the three French composers Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saëns and Francis Poulenc, who demonstrate equally the gentle and velvety character of the clarinet and the powerful, sometimes penetrating sound of the instrument. The increasing virtuosity which composers demanded from the clarinet during the course of the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries is impressively demonstrated in the final movements of the works on this disc by Robert Schumann, Francis Poulenc and Malcolm Arnold.

Arthur Campbell was born in Canada and studied at the Northwestern University in Michigan, USA, where he was taught by the renowned clarinettist and pedagogue Robert Marcellus. He has won numerous international and national competitions, including the International Clarinet Competition and the National Music Festival of Canada. An internationally sought-after clarinet virtuoso, Arthur Campbell has toured throughout the USA, Canada, Europe and Asia. He regularly presents international masterclasses at universities, conservatoires and conventions. Arthur Campbell was appointed professor at the Grand Valley State University in Michigan, where he has been teaching a class of clarinet students from across the globe.