Les Six: Merci et Adieu, Claude Sérgio Pires & Kosuke Akimoto

• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835): Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in E-Flat Major, Op. 167:
• 1 Saint-Saëns: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in E-Flat Major, Op. 167: I. Allegretto 04:17
• 2 Saint-Saëns: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in E-Flat Major, Op. 167: II. Allegro Animato 02:10
• 3 Saint-Saëns: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in E-Flat Major, Op. 167: III. Lento 03:34
• 4 Saint-Saëns: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in E-Flat Major, Op. 167: IV. Molto Allegro 05:11
• Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918): Première Rhaposdy for Clarinet and Piano, L. 116:
• 5 Debussy: Première Rhaposdy for Clarinet and Piano, L. 116 08:12
• Arthur Honegger (1892 - 1955): Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano:
• 6 Honegger: Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano: I.Moderé 02:46
• 7 Honegger: Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano: II. Lent et sountenu 02:19
• 8 Honegger: Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano: III. Vif et rhythmique 01:12
• Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974): Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 100:
• 9 Milhaud: Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 100: I. Très rude 03:53
• 10 Milhaud: Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 100: II. Lent et sountenu 03:50
• 11 Milhaud: Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 100: III. Très rude 02:40
• Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963): Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in B-Flat Major, FP 184:
• 12 Poulenc: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in B-Flat Major, FP 184: I. Allegro tristamente 05:23
• 13 Poulenc: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in B-Flat Major, FP 184: II. Romanza 04:50
• 14 Poulenc: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in B-Flat Major, FP 184: III. Allegro con Fuoco 03:14
• Jean Françaix (1912 - 1997): Tema con variazioni for Clarinet and Piano:
• 15 Françaix: Tema con variazioni for Clarinet and Piano: Tema 00:45
• 16 Françaix: Tema con variazioni for Clarinet and Piano: Variation I 01:05
• 17 Françaix: Tema con variazioni for Clarinet and Piano: Variation II 00:58
• 18 Françaix: Tema con variazioni for Clarinet and Piano: Variation III 00:45
• 19 Françaix: Tema con variazioni for Clarinet and Piano: Variation IV 01:17
• 20 Françaix: Tema con variazioni for Clarinet and Piano: Variation V 02:47
• 21 Françaix: Tema con variazioni for Clarinet and Piano: Variation VI 00:56
• Total Runtime 01:02:04

Info for Les Six: Merci et Adieu, Claude

„In the 19th and 20th centuries, French music achieved a unique profile and was widely acknowledged on the international scene. This success was due, last not least, to symbolic figures such as Camille Saint-Saëns, Claude Debussy, and the “Groupe des Six,” in spite of their divergent aesthetic tendencies.…

After the French defeat against Germany in 1871, Saint-Saëns became one of the founders of the “Société Nationale de Musique”, with the goal of promoting the French music of his time. Forty years later, the “Groupe des Six” would pursue similar objectives, but with different aesthetic ideals; Saint-Saëns would vehemently reject them.

….. The work’s predominantly Romantic style hardly betrays the fact that Claude Debussy had passed away three years earlier, and that the young composers who made up the “Groupe des Six” were already embarking on completely new musical paths.

Still, Saint-Saëns agreed with his younger colleagues about the need of foregoing the monumental bombast and Wagnerian pathos of Late Romantic music. Debussy and the “Groupe des Six” were more decisive and resolute in venturing a step further back in time, past Romanticism, and orienting themselves toward Baroque and Classical models, which led to a flowering of Neo-Classical musical tendencies.

With his individual aesthetics, Claude Debussy occupies a special position: he can not be reckoned among any school or group, and he certainly did not like to be called an “Impressionist.” In a certain sense, he is like a monolith.………….“ (From the booklet notes by Pedro Obiera)

Sergio Pires, clarinet
Kosuke Akimoto, piano

Sérgio Pires
born 1995, won more than a dozen prizes at international competitions. Among them are many First Prizes.

As soloist, the clarinetist already has performed with renowned orchestras like Bremen Philharmonic (Germany), Chamber Orchestra Basle (Switzerland), Musikkollegium Winterthur, Orchestra Filarmonicii de Stat Transilvania, Basle Symphonic Orchestra, Silesian Chamber Orchestra (Poland) and Argovia Philarmonic, playing pieces by W. Mozart, J. Stamitz, C. Weber, G. Rossini, K. Penderecki, F. Danzi, and C. Nielsen.

As a highly requested chamber musician Sérgio Pires regularly performs with famous artists like Heinz Holliger, Michael Collins and many others. The clarinetist meanwhile has participated in several highly acclaimed international music festivals. Among them are the “European Music Campus” (Austria), “Kultursommer Nordhessen” (Germany), BBC Proms (England), Schleswig-Holstein Festival (Germany), “Isang-Yun Festival” (South-Korea), “East Neuk Festival” (Scotland) and “Festival Bozen” (Italy).

Alongside his activities as a soloist and chamber musician, he is the solo clarinet player with the Winterthur MusikKollegium (Switzerland) since 2016.

As an orchestral musician he recently has performed not only with the London Symphony Orchestra (solo clarinet), but also with several other renowned orchestras, that allowed him to share the stage with prestigious soloists such as Vilde Frang, Alina Ibragimova Mischa Maisky, Fazil Say, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Heinz Holliger, Maxim Vengerov, András Schiff, Emmanuel Pahud, Albrecht Mayer, Jan Lisiecki, Christoph Eschenbach, Lang-Lang and others.

Sérgio Pires is a scholar of the Mozartgesellschaft Dortmund (Germany).

Since 2019, he is teaching at the Minho University, Portugal.

Booklet for Les Six: Merci et Adieu, Claude