Sonatina

• Allegro calmato
• Lento quasi andante
• Con brio

The work was composed between January and April 1981, at the request of Gervase de Peyer and Gwenneth Pryor, who first performed it at the Wigmore Hall, London, on the 12th May that year.

The Sonatina is lighthearted and follows a traditional pattern of the three movement division. The first, in classical sonata form, concentrates on the middle register of the clarinet, mainly lyrical against a rippling piano background. The second movement is an A-B-A song structumre, employing some of the lowest notes of the wind instrument in a long cantilena over a slow chordal accompaniment. The finale is a kind of rondo which alternates two themes in equal proportions, exploiting the upper register of the most recent compositions of the clarinet. The harmonic idiom of the whole work is obviously tonal, and, like most recent compositions of Horovitz, the Sonatina is melodically and rhythmically much influenced by Jazz and other popular music. It calls for equal virtuosity from both players.