Fantasy Pieces Op. 43

Along with Robert Schumann’s identically titled op. 73, the Fantasiestüke of 1864 by the Danish composer Niels Wilhelm Gade are an essential part of the repertoire of all clarinettists. Gade lived in Leipzig for a long time and had been among Schumann’s close friends. With this deeply romantic composition, he made an important contribution to establishing the clarinet as a chamber-music soloist. The four pieces in this collection can of course be performed separately, and are ideal teaching material. Our editor, the clarinettist Nicolai Pfeffer, has drawn upon the German and Danish first editions and the autograph in Copenhagen as sources, and consequently has been able to eliminate several discrepancies found in older editions.