Rendezvous for Clarinet and Piano: Clarinet Book

Rendezvous carries the glamour and energy of 1940s swing into a concert setting without feeling forced or nostalgic. The piece respects the clarinet's lyric capability while giving it genuine rhythmic bite, and the piano part is idiomatic enough to feel like a true partner rather than accompaniment.

Rendezvous evokes a sophisticated evening: there's warmth and accessibility in the melody, but also an underlying rhythmic sophistication that keeps the piece from feeling sentimental. The clarinet gets to soar and swing by turns.

Advanced high school clarinetists and college players who have secure breath control and can sustain lyrical phrases over longer passages. This piece suits musicians comfortable with both singing, songlike sections and more rhythmically precise material.

• Shape the opening melody with gentle rubato to establish the romantic character before settling into a steady tempo.
• Balance articulation carefully in the faster passages so individual notes remain clear without sounding detached.
• Listen closely to the piano part during dialogue sections; Shulman's harmonic movement often leads or suggests phrasing.

Include this on a recital where you want a clarinet feature that bridges classical and American vernacular idioms. It works well paired with 20th-century solo sonatas or positioned as a sophisticated encore.

• Sustaining lyrical phrases over longer melodic lines
• Balancing legato and articulated passages within a single piece
• Responding to harmonic movement and following a piano partner's phrasing
• Managing tempo flexibility and rubato in a swing idiom