La Revue de Cuisine

A sextet for Clarinet (Bb), Bassoon, Trumpet, Cello, Violin and Piano. The piece is in four movements: Prologue, Tango, Charleston, and Final.

The music involves complex time schemes - for example the Final, which involves an opening piano solo marked "Tempo di marcia". This section switches between 2/4, 3/8 and 4/8 in an almost unpredictable fashion, generating the desired rhythmical offbeats typical of the jazz of the period.

Further jazz influences are seen in the instrumentation: the piano using rich harmony and dissonance, the muted trumpet reminiscent of the jazz bands of the era, and the repeated use of pizzicato in the cello part, echoing the use of the double bass in jazz.

This is a progressive piece of music which helps to draw the link between early and mid twentieth-century music.