Debussy’s Rhapsodie for Clarinet and Piano is the “mother of all contest pieces,” according to clarinet player Ricardo Morales.  It was originally written by French composer Claude Debussy for the Paris Conservatory as a contest piece.

It is an extremely beautiful and nuanced composition known for its multiple levels of dynamics that go from piano to pianissimo to pianississimo to actual silence.  The challenge is playing it as both a solo for a clarient audition, but also keeping in mind that Debussy subsequently expanded it to be performed with an eighty to eighty-five piece orchestra where many of these colors would get lost if you played it as you would a solo piece.

As a clarinetist, concentrate on the colors you want to portray.  For example the beginning is piano but it is immediately followed by dolce and espressivo.  So being expressive between the B flat and the C creates a nice “shape” to the notes while maintaining the more quiet piano feel.