My Caribbean Suite consists of three movements composed separately but united by a sunny, relaxed atmosphere on the one hand, and by the exclusive use of the clarinet's low notes, known as the chalumeau register, on the other.

Calypso, Caribbean Sound / Sunset Over the Sea, Caribbean Languor / Banana Samosa, Caribbean Recipe

It is a cocktail of simple melodies, slightly swaying rhythms, and sweet, cheerful sounds. There is nothing authentic about it, just three little colorful postcards and chromolithographs, like so many delightfully exotic trinkets.

For the same reasons, I chose the timbre of the steelpan—a musical instrument originally made from empty oil drums, which originated in the 1930s on the island of Trinidad and Tobago—for the audio accompaniment track for the keyboard part.

Frédéric Cellier

Encouraged by Jean Françaix, who praised him as an “excellent musician and tireless arranger,” Frédéric Cellier is the founder and artistic director of STRADIVARIUS Editions.

He is the author of light music pieces played around the world and a considerable number of arrangements in all styles and for all instruments, acclaimed by many personalities in the music world, including Michèle Auric, Jean Françaix, Adrian Gershwin, Wynton Marsalis, Yehudi Menuhin, Madeleine Milhaud, Manuel Rosenthal, Gabriel Tacchino, and Ornella Volta.

A concert clarinetist and certified teacher at the National Conservatories of Nice, Marseille, and Avignon, Frédéric Cellier is a laureate of the Fondation de France and the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation.