Although written for beginners (Grade 0-2), James Rae’s “City Snapshots”, for clarinet(s) and piano manages, even at this level, to capture the essence of music from around the world. Amongst the twelve pieces, we find a waltz in Viennese style that could have been written by Johann Strauss himself, a dreamy blues from Manhattan, a Cossack Dance from Kiev and a lively Irish Jig to finish the world tour in Dublin.

To accommodate beginner clarinetists, all the pieces are written in the low regi...