Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio Espagnol
This fun, flavorful piece is a staple of the first round of almost every audition. It is also on many festival and university auditions.
The first movement is full of spice, and it is important to get the flavor right by listening to many different recordings. I feel that the off-beats are of prime importance, and one must feel them strongly in order to play with the proper rhythmic vitality while not rushing. The clarinet has two big calls in the short, introductory first movement, which are echoed in the third movement. It is important to play them ff and con forza. Committees are generally assessing how beautiful your tone is in loud dynamics, in addition to judging your trills, general technical prowess, and musicianship. Pay extra attention to proper articulations and not letting them interfere with your fingers or phrasing.
Your trills MUST be consistent. If you cannot play double trills on the eighth-notes, in otherwords five notes (and almost noone can), then just play a triplet. Spread the triplet out across the eighth-note. The tempo is quite fast so it will not sound slow. If you play the trill too fast, the eight-note then becomes too short, and the flavor of the music is lost. This is not to say that the trill notes should be legato - they should be slightly separated, just not short.
Dip slightly dynamically with a small taper on the first note of the solo, and cresc. through the following five eighth-notes to the next dotted eight-note and continue this pattern though a second cresc. that continues through the third bar of the solo until you arrive at the first trill note. Each time you have 16th notes, they should lead to the next trill note with a cresc.
The second solo is much like the first, but with more difficult articulations. Also, the beginning of the call has more opportunity for "peaks" and "valleys" of phrasing that follow the altitude of the pitches in the first four measures. Dim. on the falling arpeggios and cresc. on the alternating 16th notes. Do not play your subito p early at all, and make sure you project when playing the p.
If you have trouble completing each of the calls in one breath, you must work on exercises to increase the length of phrases you can play through increasing your capacity and using your air more efficiently. There are many more air-taxing solos in the repertoire, and you must be able to play them in one breath.
Video link here.