As you can hear, the clarinet has now-fragmented, now-legato line. The bass, a constant one.  I would think as the clarinet being the hare, which gives an ironic glimpse back to the tortoise, each time its melodic lines has a breathe. And a mockery walk on the legato's ones.  The tortoise of course is the bass, where each eight-note triplet (the dead/ghost notes ones) could represent its throwback after a stumble, as well as the descending lines as wrong paths. For all the reviews for this