Solo Clarinet works?

[Octo_Russ]

Thanks for the replies, and the advice, considering the recommendations i think i'll try to acquire this disc,



Also i've just remembered a Clarinet solo i do like, Arnold's Fantasy, the first time i heard it i thought that it was very inventive, and easy to like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JwAvJtfycA

Hmmn, i only know how to post a link to YouTube, i don't know how to get the player up on this site.

[bhodges]

Octo_Russ, that Paul Meyer CD is supposed to be fantastic.  (I haven't heard it.)  Do report on how you like it. 

For embedding flash (e.g., YouTube videos), please see this post by Rob (the forum owner).  It should provide everything you need!

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,2663.msg68249.html#msg68249

--Bruce

[Scarpia]

Thanks for the replies, and the advice, considering the recommendations i think i'll try to acquire this disc,



Also i've just remembered a Clarinet solo i do like, Arnold's Fantasy, the first time i heard it i thought that it was very inventive, and easy to like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JwAvJtfycA

Hmmn, i only know how to post a link to YouTube, i don't know how to get the player up on this site.

How could I have forgotten the Arnold, I have it on this disc

[Sid]

Earlier in the year I went to a recital here in Sydney where Australian composer Matthew Hindson's Funeral Windows for bass clarinet was played. It was an enjoyable (but pretty dark) piece, and a good foil to Weber's Clarinet Quintet, which was also on the program.

I'd also second Elliot Carter's Gra, dedicated to Witold Lutoslawski. I've got it on the Naxos cd/dvd "100th anniversary special release" along with some of his other chamber works.

And yes, that movement for solo clarinet from Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time is also very affective, but it is a virtuoso piece for the most accomplished players only.

[kishnevi]

No one seems to have mentioned the works included on this recording

Besides the Sextet, the disc includes the Clarinet Quartet, Three Miniatures for Clarinet and Piano, and most on topic for this thread, Prelude for Solo Clarinet.  It also has the Divertimento for Solo Cello, the only work on the CD in which a clarinet does not appear.

[Sid]

Yes, kishnevi - I forgot about that Penderecki disc, I have it in my collection. Clarinet combined with other instruments (& solo), music with a "nocturnal" feel to it, quite atmospheric, although not as cutting edge as his "texture music" works of the '60's. It's definitely worth investigating this disc if you are a fan of Twentieth Century chamber music.

[Scarpia]

No one seems to have mentioned the works included on this recording

Besides the Sextet, the disc includes the Clarinet Quartet, Three Miniatures for Clarinet and Piano, and most on topic for this thread, Prelude for Solo Clarinet.  It also has the Divertimento for Solo Cello, the only work on the CD in which a clarinet does not appear.

The request was for clarinet, unaccompanied, as I interpreted it.

[Luke]

This is a really nice disc:



lots of solo clarinet here, and when it's not solo it's often the one player, Roger Heaton, overdubbing, as in the 11 clarinets of Reich's New York Counterpoint and the (obvious) nine of Bryars' Three Elegies for Nine Clarinets. The Feldman is a classic, and I'm quite partial to the Zimmermann too. Nice touch to end the disc with Morricone's music to Cinema Paradiso, too...

[Brahmsian]

Are there any bass clarinet sonatas or concertos, or CDs featuring only bass clarinet works?

[Luke]

There are doubtless lots, (and the disc I posted above has a lovely piece for bass clarinet and percussion by Feldman), but the work that springs to mind, even though I've never heard it, is the bass clarinet sonata by Othmar Schoeck. It springs to mind because he is one of my favourite composers (though more for his lieder than his instrumental music). I've just looked at a clip on youtube, but it's pretty clear the recording isn't doing the piece justice, so I won't post it here.

[karlhenning]

Earlier in the year I went to a recital here in Sydney where Australian composer Matthew Hindson's Funeral Windows for bass clarinet was played. It was an enjoyable (but pretty dark) piece, and a good foil to Weber's Clarinet Quintet, which was also on the program.

I'd also second Elliot Carter's Gra, dedicated to Witold Lutoslawski. I've got it on the Naxos cd/dvd "100th anniversary special release" along with some of his other chamber works.

And yes, that movement for solo clarinet from Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time is also very affective, but it is a virtuoso piece for the most accomplished players only.

Why more so than (say) Gra in your recommendation, Sid?

[karlhenning]

Are there any bass clarinet sonatas or concertos, or CDs featuring only bass clarinet works?

There will be more (music, and likely CDs) if DMC Duo in Atlanta can help it ; )

On the same Naxos disc of Carter which includes the premiere recording of Gra, there is a piece for unaccompanied bass clarinet, Steep Steps . . . though it clocks in at under three minutes.

[not edward]

There will be more (music, and likely CDs) if DMC Duo in Atlanta can help it ; )

On the same Naxos disc of Carter which includes the premiere recording of Gra, there is a piece for unaccompanied bass clarinet, Steep Steps . . . though it clocks in at under three minutes.

And it is a fun piece too. My first experience with it was Virgil Blackwell playing it live in Toronto, and I bought the CD with it on the way out. Sticking with modernist bass clarinet solos, Ferneyhough's Time and Motion Study I always struck me as a very effective, very direct piece. (Outrageously difficult too: on hearing it with me, a clarinetist friend pondered where there would even be a dozen clarinetists out there who could play it effectively.)

On the less aggressively modern side, I'd second Luke's CD recommendation. A very fine collection.

[Luke]

And it is a fun piece too. My first experience with it was Virgil Blackwell playing it live in Toronto, and I bought the CD with it on the way out. Sticking with modernist bass clarinet solos, Ferneyhough's Time and Motion Study I always struck me as a very effective, very direct piece. (Outrageously difficult too: on hearing it with me, a clarinetist friend pondered where there would even be a dozen clarinetists out there who could play it effectively.)

Yes, I was going to mention that one. One of those dozen clarinetists, Carl Rosman (who has recorded the piece and is well-known as a new complexity specialist), used to be a valued member on a precursor of this board - Carlipops, remember?

[not edward]

Yes, I was going to mention that one. One of those dozen clarinetists, Carl Rosman (who has recorded the piece and is well-known as a new complexity specialist), used to be a valued member on a precursor of this board - Carlipops, remember?

Yep. It's his recording that I have.

[Luke]

Me too.

[karlhenning]

I don't seem to remember the ID Carlipops at all, at all . . . .

[listener]

Are there any bass clarinet sonatas or concertos, or CDs featuring only bass clarinet works?

There's a label devoted to the clarinet (and Saxophone), Clarinet Classics.   There's a budget-challenging website. i.e. lots of unfamiliar composers and titles  http://www.clarinetclassics.com/home/

CC0026 is Music for Bass Clarinet and Piano   Henri Box, bass clarinet    Rainer Klaas, piano
HINDEMITH  Sonata (1938)  SCHOECK Sonata op. 41 Lubos SLUKA Sonata (1958)
Václav REHAK SONNET III (1964)  Stefan HEUCKE Sonata op. 23 (extended technique, percussive sounds, over-blowing, etc.) Burkhardt STÖLL Lumen

[Brahmsian]

Thanks all, for the recommendations! 

[Guido]

This is the most appropriate thread I could find for this question. I HATE it when you hear "extra" air escaping when clarinettists play. Why does this happen and is it inevitable?