The title purposely has a double meaning!.
I love the sound of the Clarinet, can anyone advise me on some solo works for this instrument?, nothing too weird or dissonant, music that's quite accessible, but also must be available on compact disc.
Or does the lack of solo Clarinet pieces mean it just doesn't work?, i have a hard time with solo Violin, and i don't like Paganini's 24 Caprices, and i'm trying to get into Ysaye's 6 Sonatas, would the Clarinet be in a similar position to my ears?.
How can a single-line instrument, unaccompanied, be too dissonant? ; )
I shan't suggest my own works, since they are not commercially available. But there is more than one recording out there of the Stravinsky Three Pieces for clarinet solo. And I should be surprised if there are no recordings of a wonderful Rozsa Sonatina for clarinet solo.
(I do mention my own pieces for clarinet solo, as testimony that I for one believe it works very nicely.)
I'm guessing 2 would be 1 too many? Otherwise there is this interesting relase.
http://www.amazon.com/Clarinet-Counterpoints-Zelimsky/dp/B000001RU8/ref=sr_1_30?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1278014035&sr=1-30 (http://www.amazon.com/Clarinet-Counterpoints-Zelimsky/dp/B000001RU8/ref=sr_1_30?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1278014035&sr=1-30)
That's the thin edge of a wedge, you know, Scarps! ; )
Oh, the fact that Joe is posting reminds me of GRA ; )
He's playing in a terribly resonant space, but here you are:
http://www.youtube.com/v/gb8Qgggtqdo
I have this recording, with Chailly and the London Sinfonietta, which I believe has been re-released. The whole album is marvelous, including the Three Pieces.
--Bruce
There's also the third movement of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, called "The Abyss of Birds." Its implied harmonies ;) are challenging but not too radical if you're accustomed to late Romantic music. 8)
rather surprising that neither Hindemith or one of those French composers who wrote morceau de concours wrote for solo clarinet, but I did find one piece that I don't have:
Adler, Samuel : Canto XIV (Klezmer Fantasy) for solo clarinet: Performer: Franklin
Cohen (Clarinet); Running Time: 11 min. 17 sec.
Quote from: listener on July 01, 2010, 05:34:50 PM
rather surprising that neither Hindemith or one of those French composers who wrote morceau de concours wrote for solo clarinet, but I did find one piece that I don't have:
Adler, Samuel : Canto XIV (Klezmer Fantasy) for solo clarinet: Performer: Franklin
Cohen (Clarinet); Running Time: 11 min. 17 sec.
Did Hindemith write for unaccpmpanied clarinet, really? I've missed that! Details, please. Of course, one of Berio's Sequenze must be unaccompanied clarinet, I should think.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 02, 2010, 07:33:59 AM
Did Hindemith write for unaccpmpanied clarinet, really? I've missed that! Details, please.
No piece by Hindemith, I found the Adler instead.
Hindemith's sonata for clarinet and piano is an interesting challenge for the player as it calls for a change of clarinet (from B
b to E
b?) midway, rather like a violin sonata requiring a change to viola for a movement.
Quote from: listener on July 02, 2010, 08:23:09 AM
No piece by Hindemith, I found the Adler instead.
Hindemith's sonata for clarinet and piano is an interesting challenge for the player as it calls for a change of clarinet (from Bb to Eb?) midway, rather like a violin sonata requiring a change to viola for a movement.
Oh, not the Hindemith Sonata which I've played, it's B-flat straight through. Great piece, and I should get Eric to play it with me . . . .
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 02, 2010, 09:18:30 AM
Oh, not the Hindemith Sonata which I've played, it's B-flat straight through. Great piece, and I should get Eric to play it with me . . . .
I'll always take a performer's word for something like this. You are right, I'm wrong, it's the clarinet
quintet (op. 30,
1938 1923) that requires the change of instrument for the third movement. (info from the notes to the wergo recording) There's a clarinet quartet from 1938 that I was double-checking
Quote from: James on July 02, 2010, 07:30:40 AM
http://www.youtube.com/v/m7SJ-kPvEfI
What is the significance of the frog outfit?
Quote from: listener on July 02, 2010, 11:52:37 AM
I'll always take a performer's word for something like this. You are right, I'm wrong, it's the clarinet quintet (op. 30, 1938 1923) that requires the change of instrument for the third movement. (info from the notes to the wergo recording) There's a clarinet quartet from 1938 that I was double-checking
That sounds a fun piece! If I had an e-flat sopranino (and, if I knew a string quartet) that's a piece I'd play!
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 02, 2010, 12:45:44 PM
That sounds a fun piece! If I had an e-flat sopranino (and, if I knew a string quartet) that's a piece I'd play!
Then the error was fortuitous (a word I've never used publicly before).
from the notes... "In this third movement, one of the most abandoned and adventurous he ever wrote, he stipulates that it must be an E
b clarinet. The change from a B
b to an E
b clarinet within a single chamber work was particularly problematic for Philipp Dreisbach because the ombouchures (embouchures?) differ. He remembers how he bit through his lips when practising his extremely difficult part..."
The Wergo disc is particularly delightful as it also has the "Repertorium für Militärmusik "Minimax" for String Quartet and the "Overture zum Fliegende Holländer wie sie eine schlechte Kurkapelle morgens um 7 am Brunnen vom Blatt spielt". (if you like parodies like the Mozart "Musical Joke" - these are not at all like his Kammermusik, etc.)
Quote from: Josquin des Prez on July 02, 2010, 12:36:37 PM
What is the significance of the frog outfit?
I can only assume that music is pretty dull, so they needed something to hold people's attention. I lacked the motivation to actually click play on the video.
Quote from: Scarpia on July 02, 2010, 02:19:01 PM
I can only assume that music is pretty dull, so they needed something to hold people's attention. I lacked the motivation to actually click play on the video.
Hah! I didn't bother clicking, either. Stockhausen had a tic for being . . . interesting. Some folks really go for that.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 02, 2010, 02:20:49 PM
Hah! I didn't bother clicking, either. Stockhausen had a tic for being . . . interesting. Some folks really go for that.
I was more tempted to click on the one where the clarinetist was dressed with the mask like "Jason" in Friday the 13th (or was that "Halloween"). But I saw that one was even longer.
Thanks for the replies, and the advice, considering the recommendations i think i'll try to acquire this disc,
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51G5E6XC1YL._SS500_.jpg)
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 (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.
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
Quote from: Octo_Russ on July 02, 2010, 03:11:05 PM
Thanks for the replies, and the advice, considering the recommendations i think i'll try to acquire this disc,
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51G5E6XC1YL._SS500_.jpg)
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 (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
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41FEWSPRWHL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
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.
No one seems to have mentioned the works included on this recording
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51qfiNzckYL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
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.
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.
Quote from: kishnevi on July 04, 2010, 08:17:53 PM
No one seems to have mentioned the works included on this recording
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51qfiNzckYL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
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.
This is a really nice disc:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510D4472SNL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
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...
Are there any bass clarinet sonatas or concertos, or CDs featuring only bass clarinet works?
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.
Quote from: Sid on July 04, 2010, 07:58:47 PM
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?
Quote from: Brahmsian on July 05, 2010, 04:46:56 AM
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.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 05, 2010, 05:36:10 AM
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.
Quote from: edward on July 05, 2010, 06:28:57 AM
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?
Quote from: Luke on July 05, 2010, 06:35:14 AM
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.
Me too.
I don't seem to remember the ID Carlipops at all, at all . . . .
Quote from: Brahmsian on July 05, 2010, 04:46:56 AM
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
Thanks all, for the recommendations! :)
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?
Quote from: Octo_Russ on July 02, 2010, 03:11:05 PM
Thanks for the replies, and the advice, considering the recommendations i think i'll try to acquire this disc,
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51G5E6XC1YL._SS500_.jpg)
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 (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.
That's really the best solo clarinet disc out there, along with Alain Damiens on ADDA (which has mostly the same stuff, though, he includes Donatoni and Denisov). By all means, that Denon disc is TheOne!
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31RR2GNTXTL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
Another good and varied CD with solo clarinet, duo and ensemble works, played by John Kruse, issued by the Paula label:
Tracks:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/contemporary-danish-works-for-clarinet-w80198/tracks