Klarinet Archive - Posting 000060.txt from 1995/09

From: Bernd Bruegmann <bruegman@-----.DE>
Subj: would you recommend the following sonatas?
Date: Tue, 5 Sep 1995 12:22:25 -0400

Anyone care to comment on the following pieces for clarinet and piano?

I would very much appreciate your input, since I play the clarinet
only sporadically and for fun and certainly don't know what most readers
of this list would probably call the standard repertoire. So when I
feel the urge to play again, and play something new, what I do is look
through the bibiliographies in the books by Brymer and Pino. But it's
hard to deduce from two, although very well-founded opinions, what I
may like. For example, I "discoverd" the Poulenc sonata only quite
recently following Pino, while Brymer's comment didn't strike me as
intriguing.

For starters, the Poulenc sonata is one of my great favourites among
all clarinet music, closely followed by the Brahms sonatas. I do enjoy
(for different reasons) the Cl/P work by Finzi, Schumann, Weber. I
don't really enjoy the Hindemith and Gade. I like but haven't played
Saint-Saens and Debussy. Having played a piece just means that I
play well enough to enjoy them with a friend, some are definitely too hard
for me.

Ok, ok, I am somewhat embarrassed to admit in front of experts (I am
new to this list, too) to not knowing/having played other sonatas but
this is YOUR CHANCE to widen my musical horizon! What about the
following (please excuse my English):

Arnold, Malcolm: Sonata op. 29
------------------------------
JB: swinging, melodical, brief: with some rhythmical finesses
DP: most interesting
(see what I mean? "most interesting" can mean anything from most
enjoyable to very important theoretically but unenjoyable ...)

Busoni, Ferruccio: Elegie
-------------------------
JB: Simple, melodical, effective
DP: compressed and intellectual. unlikely to become a permanent part
of the reportoire

Byrne, Andrew: Suite
--------------------
JB: Simple and effective. Good concert music for small occasions.

Gibbs, Armstrong: Three Pieces
------------------------------
JB: Very simple; the final Capriccio makes an excellent encore

Lutoslawski, Withold: Prelude
-----------------------------
JB: Excellent piece, not hard, still effective
DP: Excellent work

Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix: Sonata
------------------------------------
JB: not the best by this great composer, but nice introduction to sonatas

Stanford, Charles Villiers: Sonata op. 129
------------------------------------------
JB: Fine work that is not played often enough. Very much liked by audiences.

Templeton, Alec: Pocket Sized Sonatas 1 and 2.
----------------------------------------------
JB: Very entertaining. Great concert pieces.

Any comments, say on how melodical/hard/enjoyable you think those
pieces are, in particular when this category is missing in the above
comments? And of course, what are the pieces that I should have
listed, too?

I don't expect the klarinet list to be flooded by responses -- I'd be
happy to get any response -- but if there is enough interest, I
promise to collect and orderly post the replies.

Bernd

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bernd Bruegmann Phone: (331) 27537-26
Max-Planck-Institut fuer Gravitationsphysik Fax: (331) 27537-98
Schlaatzweg 1, 14473 Potsdam, Germany Email: bruegman@-----.de