Klarinet Archive - Posting 000597.txt from 1996/02

From: niethamer@-----.BITNET
Subj: Re: Air Varie`e by Paul Ben-Haim
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 23:33:42 -0500

On Sun, 11 Feb 1996, Christopher G Zello wrote:

> Has anyone out there heard of this piece? It is for solo clarinet and
> string orchestra with harp. It is approx. 12 minutes long and was
> probably composed in the 50s at some time. I have been told it is
> absolutely beautiful, and not overly complicated, although a difficult
> blow to play.

I've played it (but only with piano, which works OK). It is about 17
minutes long. It *is* beautiful, not too complicated (I put it together
with a first rate pianist in about 90 minutes), and although it does have
one or two "long blows", it is in general a very practically written piece.

> I have been told that Ben-Haim's works were available from the Israel
> Music Publishers, but now that is not it's name.

I think you can get this from Presser, which is the American agent for
Israeli Music Institute.

> If anyone knows this piece and could supply me with a publisher/rental
> agent I would really appreciate it. Please contact me privately though.
> Thanks.
>
> If anyone out there is looking for a clever piece for solo clarinet with
> orchestra, with a lot of jazz influence, I would highly recommend the
> Jazz Suite: Three Ethnic Dances by David Baker. There is a recording
> of it out with Alan Balter and the Akron SO; Telarc label CD-80409.

I heard this piece this week, and it's OK, but I found the last mvt to be
a little bit on the "OK, I need a last mvt, what should I do?" side - not
too inspired, and kind of contrived. The other two movements were fun,
and Alan Balter's playing was great, as you might expect.

> Has anyone out there heard any excellent pieces for solo clarinet and
> orchestra (excluding the Mozart, Weber, Francaix, Spohr, Nielsen, and
> other standard rep.) I'm kind of interested in finding out what
> contemporary pieces are available, but which haven't received much PR.

I'll mention Allan Blank's "Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra",
which was written for me, and recorded with the Silesian Philharmonic by
me last December (1994, that is). It should be available on the MMC label
(distributed by Albany Records) by mid 1996. The music is available from
American Composers Alliance in NYC.

David Niethamer