Klarinet Archive - Posting 000779.txt from 1996/02

From: Josias Associates <josassoc@-----.COM>
Subj: Morton Gould and the Clarinet Family
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996 03:21:37 -0500

Dan,

Having known Gould personally, I, too, was deeply saddened by his
death. When you mentioned his writing for the bass clarinet, two
marvelous examples of his use of the bass clarinet from his many superb
orchestral works came to mind.

The first was the exceptionally rhythmic bass clarinet part that
seemed to dominate the "Guaracha" from his "Latin-American Symphonette."
Probably written before Gould had come under the friendly spell of Benny
Goodman, he still knew how to write effectively for the clarinet and, as
proof, the work also offers considerable attractive work for the soprano
clarinets as well.

The second example is Gould's "Apple Waltzes" written ca. 1984.
This composition came to mind when David Niethamer graciously sent me a
tape of it after having learned that my original copy had been stolen
from my car. Although the performance features numerous soprano clarinet
solos, both lyric and, as David puts it, athletic, there are, in a number
of places, some truly remarkable bass-clarinet underpinnings.

Curiously, his obituary in the Los Angeles Times did not mention
his significant non-orchestral output represented by such compositions as
"Derivations" for clarinet and jazz band, "Benny's Gig," for clarinet and
string bass, and several excellently scored original suites for band,
such as "Ballad for Band" and "Santa Fe Suite."

Gould was very partial to "Derivations" and "Benny's Gig" and
wished they were played more often. In a similar vein, he told me that,
in a sense, he felt that he had failed in his compositions for band
because they were hardly ever played. And yet, a prominent California Band
director told me that he rated "Ballad for Band" and "Santa Fe Suite"
as two of the very finest original works written for band by anyone.

Although most of my ensemble playing is in orchestras, I also
play as a community member in the Caltech-Occidental Concert Band to keep up
my Eb chops. (Don Gross, another list member from the community, plays
contrabass clarinet in the same group, so that the two of us play 1/2 of
the band's total complement of four "funny clarinets.")

I mention this, because our last rehearsal was held on the day
Gould's death was announced in the newspapers, and the director of the
band, himself a prominent and knowledgeable musician, passed out a Gould
composition from the school's library. My first surprise was that I had
never before heard nor seen the composition, which was "Symphony for Band
(1952)."

On the tape sent me by David Niethamer was a performance of
Gould's orchestral piece, "Burchfield Gallery," which had an interesting
part for Eb soprano clarinet, indicating to me in effect that, where Gould
was concerned, he was an equal-opportunity composer when it came to clarinets.
I was immediately reminded of that in his "Symphony for Band," which
also featured several exposed and well-written passages for the Eb
instrument. But none of the other clarinets were slighted -- he simply wrote
important and serious parts for all the instruments in the clarinet family.

Because working up a new and unfamiliar composition is a speculative
matter until the conductor hears the piece played well enough to see and
understand its shape, I'm not sure whether this piece will survive to the
point of making it into our band's repertoire. I guess I have something
of an unfair advantage where Gould's music is concerned. That's because I've
simply heard so much of it that I recognize his idioms rapidly and
appreciate hearing them much as one might be pleasantly surprised when
receiving an unexpected visit from a dear old friend.

My first reading experience with "Symphony for Band" was like
that, and I must remember to tell the conductor.

My subjective feeling about Gould's music is that much of it has
an almost palpable feeling -- a kind of redolence -- of nostalgic
Americana from bygone years. I think that is what endeared
him most to me, and I would imagine my feelings on his passing might be
comparable to those felt by Czech countrymen and women on the passing of
another nationalistic composer, Antonin Dvorak.

The world of music has lost an important voice in Morton Gould.
He'll be sorely missed.

Connie

Conrad Josias
La Canada, California