Klarinet Archive - Posting 000842.txt from 1996/02

From: Francis Firth <Francis.Firth@-----.UK>
Subj: A Flat Clarinet
Date: Thu, 29 Feb 1996 04:43:00 -0500

Daniel A. Paprocki asks about the A Flat clarinet.
Yes, it was generally used in larger Italian and Belgian military bands and
also in the stage band of one of Verdi's operas (I think, La Traviate but
will have to check).
Recently it has been used in clarinet choirs (there is an article by Elsa
Ludewig-Verdehrabout some new compositions for choir in which it is used in
a very recent issue of The Clarinet).
Naturally, it has also attracted the attention of the avant-garde and has
been used by the contemporary German composer hans-Joachim Hespos in several
of his works (Go, Gelb, and Seiltanz spring to mind).
There is also a solo for unaccompanied A Flat by (I think) the Norwegian
composer Terje Lerstad (who, I think, is a clarinettist) called Hommage a
Stravinsky in 3 movements (this can be checked by looking at the clarinet
compositions available on the Net from the Norwegian Music Information
centre).
It has also been used rarely in the orchestra - Bartok's Scherzo for piano
and orchestra Op. 2, John Tavener's Celtic requiem, an early withdrawn work
by Harrison Birtwhistle (Listed in New Grove but I can't remember the
details).
It has even begun to emerge in Jazz. At last year's FMP summer concerts in
Germany Peter Van Bergen played it (together with bass & contrabass & tenor
sax) at a concert called Holz fuer Europa (or was that the name of the
group?). According to FMP this session is to be released on CD sometime this
year.
There is some information on the instrument in the New book mentioned on the
list here Cambridge Companion to the Clarinet.
I don't know about the technical details (reeds, mouthpieces, etc.) but they
are certainly made by Leblanc in the 'Buffet' fingering systemand are the
smallest member of the clarinet family to gain any sort of permanent place
in actual musical use (unlike the piccolo A, B Flat and C clarinets)
mentioned in 19th century makers calalogues which are pretty rare (you are
lucky ever to see one) and which, to my knowledge, have never been scored
for in any compositions.
Francis firth
Francis.Firth@-----.uk