Klarinet Archive - Posting 000540.txt from 1996/04

From: "Christopher H. Rohrs" <chrohrs@-----.EDU>
Subj: Help! Villa-Lobos trio
Date: Fri, 19 Apr 1996 00:10:35 -0400

Hello. My chamber ensemble is working on the Heitor Villa-Lobos' _Fantasie
Concertante_ for clarinet, bassoon, and piano right now. The clarinet part
is written for C clarinet. The first movement is too fast to transpose by
sight, so I wrote it out for Bb clarinet. I transpose the second movement by
sight onto Bb.

However, I am stuck on the last movement. It would be much easier to play
it on Bb clarinet than A clarinet, but there are two unruly low Db's (one is
a whole note) hidden away on the first page, which obviously must be played
on A clarinet. I have no more than a beat of rest at any one time, so
switching clarinets is truly impossible.

So here are my questions, aimed at those who've played this:
1. Was this really meant to be played on C clarinet? Is there such a thing
as a C clarinet with low Db extensions?
2. (more important to my performance) When you played this, did you do the
last movement on A clarinet and practice, practice those nasty Ab major
thirds and stuff in the altissimo register and pray that it comes out in the
concert, or did you play it on Bb and....well...cheat the composer of his
two Db's. Or is there any other clever solution to this pesky problem?

Thanks,
Christopher "Fingerschmerz" Rohrs
***********************************************************************
Christopher Rohrs
chrohrs@-----.edu
"I have nothing to say and I am saying it." -John Cage
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