Klarinet Archive - Posting 000640.txt from 1996/05

From: Francis Firth <Francis.Firth@-----.UK>
Subj: Unaccompanied Clarinet
Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 04:54:00 -0400

Drew Niemeyer asks about pieces for unaccompanied clarinet.
I am actually a bassoonist so (perhaps) not biased on this issue.
It has always seemd to me that the clarinet has a wider range of tone
colours than a flute. Think about the contrast between chalumeau and clarino
registers. There is a bigger difference in sound between the ultra-smooth
sound of, say, Karl Leister, and the raw and wild sound of a Turkish or
Greek folk clarinet, and the shriller and more piercing tone of a jazz
clarinet (especially early jazz players) than there is between different
styles of flute playing.
All of these can be incorporated into a piece and then there is the wider
compass of the clarinet, the wider dynamic range and all of this without
even contemplating the extended playing techniques of the avant-garde.
Listen to the use of dynamics in Berios's Sequenza 9a for clarinet (much
more exciting than the 9b version for alto saxophone) the use of registral
contrast to produce polyphonic effects in thiswork, the same composer's Lied
for unaccompanied clarinet, and in Alexander Goehr's Dramatic Paraphrase on
Monteverdi's Combattimento di Tancred e Clorinda.
Another effective piece for unaccompanied clarinet is by Andre Jolivet
(can't remember the title). This also exists in a version for alto flute but
again the clarinet version is more mysterious and haunting.
I hope that this is enough to be going on with.
Francis Firth
Francis.Firth@-----.uk

   
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