Klarinet Archive - Posting 000611.txt from 1997/04

From: Jacqueline Eastwood <eastwooj@-----.EDU>
Subj: RE: Zemlinsky Trio
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 13:37:07 -0400

On Sat, 19 Apr 1997, Lord Rob wrote:

> >After the performance, someone asked me if it was
> >common for chamber music to require both A and B flat clarinets. I said I
> >thought it was unusual. Stravinsky aside, are there other chamber music
> >pieces that require both?
>
> Yes, there's a rather famous one that requires both: Bartok's Contrasts. Of
> course, you *could* play the first 2 movements on Bb (the edition in my
> school's music library even includes both parts, just in case), but it's far
> more difficult, IMHO. (This is, of course, the same piece that requires 2
> separate *violins*!)
>
> Also, the Hindemith Quintet requires both. Well, actually, the second
> instrument is "Klarinette in Es", which I assume is A and not C clarinet.

BAD, BAD Lord Rob!!! "Es" is E-flat!! This piece is one of the
cornerstones of my dissertation, "Chamber Music for the Eb Clarinet" (I
decided to include pieces with at least one entire movement for the Eb,
because this and the Janacek Concertino were such gems!)

You'd think that such a vociferous answer would be backed up by lots and
lots of grinding scholarly work, but alas, I'm stuck in neutral on the
$*%& thing, because LIFE keeps getting in the way.

So now I apologize for my tirade. We now resume regularly scheduled
programming.

>
> Those are two that come to mind. But as near as I can figure, both clarinets
> were not used in the same chamber music piece until the modern era, since
> I can't think of any pre-modern example of this.
>
> Rob Teitelbaum
> Claremont McKenna College
>
>

Jacqueline Eastwood
University of Arizona/Arizona Opera Orchestra
eastwooj@-----.edu