Klarinet Archive - Posting 000801.txt from 1997/04

From: Lord Rob <rteitelbaum@-----.EDU>
Subj: RE: Bubble Piece
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 1997 08:06:59 -0400

Jacqueline,

I don't know why I didn't think of mentioning this when you asked what
good a timpanist was to you, but I'll be happy to tell you what little I
know about the Foss Concerto. It was written for Stoltzman in 1988, and
he recorded it on a BMG label (RCA Victor) with the Berlin Symphony.
(Also on this CD are the Einar Englund Concerto and McKinley's 2nd
Concerto, both outstanding contemporary pieces.) I don't know for sure
who publishes the Foss, but considering the fact that other works of his
have been published by Carl Fischer, I'd say it's a safe bet that they do
the concerto too. Or maybe it's not published yet, in which case I suppose
you'd have to try to contact Foss or Stoltzman. There's a footnote on the
CD that says "ASCAP", if that means anything to you.

According to the literature accompanying the CD, Foss' "Echoi", which IS
definitely published by Fischer (as well as Schott's Sohn), has a similar
clarinet/percussion technique, though perhaps not specifically on the timpani.

There's some other bizarre stuff about the concerto too. It ends with
everyone continuing to play madly, but without any sound (perhaps a nod
to Cage), so you hear all the extraneous sounds-pads clicking, etc. And
apparently there's a direction in the final movement to "play mindlessly" for
about 40 bars. You might all this would lead to the kind of mindless (no
pun intended), artless dreck that frequently inhabits contemporary visual
art displays, but it's actually a well-constructed, entertaining work, at least
in my rarely-humble opinion.

Rob Teitelbaum
Claremont McKenna College