Klarinet Archive - Posting 000330.txt from 1998/04

From: Shouryu Nohe <jnohe@-----.edu>
Subj: Concertino
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1998 16:57:43 -0400

I believe my edition (for Bass Clarinet, ed. McCathren/Frank) has it
starting at 84, and kicking to 96 at the arpeggiation (can't remember the
marking there...)

Personally, I like to take the 6/8 at a strict 86 until the Con Moto -
which is my favorite passage of the piece. It's VERY lyrical, and IMO,
should be played with as much expressiveness as possible. So I ease the
Con Moto down just a hair, to allow for more rubato and so that the grace
notes have a bit more body. Around 76-80 is good. I carry this all the
way to the ... oh, I'll just call it the coda, which is the ascending
arpeggiations. Right at that spot, I kick it to 90-100, the limit of my
tonguing abilities. It has to be toungued very cleanly to achevie it's
effect, and it's stronger if you make the tempo change very noticable,
which is also why I slow down the con moto. You can probably slow down
a hair at the two measure ostinato before the descending chromatic if you
get tired without it being particularly noticable, and if you really want
to wow 'em, don't use the short ending! Instead, hit the altissimo F for
a beat and a half (I guess a dotted quarter and a dotted eight ^_^ ),
take a big breath, and as the band plays the next four measures, nail the
A above that for two counts (a measure), the C above that the next
measure, and end on the altississimo F, holding it for a full 3-4 counts -
depending on the version (Reed?) that the band arrangement is, the
ensemble will probably be on a relative low and loud tessatura, and the
high F really makes a great contrast. I've seen it done (Dr. B...^_^) and
it's great. If you can reach the register, but have endurance trouble, I
might suggest skipping the altissimo C, therefore going trill-F-A-F.
Still works okay.

As for cuts...nah...why cut it? It's only nine minutes long, and if you
have the band speed up their solo sections, you might could cut it down to
eight...a relatively short piece, IMO. ^_^

Shouryu Nohe
Professor of SCSM102, New Mexico State Univ.
http://web.nmsu.edu/~jnohe; ICQ 6771552
Coffee Drinker, Musician, Otaku, Jesus Freak, Admirer of Women
(Not necessarily in that order)
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