Klarinet Archive - Posting 000592.txt from 1999/09

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] Composed for Benny Goodman
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 08:10:10 -0400

On Mon, 20 Sep 1999 07:46:55 -0400, bhausman@-----.com said:

> It may not be the ultimate in authority, but according to Jack
> Gottlieb, in the liner notes for the LP "Bernstein Conducts Bernstein"
> Columbia ML 6077 (1964):

Yes, this is what I'd remembered.

> "Originally commissioned by Woody Herman for his dance band, the
> Prelude, Fugue and Riffs was to be part of a series of jazz works that
> already included Stravinsky's "Ebony Concerto." The work was
> completed in November of 1949, but Herman never performed it, nor did
> he pursue the series project any further.

He missed something, then, didn't he? I think it's a masterpiece, and
it never fails to thrill me.

> The work lay dormant until 1952 when Bernstein revised it for a
> smaller, pit-size band in order to incorporate it, as a ballet
> sequence, in "Wonderful Town." Known as the "Courtroom Ballet," the
> new version did not survive its out-of-town performances since it did
> not fit in with the decidedly lighter surroundings.

I wonder if this is recoverable. What's the scoring of "Wonderful
Town"?

Of course, it's quite difficult to imagine losing that brass/sax
opposition that is so much of the power of the original. (Actually,
despite the striking part, the piece isn't really a solo clarinet
vehicle -- nor is the Ebony Concerto, for that matter. But don't spread
it around on alt.management.exploitation, because the fee might go
down;-)

Still, it would be worth while at least investigating a more tractable
scoring.

BTW, I played it a couple of times, and I have to agree with Goodman's
decision to drop the downward 'gliss' at the end of the first clarinet
phrase, which it's almost impossible to make sound idiomatic. Yes, I
know others have recorded it like that.

> Since its first performance on the television show, "What Is Jazz?"
> (1955) by Bernstein and Goodman, it has been unperformed, most
> probably because of its very special requirements of the "big band"
> sound, a phenomenon that more or less died out with World War II."

But it's been done a few times since, I imagine. I heard Jorge play it
in Caracas this year.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN family artist: www.gmn.com
tel/fax 01865 553339

... You'd be me, if I were you.

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