Klarinet Archive - Posting 000715.txt from 1999/10

From: Oliver Seely <oliver@-----.EDU>
Subj: [kl] New music file available
Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 23:10:05 -0400

I was poking around "case x" at the University of California at Berkeley=20
(rare holdings) and I encountered a number of interesting musical
manuscripts. =20
Some of the other ones are in progress (which I'll announce later this year)
but I've been sitting on the Andante trio for winds by Albert Roussel
because I didn't
know what its copyright status is. My contact never responded so believing
that
no progress is ever made unless one takes a chance, I'm offering it to you
folks
for your playing pleasure. Uh. . . or I ought to say for your playing
consideration.
Here is a little of its history, taken from

http://www.opus1.com/~ehoornaert/roussel/andante.htm

At the time of his death (1937 or 38), Roussel was working on his Fourth
trio =97
but each of the trios used different instrumentation. This reed trio was
scored for the unusual combination of oboe, clarinet and bassoon.=20

The Trio des anches (for reeds) was apparently intended to include three
movements, but there is no trace of a first movement. The fragmentary
last movement was later finished by Roussel's friend, the Belgian
composer Arthur Hoeree, but this version is rarely played.=20

The second movement, however, was the last music that Roussel
finished before his death. It is interesting that he worked on the slow
second movement first because in so many works of his mature period
the slow movement is the heart of the entire work; apparently it held
this prominent position during the composition process, also.=20

Although the Andante is finished to the point of being playable, several
details remained incomplete. For example, there are no dynamic or
phrase markings, and it is possible Roussel may have changed even
the name of the piece; for this Andante is marked, curiously, adagio.=20

Oliver's opinion: After listening to some of Roussel's other works I've
decided
that this trio is VERY unfinished. I asked my contact to listen to my MIDI
file
and to tell me if I'd actually transcribed it correctly, with each
instrument in the
right key. The thing is really quite atonal. But he never responded, so I
make
it available to all of you for your playing and listening consideration.
Whatever
else one might say about it, one certainly gets the feeling of looking at=
and
listening to a work in progress.

My Web page address for you newcomers is
http://chemistry.csudh.edu/oliver/clarmusi.htm

Happy playing all!

Oliver

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