Klarinet Archive - Posting 000106.txt from 2003/03

From: Joseph Stevens <oamclarinetist@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] clarinet section and band
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 13:17:20 -0500

For the 2001 Oregon Ambassadors of Music honor band
one of our selections was the Rákóczy March from “The
Damnation of Faust” by Hector Berlioz. I never paid
attention to the publisher, but it was our big
clarinet feature of that tour (There were 44 Bb
sopranos playing…it was rather intense).

Similar in difficulty, and possible slightly worse,
would be Percy Aldridge Grainger’s “Molly on the
Shore.” Not only does the entire clarinet section
have parts that when played in cut time end up as 32nd
notes from what I recall of looking at the parts,
there’s also a fairly involved solo clarinet part.
For that matter, “Overture to Candide” is rather fun!

At risk of sounding cliché, there’s also the ever
beautiful song that every high school band musician in
Oregon has to hear at last twice at every single band
competition or festival; “On a Hymn song of Phillip
Bliss.” Easy to learn, and incredibly pleasing to
listen to if you can still stand it after 20+ times of
hearing bands butcher it onstage.

Another personal favorite of mine is Francis Popy’s
“Suite orientale,” available from Editions Robert
Martin in Charnay-Les-Macon, France.
http://www.edrmartin.com My only word of warning with
this one is there were some slight printing errors,
and you must have somebody who has a rudimentary
knowledge of the French language as the instrument
names on the parts are in French, and the performance
instructions within the parts and condensed score are
in French as well, with some minor ones in Italian.
All around, REALLY fun for clarinetists!

In the realm of the new and trendy, “Masada” and
“Bushdance” by Australian composer Ralph Hultgren are
great! Masada is rather mixed-meter heavy though.

And last, but certainly not least, my all-time
favorite: Vesuvius by Frank Ticheli. It’s not
entirely a clarinet feature, but there are some pretty
aggressive clarinet lines and it is fun for both
performers and the audience. Hehe…I scared some sixth
grade beginning band members at the district wide band
concert when we played it last year. Whoops! :-D

~Joseph

--- James Sclater <Sclater@-----.edu> wrote:
> The director of the local wind symphony
> (professional level players) is looking for
> something to feature the clarinet section in the
> band. Any suugestions? Thanks in advance.

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