Klarinet Archive - Posting 000319.txt from 2005/08

From: "Bryan Crumpler" <crumpletox@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] New CD Release!
Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 04:37:50 -0400

Hey klarinetters!

Moving away from color, vibrations, jittering, fluctuations, quavers...
whatever you want to call it, I'm mailing about something pretty serious for
me now. I am soooo excited, happy, ecstatic, whatever modifier you want to
use to express how 'thoused I am to announce that I will be releasing my
first commercial CD at the end of this month!

The album is called "Monochrome" and is a collection of chamber music for
clarinet ensembles, which may or may not be your thing... But if you like
wind band music, you'll like this CD. It has that "Reference Recordings"
flavor and brilliance to it. It's definitely something you've gotta add to
your collection.

I'm accepting pre-orders at a discounted price of 25% off plus free shipping
on my website up until Friday (11:59pm EST, August 18th). The normal pricing
is not going to kick in until Friday... so you may even be able to snag it a
few hours after that if you just forget. The order page is:

http://www.whosthatguy.com/clarinet-cds.asp?cd=1

If you don't have a credit card to order online, you can also reserve a copy
at the discounted price by just dropping me an email with your name,
shipping address, the number of CDs you want, if you want any autographed or
whatever before friday. We can figure out payment on a 1-1 basis either via
Western Union, Certified Check, Money Order, or Bank Transfer for
internationals. And once payment is confirmed, I'll drop your copy (or
copies) in the mail.

Thanks!

Bryan A. Crumpler
http://www.whosthatguy.com

PS:

For anyone wanting to know about the album, here's a description:

The album was inspired by a work by the one and only... Peter Schickele (aka
PDQ Bach) who wrote a piece for 9 clarinets called Monochrome III. A few
years ago, I was experimenting with some digital multi-tracking equipment
and was able to record all 9 parts myself just for kicks. Well, since then,
the equipment has been improved, the recording technique solidified, and
this teeny little do-it-yourself thing has ballooned into a full fledged
commercial album of works for clarinet quartet, sextet, nonet, and clarinet
choir. And the amazing thing... I am the one performing all the parts, and
it STILL sounds musical! I know a few people who have done recordings in a
similar manner, and the end result is something very cornered and
metronomic. That's certainly NOT the case with this CD.

Other works on the album are Yvonne Desportes' "Characters for Clarinet
Sextet", "Adagio Expressive" from Gerard Bertouille's Concertino for
Clarinet Quartet, Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings arr. for Solo Clarinet
& Clarinet Choir" and Desire Dondeyne's "Clarinet Symphony for Clarinet
Sextet".

"Characters" is a 6 movement work designed to highlight the 6 major
instruments of the ensemble. Each, thus, representing a particular
character. The Eb Soprano is the Welcomer... Contrabass Clarinet is the
Loner... Bass Clarinet is the Cool Cat, or the Nonchalant... Alto Clarinet
is the Hothead (who'd have thought)... 2nd Bb Clarinet is the Dreamer, and
finally... 1st Bb Clarinet is the Joker.

Bertouille's Concertino for Clarinet Quartet has been somewhat of an
underground work. In fact, it's not even *really* published. Bertouille is
represented by the Center for Belgian Music Documentation, which - instead
of officially publishing the work - has released a score of what looks like
copies of a pencil draft of the piece. Important things are even left out...
like dynamics on the first page, and the bass clarinet part still being
written in Bass Clef. This work was a real challenge to make work in its
entirety, but the "Adagio Expressive" - the 1st of this two movement work -
was just too beautiful NOT to record.

Barber's Adagio for Strings has long been a favorite among classical music
lovers. This arrangement was originally scribed by Lucien Cailliet for a
full sized clarinet choir with Ab and Eb soprano clarinets as the
solo/melody - YUCK! Since Ab clarinets are, like, non-existent... unless you
have a lotta money and have ears ready to handle it's nasty piercing sound,
I modified this version for Solo Bb Clarinet. In terms of balance in the
ensemble, it wasn't well transcribed, so I made a number of edits and
revisions with G. Schirmer's go-ahead. Putting Bb as the soloist warmed it
up a bit. And I added a little personal flavor to it in the middle. What
would another Barber Adagio be without a little personality to it?

And lastly, Dondeyne's "Clarinet Symphony" is the finale. This is a standard
3 movement work written like any other symphony... It's actually my
favorite work on the album. It's just... masterfully composed. Mr. Dondeyne
really knew how to work with the colors of the clarinet and figure out how
they could blend to give a symphonic sound with such few performers. The
piece, published by Billaudot in France, was dedicated to clarinet master
Guy Dangain.

Although the works are not "new" (as in, they were composed an published 1
to 2 decades ago) the album is actually a world premiere recording of all of
these works. So... like I said previously. It's a must have for your CD
collection if you like wind ensembles, clarinet music, etc etc etc. If
you're on this list, I imagine you do!

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