Klarinet Archive - Posting 000297.txt from 2005/09

From: Joseph Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] romantic/early 20th clarinet/piano recommendations?
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 11:42:54 -0400

Gary Smith wrote:
> I'm looking for clarinet/piano pieces (reductions are worth
> considering, too, although they're kind of second choice). I tend to
> like late Romantic/early 20th century pieces.

Should we take this to mean you like "early 20th century pieces" or that
you like "music written in the 20th century that still sounds basically
Romantic"? ;-)

Anyway, if you haven't already you should definitely check out the Alban
Berg Vier Stücke [Four Pieces] for clarinet and piano. It might not be
your kind of thing but it's challenging stuff that will test you
musically and technically (though if Brahms is beyond your pianist this
will be too) and is arguably one of the top 20th century works for our
instrument.

Closer to the pieces you have listed, since you mentioned Finzi, there
are quite a few British composers whose works are worth looking at.
Charles Villiers Stanford wrote a Sonata which you might like; there's
also a sonata movement by his student Samuel Coleridge-Taylor although I
think that only exists in a manuscript at the Royal College of Music.
Arnold Cooke's Sonata is closer to Hindemith, but it's a great piece;
then there are the Characteristic Pieces by Hurlstone and John Ireland's
Fantasy Sonata, the Sonata by Herbert Howells, and others I'm sure I'm
forgetting. Check out Thea King's discography on Hyperion for ideas.

There are also more recent works, such as Harrison Birtwistle's Linoi
and Verses (both for clarinet in A), and Peter Maxwell Davies' Hymnos,
but I'm not quite sure they're what you're looking for---they're getting
pretty far from your "Romantic/early 20th century" specification as
they're all very forward-looking works from the 1960s. Linoi needs a
basset clarinet to perform properly and for Hymnos you need a very very
good reed and supreme control of the extreme altissimo ... ! Still, if
you want to look at this repertoire, check out Roger Heaton's CD on the
Clarinet Classics label.

On the other hand, another composer of similar generation, Australia's
foremost composer, Peter Sculthorpe, writes works that I'm sure you'd
find attractive; and they include a clarinet and piano piece, Songs of
Sea & Sky, which was written for Richard Stoltzman and is published by
Faber, as well as various chamber pieces for clarinet and other instruments.

Welsh/Canadian composer John Metcalf has written a trio of pieces under
the collective title of "Airstream"---they're rhythmically rather tricky
but they are charming works. John's website is here:
http://www.metcalf.demon.co.uk/john/ He's also written some other
wonderful chamber pieces including clarinet, of which my favourite is
"Not The Stillness..." for violin, clarinet, cello and piano.

Copland's Violin Sonata has been transcribed for clarinet (by the
composer, I believe) and Elliott Carter, before he turned to extreme
modernism, wrote a "Pastorale" for clarinet and piano which is
apparently very attractive. There are a whole load of works from US
composers for the clarinet/piano combination, many of which would fit
your bill, but off the top of my head I can't think of any (aside from
the Bernstein, which you know). Stoltzman's discography probably
includes some interesting works in this respect (check out his CD "Amber
Waves" which is American clarinet & piano music).

A slightly parochial list, since it's limited to the English-speaking
world, but all worth checking out. :-)

Out of curiosity, does it have to be pure clarinet and piano? If you're
doing clarinet/piano recitals you could also each do some solo pieces
for either piano or clarinet alone. That opens up a whole new range of
possibilities...

> Feel free to flame me for my musical tastes (those so inclined will
> need no invitation, I'm sure) - just send your suggestions along with it!

Naah, bollocks. Your musical tastes are your own, why worry about it?
The only thing that's worth flaming is people who write off music they
don't like as "shit" or "worthless"---or people who refuse to be open to
stuff that's different from what they're familiar with.

Amusingly, one young and rather fêted British composer told me she
thought I was "very brave" for admitting that I liked Elgar. :-D I also
love Boulez, Ferneyhough, Stockhausen, Berio, Adès, Lachenmann, Carter,
Sariaaho and plenty of others. But poor Edward is apparently a bit
infra-dig....

-- Joe

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