Klarinet Archive - Posting 000111.txt from 2006/09

From: Sean Osborn <feanor33@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] "best" concerto
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 18:13:28 -0400

Actually Dan, while I don't think there is a meeting on Tuesday of the BPC,
saying that I think a piece is the best is not the same as saying that it
is my favorite. For example: My favorite Mozart Opera is "Cosi Fan Tutti,"
but I think that "Le Nozze di Figaro" is a better piece (and, btw, I think
it's one of the few operatic masterpieces, opera being something of which I
know a little ;)
Also, as I was recently saying to a colleague who thinks my tastes a little
bizarre, Copland's Third Symphony is my favorite symphony, but I don't
think it is the best symphony. That distinction could easily be held by
many pieces by Beethoven, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, or Shostakovich.

For the record, the clarinet concertos that I think stack up against other
concertos in the orchestral repertoire, in the order that I think are the
best are:

Nielsen
Mozart
Adams
Copland
Weber 2
Francaix
Finzi
Daniel Dorff "Summer Solstice"
Weber 1

I purposely left out shorter works (Debussy, Rossini), and may have
accidentally forgotten a couple.

For those of you who don't know it, give the Adams a listen.

What other concertos do you all feel belong on a list of the best?

Sean Osborn

>Now Sean doesn't mean that there is an International Best Piece
>Center with members who meet on Tuesdays and measure the bestness
>of each piece so as to allow a public announcement of which piece
>is the best one. What he means, and what he has every right to
>mean, is that he likes that work so much that it is his favorite.
>Nothing wrong with that.

www.osbornmusic.com

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