Klarinet Archive - Posting 000078.txt from 2007/09

From: Simon Aldrich <simonaldrich@-----.ca>
Subj: [kl] Thanks Oliver!
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:38:56 -0400

A huge thanks to Oliver Seely for making a reconstruction of the
original nonet version of the
Brahms Serenade No. 1, op. 11 available for download through his site:
http://www.csudh.edu/oliver/clarmusi/clarmusi.htm

Oliver, I don't think you realize how many people you have made
extremely happy.
I have been looking for either reconstruction of this piece for two
years
and my search has introduced me to many others who hoped to progam
this but cannot
find it (or more to the point, cannot afford to rent the parts.)
How wonderful when these things seem to simply fall from the sky!

The individual parts for the Jorge Rotter reconstruction are
available for rent through Boosey & Hawkes (NY) but for an
unconscionable amount.
They rent it on a sliding scale, depending on the budget of your
organization.
It was going to cost my organization (www.allegrachambermusic.com)
almost $500 CDN to rent it (that is the lowest rental price).

For those unfamiliar with this piece, this is what I wrote to
klarinet this past year (in search of either of the reconstructions):

"Brahms' Serenade No. 1 in D major Op. 11 was composed over several
years and in as many as four different guises.
It started life as a three or four movement work for wind and string
octet.
The first full version, with six movements, was for nonet (fl, 2 cls,
bsn, hn, vln, vla, vcl, bass).
Clara Schumann did not approve of the piece in its nonet formation
and it is believed Brahms destroyed the manuscript (as was his wont
when Clara didn't approve of the piece).
The following year Brahms expanded the instrumentation to a small
orchestra and the next year to a full orchestra, the form in which
the work is known and usually performed.

Two people, Alan Boustead and Jorge Rotter, have arranged
hypothetical reconstructions of the Serenade in its original nonet
instrumentation.
(A third person, Chris Nex, has arranged the Serenade for woodwind
quintet, string quartet and bass. This version is published and
therefore available.)
Printed parts for the Boustead and Rotter are as yet only available
on rental. Some believe this has hampered the adoption of the
Serenade into the mainstream chamber repertoire.
I heard a broadcast of the Chicago Chamber Musicians playing the
nonet version of the Serenade (it was not announced by which
arranger) and it works wonderfully for nonet. Some might say it is
more beautiful as a nonet than as an orchestral piece."

Oliver - some of us were wondering, was it klarinet's brief
discussion of this piece that
inspired you to arrange it, or was the choice purely serendipitous?
Whatever the case, for those on the hunt for this original
reconstruction this is manna from heaven.
My orchestra is recording Bruckner 9 over the next couple of days and
the knowledge that
my search is over will make the recording just about bearable (I am
right in front of the trumpets).

Thanks again,

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Simon Aldrich

Clarinet Faculty - McGill University
Principal Clarinet - Orchestre Metropolitain de Montreal
Principal Clarinet - Orchestre de l'Opera de Montreal
Clarinet - Nouvel Ensemble Moderne
Performing Artist/Clinician - Buffet Crampon

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