Klarinet Archive - Posting 000088.txt from 2008/04

From: "Alexander Brash" <brash@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Altissimo
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:57:25 -0400

The real version of the copland concerto actually contains the high D
above that :)

On Tue, April 15, 2008 12:35 pm, Joseph Wakeling wrote:
> Curtis Bennett wrote:
>> How often do these kinds of notes come up in a piece of music? I
>> think the highest note I've ever seen is an A above high G. And that
>> was like one time. What kind of music calls for these kinds of notes?
>
> The Copland concerto goes up to altissimo B (or Bb, I forget...) and
> there are altissimo C's in literature dating back to the classical
> period (in fact there's a concertante work by Sussmayr for basset
> clarinet that includes a four-octave C major scale).
>
> Up to altissimo C is standard now in the contemporary repertoire and
> plenty of works go higher -- Birtwistle's 'Linoi' adds a semitone to
> Sussmayr's range, taking the basset clarinet to altissimo C#, Peter
> Maxwell Davies' 'Hymnos' reaches its summit (quite literally) on
> altissimo E and I think the Cowie concerto goes up to altissimo G (the
> highest note in the Sim book).
>
> I know there are other works which go even higher, sometimes with
> techniques like teeth-on-reed -- and this is just the soprano clarinet
> repertoire (the larger clarinets have even more scope to extend the
> written upward range).
>
> -- Joe
>
>
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