Klarinet Archive - Posting 000202.txt from 2008/11
From: Bear Woodson <bearwoodson@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Alternatives to bassoon for a quintet?
Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008 03:18:42 -0500
I had an excellent experience in substituting a Bb Bass
Clarinet for the bassoon in my "Second Woodwind Quintet"
some years ago. Soon after moving here to Tucson, I
discovered that there were only a few bassoonists available,
and NONE could perform Difficult Modern Music with
Hindemith / Bart=F3k styled harmonies. But Dr. Enid Blount
gave a GLORIOUS performance on the May 1999 recording
on a Bass Clarinet! It was such a wonderful performance, that
I fell in love with the timbre of the Bass Clarinet, and have
used it as a Substitute in other works that normally require
bassoon, and have given more Solos to the Bass Clarinet in
later symphonic works.
"Second Woodwind Quintet"
(Sept. 1997, 5 mvts, 18 1/2 min.)
(Written for Flute, Oboe, Bb Clarinet, Horn in F, and either
Bassoon or Bb Bass Clarinet. The May 1999 recording uses
the Bass Clarinet played beautifully by Dr. Enid Blount.)
Then I had the wonderful experience of writing my
Clarinet Sextet for Professor Joze Kotar of Slovenia. I made
the third (and last) movement to be a Set of Variations, where
a different player gets to be a Soloist for a whole variation,
while the others accompany.
"Sextet for Clarinet Ensemble" (Aug. 2003, 3 mvts., 18' 30")
for Professor Joze Kotar and the Slovenian Clarinet Sextet
scoring=20
1 E-Flat Sopranino Clarinet,
2 B-Flat Soprano Clarinets,
1 E-Flat Alto Clarinet,
1 B-Flat Bass Clarinet,
1 B-Flat Contra Bass Clarinet
(plus an Alternate E-Flat Contralto Clarinet Part, for the
benefit of future performances.) (I'm considering re-scoring
this work for Double Reeds someday, but we are still waiting
for a first live performance and recording.)
I am even making a point to prepare my Contra Bassoon
Concerto to be readily transcribable to either Bb Contra
Bass Clarinet, Eb Contralto Clarinet or sounding an octave
higher for Bassoon or Bb Bass Clarinet, without interfering
with the tenor and bass melody lines in the Orchestral, nor
Piano Reduction, Versions. The First Movement has been
done for some months, at over 12 minutes, but I still need
to get back to finishing the 2nd and 3rd movements, with
plans to total about 25 minutes. (There are sketches for
more of my Complex Counterpoint in the 3rd Movement.)
I've also been having fun writing a Double-Reed Septet
with either Conventional or a Few Rare Instruments in the
scoring:=20
Double-Reed Septet
2 Oboes,=20
2 English Horns,=20
2 Bassoons and=20
1 Contra Bassoon. =20
OR:=20
2 Oboes,=20
Oboe d'Amore (OR English Horn 1),
English Horn 2,=20
Bassoon 1 (OR Heckelphone, OR Bass Oboe),
Bassoon 2, and=20
1 Contra Bassoon.
I plan this Double-Reed Septet to have at least 6 move-
ments and total about 40 minutes, not unlike the Mozart
Gran Partitta, but in Bart=F3k / Hindemith harmony. Like the
Contra Bassoon Concerto, the First Movement of this work
has also been done for months, at a total of over 9 minutes,
but I started putting more of my signature Complex Counter-
point in the Second Movement, and that has been slowing
down the writing process. But when it's all done, and has
been performed and recorded in the Original Double Reed
Version, I'll probably want to transcribe it to an All Clarinet
Ensemble!=20
Like all my Chamber Works, ALL the players share
equally in having Solos, so we'd get to hear more of that
wonderful Low Clarinet Playing!
I gotta get back to the Happy Farm. The Space Aliens are
putting on a Puppet Show tonight!
Bear Woodson =20
Composer in Tucson, Arizona, USA
Home: 520 - 881 - 2558
"Bear Woodson" <bearwoodson@-----.net>
"I don't know why people are so excited about
'Going Green' suddenly now in 2008! I can prove
I've been doing it for decades! Just look inside the
bottom of my refrigerator!" - Bear Woodson (2008)
=20
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