Klarinet Archive - Posting 000088.txt from 2009/08

From: Joseph Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Solo pieces by living women composers
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:48:01 -0400

Enid Blount Press wrote:
> I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions of good, short-ish pieces that
> are learnable by early November that are by living women composers...

I'm not clear how solo you need to be -- really clarinet alone, or
clarinet and piano ... ? Hence some of the following suggestions may be
more useful than others.

You could try a couple of works by Alicia Grant, an Australian composer
based in the UK: 'Trick or Treat' for solo clarinet (2 minutes) or
'Accretion' for bass clarinet and piano (4 minutes).
http://www.aliciagrantcomposer.com/catalogue.html

I have to confess I don't actually know either piece, but Alicia is a
very talented composer.

Sally Beamish has a 3-minute solo piece and a work for clarinet and piano:
http://www.sallybeamish.com/store.php?pg1-cid81.html

I think Meredith Monk has one or more solo clarinet pieces, but don't
know details:
http://www.meredithmonk.org/music/index.html

Alwynne Pritchard has an 8-minute bass clarinet solo:
http://www.alwynnepritchard.co.uk/worklist.asp

Betsy Jolas has at least one piece for clarinet alone and a couple for
clarinet and piano:
http://www.betsyjolas.com/niv_2.php3?ch=2&nav=0

Augusta Read Thomas has a 5-minute solo clarinet piece, 'D(i)agon(als)':
http://www.augustareadthomas.com/diagonals.html
... as well as a 9-minute trio (cl-vln-pf), 'Dancing Helix Rituals'.

There are a couple of chamber works by Rebecca Saunders, whose work I
admire greatly, but they're trios (cl-vln-pf and bcl-vcl-pf), not solos.

Nicola LeFanu has several works for clarinet and piano or clarinet and a
couple of other instruments.

Sofia Gubaidulina has a piece, 'Dots, Lines and Zigzags' for bass
clarinet and piano, but is 10 minutes long ... !

Kaija Saariaho has a piece for bass clarinet and cello, 'Oi Kuu', which
is about 6 minutes long (but this is I think a very difficult piece).

Thea Musgrave has an 8-minute piece, 'Threnody', for clarinet and piano.

Hope that helps ... !

Best wishes,

-- Joe

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