 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Rachel
Date: 2003-09-08 00:54
I am thinking of writing a concerto for the alto clarinet, but before I begin I need to know a couple of things.
What exactly is the range of the alto clarinet?
What is (for a decent professional player) it's comfortable range?
What register/s does it sound its best it?
What advantages/disadvantages/differences does it have as compared to the Bb and A soprano clarinets?
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Author: Rachel
Date: 2003-09-08 01:02
If anyone had similar information about the basset clarinet(s)?, I would be really grateful for that too.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-09-08 14:21
Hi Rachel -I seem to remember posting to you about alto cls earlier. The A C's I've had contact with , 4-5, the best being LeBlanc and , my #1 choice, a Selmer-Paris of about 1980, have a fine chalameau and throat register and a fair, but somewhat weak, clarion [mid-staff B to "high" C]. The next FEW altissimo notes do sound readily, but in what AC music I've found, are always given to the 2/3rd Bb cls [in bands]. A piece we are now playing in concert, Morning Noon and Night in Vienna, has that early, beautiful cl solo [for Bb] written in as an alternate [octave-lower] in the AC part!! I have pointed-out this to our conductor in hopes that he will have ME try it [in rehearsal] if our Solo Cl'ist will permit!! You might want to try this to help your composing efforts. Re: the Bassets, the B clar is an extended-range A [sop] cl [for Mozarts], while the B HORN [also for Moz and Mend] is an E-R Alto cl in the key of F, which is usually?? played with a sop. mp and has a very pleasant, but different tonal character, in my limited experience. I've now told you more than what I really KNOW, lets hope that others, including Arnold The B Hornist, will respond. Much Luck, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2003-09-08 14:24
Alto Clar.: Same range as soprano clarinet, except in Eb, down a fifth.
Basset Clar.: An A clarinet with the lower range extended a major third (to A instead of Db/C#).
Basset Horn: Same range as soprano clarinet, except in F, down a fourth, then extend the lower notes by a major third (F concert instead of A concert.)
Mozart wrote the Concerto and Quintet for Stadler's Basset Clarinet, but the autograph parts are lost. Many modern players have recordings with reconstructed that use the lower notes.
Mozart and Beethoven wrote for the Basset Horn. Mozart's trios and Gran Partita tend to use the clarinet register (above the break) for melody and harmony, and the chalumeau register (below the break) for continuo.
Because of the extra mechanism to achieve the extended notes, intricate passages that weave back and forth across the break will be problematic on the Basset instruments.
Osvaldo Golijob's "Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind", a modern piece for clarinets (1 player) and string quartet, uses Basset Horn.
Hope this helps.
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Author: Rachel
Date: 2003-09-09 00:12
Thank you both for that information- it was very helpful.
Don- you can't have posted me about the alto clarinet, because I've never posted on this messageboard (or on any other) about it.
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