 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ella
Date: 2003-10-16 20:06
Hi, I'm entering a concerto competition with the Messager solo de concours. I've never heard a recording with an orchestrated version, I was wondering where I could find one. The only recording I've heard is Victoria Soames, but it belongs to one of my friends at camp so I don't have it any more. Also, does anyone have any general advice or opinions about this piece? Thanks!
Anyone who can hear screams, can also hear music.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2003-10-16 21:42
Ella -
Try the Search function. A search on Messager and Concours returns 66 hits.
The piece is more difficult than it looks. The opening, in particular, doesn't "lie well" under the fingers, and it has to be tossed off as if it were nothing. Listen to the original recording by Auguste Perier (available, I think, through Clarinet Classics, and, I'm certain, from Grenadilla Records) to hear how it goes.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Tim2
Date: 2003-10-17 01:38
Ken Shaw wrote:
> The piece is more difficult than it looks.
I think the piece is, I say, is, as difficult as it looks. All those black double stripes all over the page! That middle page looks and is tough! Those sextuplets that are not strict major or minor chords going up and down, up and down... That was tough to learn back when and it looked tough seeing that none of these sextuplets were simple chords. I remember first seeing it and thinking, "Why would anyone put these notes together this way?" I know the answer is because it sounds great but it really didn't make sense to this clarinetist back then.
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Author: Phur
Date: 2003-10-17 11:48
I think the piece is difficult to play smoothly. In Australia the piece is on the seventh grade exam list. I have yet to have a student perform it as they all nearly faint when they see the cadenza (other pieces onthe sam list are less technically taxing also).
Start the cadenza slow-get past the difficult bit, hopefully without too much loss of face, then fly.
As to recordings Michael Collins has done it on a CD called "virtuossi", with several other recital items.
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Author: Wayne Thompson
Date: 2003-10-18 08:00
I dropped in on a Ricardo Morales master class at Cal State Fullerton last Spring, and a student, and then Ricardo, played this piece. I had never heard it, but liked it very much. I enjoyed hearing it twice to become more familiar with it. I was particularly struck by Ricardo's playing of the Andante pp arpeggios. These are the ones Tim refers to. His playing was so wonderful. So soft against the piano and so effortless. I have a copy now and play these arpeggios for practice. They would be very difficult to make sound effortless.
Wayne Thompson
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Author: OboeAtHeart
Date: 2003-10-18 17:08
That's such an evil solo. Good luck.
-Jenne.
*~"The clarinet, though appropriate to the expression of the most poetic ideas and sentiments, is really an epic instrument- the voice of heroic love."~*
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Author: ken
Date: 2003-10-18 18:52
As a long term project most definitely play it to death, but if programmed for performance I insist all my students learn the cadenza FIRST and get that down cold before investing anymore time in the piece. If one doesn't yet have the technique to negotiate the cadenza interpretively, smoothly and convincingly the piece is NOT performance ready ... period, and a waste of time working the rest of it up. v/r Ken
Post Edited (2003-10-18 18:53)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-10-18 23:16
I agree with Ken's thinking about the cadenza being a gauge for the readiness of the piece. When considering this solo for a student, I will have the student spend lesson time with only the cadenza before deciding whether the solo is suitable for them. The student must grow into the cadenza and needs time to absorb it. However, any weakness of fundamental technique is easily exposed in the running figures.
A question often arises about the final note in measure 16, as to whether it is a D natural or D#. In this particular piece, the accidentals from one octave do not carry over (in the same measure) when the note is an octave higher. The D natural in that measure is also supported by the fact that the piano accompaniment moves from C# to C natural in the bass.
Messager was a student of Saint-Saens, and good friends with Debussy. Keep those influences in mind when preparing the solo...GBK
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