 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Axel
Date: 2015-08-24 18:56
I found these transcriptions of string sonatas (Franck, Brahms and Schumann) at the website of Jeremy Eig and I am playing them with much pleasure:
http://www.jtownpublications.com/solos/
I also like the Gabucci transcriptions of Mozart violin sonatas and this transcription of the Glinka sonata for viola at Petrucci library:
http://imslp.org/wiki/Viola_Sonata_%28Glinka,_Mikhail%29
You can hear the Schumann violin sonata op. 105 at youtube with the slovenian clarinetist Dusan Sodja an form your own opinion, whether this transcription works with the clarinet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG0UQc6ZgLg
What do you think about such transcriptions of string sonatas? Do you know other sonatas, which fit for the clarinet?
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2015-08-24 20:39
Why not have transcriptions of string sonatas? String players have used pieces written for clarinet for a long time if it is something that works for their instrument.
As someone who spends lots of time doing transcriptions from one musical medium to another, the key words there are "something that works". The key to doing good transcriptions is to find music that transfers well from one instrument to another. I spend lots of time browsing IMSLP for such music. There have been plenty of times where I would find something I thought would be great, only to abandon the effort at some point....the most recent was a Rossini Quartet that just refused to work for a flute quartet while it was fine for a clarinet quartet.
Some violin pieces use too many idiomatic note combinations that are easy on a violin, but do not translate well to a wind instrument. For example, the big jumps up and down outlining a chord in a Bach string piece is something string players do "easily" by changing strings with the bow, but a clarinet has to manufacture the effect with fingers alone.
I have generally stayed away from sonatas as they tend to have the sort of problems I just noted. On the other hand, I have had some good results transcribing violin/cello/piano pieces as long as I follow my rule of what works and what does not work.
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2015-08-24 22:35
I'm not very familiar with this Schumann violin sonata, but it sounds great on the clarinet. The Franck sonata has been transcribed for a number of instruments, but I'm not sure why it isn't performed often on the clarinet. There are alto sax and flute versions, so why not a clarinet version?
There is a clarinet version of the Copland violin sonata, and it works very well.
Copland was pleased with it. There's also Vaughan Williams' Six Studies in English Folk Song, originally written for cello, but transcribed for clarinet and a number of other instruments.
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Author: nellsonic
Date: 2015-08-24 23:17
That Schumann works great, although being unfamiliar with the original possibly helps me to be impressed with it. Does anyone know if the arrangement is available?
The most intriguing setting of a string piece for clarinet I've heard recently is Michael Collins playing the Beethoven Violin Concerto, arranged by Mikhail Pletnev. To me, it's brilliant in some parts and nearly desperate in others. I do admire his skill and gumption, and it does make me wish Beethoven had written a clarinet concerto.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCECUjoMrcg
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Author: Axel
Date: 2015-08-27 00:54
"Nellsonic", you will find the Schumann arrangement (together with 5 further transpositions of romantic string sonatas for clarinet) at JTown Publication, arranged by Jeremy Eig:
http://www.jtownpublications.com/solos/
I think, Dusan Sodja plays indeed the Eig-Arrangement, because both differ in the same way from the original at the end of the first movement, by using instead of the "big jumps", John talked about, broken chords. But Sodja transposes few measures of the first movement one octave lower, while Eig takes the original altissimo register. I think, Sodja's solution is better for the character of the sonata.
Collins plays the Beethovern violin concerto really inredibly. I remember, he writes in the booklet of the CD, that he thinks after playing this arrangement several times, that it is too difficult and not idiomatic for the clarinet and he will play it nevermore.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2015-08-27 01:43
Schubert's Sonata for Arpeggione works beautifully on clarinet (and even better on bass clarinet). Simeon Bellison published an edition, still available from Carl Fischer, I think.
Fritz Kreisler wrote many encore pieces, which he published under the names of baroque era composers. Maybe half of them work for clarinet. Be sure to listen to Kreisler's inimitable recordings to learn the style.
Most string instrument sonatas (Beethoven, Brahms) can be adapted, at least in part, for clarinet. This also teaches you to play with the emotional impact of the great string players. Play, for example, the opening of the Brahms Violin Sonata #3 http://imslp.org/wiki/Violin_Sonata_No.3,_Op.108_%28Brahms,_Johannes%29. Then listen to the intensity of a great player and learn to match it. I suggest the recording by Paul Kochanski and Arthur Rubinstein https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4qctb40WpY.
Ken Shaw
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