 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: rbell96
Date: 2003-09-09 17:58
Hi,
I am going on a course in which I get to work with a pro string quartet for three days. The instructors are David Campbell and Victoria Soames-Samek.
I have to choose 2-3 works to spend my time on over the course and was wondering what people would chose.
My options are:
Mozart: Quintet
Brahms: Quintet
Weber: Quintet
Bliss: Quintet
Finzi: Five Bagatelles (clari. quintet arrangment).
Thanks in advance.
Rob
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2003-09-09 18:35
I absolutely love the Weber Quintet. Especially the last movement (which you can really sizzle and has a spectacular ending!). My vote goes for that.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2003-09-09 19:33
Rob -
If you haven't performed the Mozart, that's where you have to start. There's years of work to do on it, and the ensemble is straightforward enough to let you get quickly to the musical values. Not to mention that it's the greatest music ever written for clarinet.
If you're an advanced player and are *really* secure rhythmically, you could do the Brahms, but the ensemble is tricky, and you're likely to spend half the time keeping things together.
In matters of ensemble, the Weber is easy, but it's practically a clarinet concerto, with, in most places, almost nothing for the quartet to do. Even though, as Alexi says, it's great fun, you waste the value of a professional quartet unless you get to work hand-in-hand with them.
The Bliss is a great piece. Try to get the reissue of the Thurston recording to learn how it goes. There's much handing off of lines between you and the string players, and you need to be familiar with the English style of phrasing and tone production.
I'd avoid the Finzi. It's lovely, but there's not enough meat in it compared to Mozart and Brahms, and it is, after all, an arrangement and thus doesn't have the composer's genius in weaving the parts together that you get in the Mozart and Brahms.
Another possibility is the Reger, but both you and the quartet have to have it down cold, since there's a constant kaleidoscopic shifting of the lead among the five voices.
Needless to say, you have to go in with the notes down cold.
This will be tremendous fun. I've met never David Campbell or Victoria Soames-Samek, but they're great players and will be able to tell you things you never thought of about whatever you choose.
Please give us a report after it's over.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: rbell96
Date: 2003-09-09 20:04
Yeah I will give a report. Its not till next april Ken, do you think I have time to get the pieces up to standard?
Thanks,
Rob
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Author: jules
Date: 2003-09-09 20:40
Knowing both of the tutors quite well, it should be great fun.
I would definately try and do the Mozart and probably also the Brahms (although ensemble is quite a tricky aspect to parts of this). The Brahms is a great piece and is probably my favourite clarinet quintet piece.
Enjoy the course
Juliet
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2003-09-09 21:21
Rob -
You need to practice hard to make sure you know thoroughly whatever you play. It's a matter of basic respect for the teachers, the quartet, your fellow students and, of course, yourself.
This of course means having the notes down pat and the dificult passages smoothed out, bit there's much more. It also means getting a complete score and listening to recordings, following just one line (the cello line is a good place to start), to hear how everthing works together. In pieces as good and complex as the Mozart and the Brahms Quintets, there is constant echoing of musical motives in each line, and the performance as a whole emerges out of all the lines working with each other.
Of course, as Artur Schnabel said, great music is better than any particular performance can ever be. You work as hard as you can and be prepared to go further.
From now to April is plenty of time to prepare up to your best level. Ideally, you go to a workshop to give your best, and then be challenged and stretched to do better. This can be stressful, but you'll end up a better player, and the harder you have worked in preparation, the more you'll be able to learn.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Axel
Date: 2003-09-09 21:35
Mozart, Brahms and Weber are - of course - great. But, as a not so well-known piece, I could also recommend op. 102 by Robert Fuchs (1847-1927), who was highly estimated by Brahms.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2003-09-09 23:53
I also agree the Mozart would be the best choice
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Author: diz
Date: 2003-09-10 04:02
You better be sure your first violinist is a top-notch virtuoso if you're playing the Mozart - the last movement's very, very difficult.
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Author: rbell96
Date: 2003-09-10 07:38
Diz
The string quartet is the Bingham String Quartet. They really are a magnificent quartet.
Rob
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Author: graham
Date: 2003-09-12 08:08
The Finzi is a particular speciality of Campbell, but I don't think it is much of a piece. The Bliss is a big technical challenge. If you have only so much time to prepare and do not already know it then you will need to be sure of your technical abilities to make that worth choosing. To a slightly lesser extent ditto the Gordon Jacob, but it should be done more than it is. I think the Reger has a lot to be said for it. Consider the Somervell and the Coleridge Taylor as well. Both have a very pleasant English feel and are not too technical; a good chance to practice your musicality. A tricky one to put together and a delight is the Howells Rhapsodic Quintet, again, one that is firmly in the Campbell repertoire. For relaxation and fun search out the two movement Stanford piece.
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