The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: diz
Date: 2002-03-11 02:14
Hi - I've just been listening to a CD which contains a couple of marches for military band, composed by Beethoven for some prince of the time - can't remember which. The pieces are totally forgettable EXCEPT that the first clarinet plays in an extraordinarly high part of its range - if you're interested its a Naxos CD called Battle Music catologue 8.550230. The two marches are quite short roughly 1.5 minutes each - but worth a listen!
Having played in military bands - it's interesting to see how far they've come from Beethovens day - a very small ensemble by the sounds of it.
Disclaimer - diz takes no financial "kick backs" from Naxos - he just likes SOME of their CDs.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-03-11 04:54
diz...These were the marches that Beethoven wrote for military wind band in 1809/1810. I think that there were actually 6 of them, WoO 18 - WoO 24.
The scoring called for 3 clarinets: 1 - Eb, and 2 - Bb (possibly C?).
They original purpose of the marches was for the Bohemain army to use for their evening retreat to quarters (or tatoo).
They give us a nice glimpse into the usefullness of music in the early 19th century...GBK
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Author: LynnB
Date: 2002-03-11 19:54
Diz - Beethoven is famous for writing in the high range of instruments and voices. Back when I was in an Opera orchestra, I suggested performing Fidelio. You should have heard the singers! They said they didn't want to squeek out high notes for 2 hours.
I also played Beethoven duets for Bassoon and Clarinet. Stays up there in the stratisphere much of the time - too tiring! But would sound great if I could pull it off :-D
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