 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Rivers
Date: 2004-10-09 12:12
Having returned to playing the clarinet after a 38 year hiatus...I am slowly learning some of the repertoire...In the process I have just recently discovered Crusell.
His three Concertos for Clarinet are just wonderful. I think my favorite is Concerto no. 2 (Op. 5). I have also been playing some of his duets from an edition edited by David Hite. They are very musical and delightful to play. From what I have read, Crusell was a clarinet virtuoso born in Finland (1775) and went on to play in the royal orchestra of Sweden.
His concertos rank right up there with Mozart's K622 and von Weber's works for clarinet......IMHO
I know I am probably "preaching to the choir".....I just wanted to share my discovery with anyone who has not already made the same one.
Rivers
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2004-10-09 19:04
He also wrote some very nice clarinet quartets that are wonderful. I agree that he is a good composer. After initially discovering the concertos, I was like "how could these works not be more well known!!". For whatever reason, many great pieces remain relatively unknown. I think that at many colleges, only the "main pieces" are taught. You could argue that it is important to only teach the "main pieces" (I don't agree with this, however), but the amount that pieces are performed and taught kind of defines their status as "main pieces in the rep", so it goes both ways. Many great pieces remain in obscurity and we are less like to hear or play them because they aren't "staples", but we are in control (by our playing/listening habits) of which pieces are "staples"... I guess instead of lamenting it, we should just widening the scope of our listening/playing and redefine what "the staples" are...
DH
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Author: Clarinetist
Date: 2004-10-09 20:00
Crusell´s works are well-known at least here in Finland (That could have something to do with the fact that he was a Finn himself). They belong to the standard repertoire so many student will play at least some of his 3 clarinet concertos while working through his/her´s music degree in college. We even got Crusell-weeks every summer, where people are playing his music and there is even a competition arranged for some woodwinds.
I was just a couple of days ago listening a clarinet quartet playing Crusell´s clarinet quartet n. 1 in E-flat major. His chamber music is pretty popular in here.
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