 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Keil
Date: 2000-02-01 17:30
I'm considering doing this piece for solo ensemble but i find it to be mostly technique rather than musicality. The only parts that do offer me a place to be extremely musical is the Intro. and the middle part. DOes anyone have any suggestions on a good piece of clarinet literature that would not only allow me to show of technique but also musicality, tone, and overall beauty within the clarinet. Don't get me wrong, the Rossini is beautiful but its not what i'm looking for. If it helps, i will tell you that i do enjoy the Spohr Clarinet Concerto #2 Opus.57 (i think that's the number).
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Author: steve
Date: 2000-02-01 18:29
ahhh...Rossini....lots of tech stuff, but not as heartless as Paganini, imho....
You might check out the collection of French conservatory exam solos published on southern..von Weber concertos both have nice 1st movements that blend pyrotechnics and soul....vonWeber Concertino, ditto...debussy 1re rhapsodie is a real challenge both musically and technically...if you want to freak out your adjudicators, you could do Stravinsky 3 pieces...
good luck, s.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2000-02-01 18:39
Keil wrote:
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I'm considering doing this piece for solo ensemble but i find it to be mostly technique rather than musicality. The only parts that do offer me a place to be extremely musical is the Intro. and the middle part. DOes anyone have any suggestions on a good piece of clarinet literature that would not only allow me to show of technique but also musicality, tone, and overall beauty within the clarinet. Don't get me wrong, the Rossini is beautiful but its not what i'm looking for. If it helps, i will tell you that i do enjoy the Spohr Clarinet Concerto #2 Opus.57 (i think that's the number).
Keil -
Read my essay on the Weber Concertino, <A HREF=http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?id=14529>http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?id=14529<A>
Like Weber (more so, actually), Rossini was a composer of operas. If you play the I,T&V operatically, I can guarantee you will find ample opportunity to display your musicality as well as your technique, and nobody will be bored.
Listen to The Barber of Seville (there's a great recording on Naxos), and then to Toscanini's recordings of Rossini overtures. Find out how Rossini's phrases work and where he wants you to play "operatically."
As in the Concertino, you must keep yourself and your audience vividly aware of the theme, singing along through each variation, with the decorations draped over like a swirling silk scarf.
As in the Concertino, you must make yourself and your audience vividly aware of the constantly changing character and emotions. That silk scarf becomes a matador's cape, a tear running down your cheek, a tightrope walker's tiny umbrella and a cracking bullwhip driving everything to the end.
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But Spohr is fine, too. Concerto #2, at least in the first movement, is packed with difficult licks, which for me get in the way of showing musicality. I think #3 is the best balance, with beautiful themes and lots of opportunities to sing them out. For even more singing space, and a bit less difficulty, try #1.
Before you perform the Spohr concertos, listen to the John Denman recordings, which I think have the ideal balance of beauty and technical display. Also get Gervase de Peyer's amazing early recording of Spohr #1 and Weber #2.
The Weber concertos have even more beautiful music than the Spohrs. Any particular reason to reject them?
Finally, the greatest music is often not difficult technically. Any decent high school player can play the notes of the Mozart concerto, but even the finest players often fall short of doing justice to the greatness of the music.
If you want to show your musicality, tone, and overall beauty within the clarinet, then choose music that gives you the best opportunity to display them. Go to the great composers. Play the Schumann Fantasy Pieces. Play the clarinet transcription of the Schubert Arpeggione Sonata. Play the Debussy Premier Rapsodie. And, sing first, last and always. Virtuosity is great, but song is greater.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-02-01 22:21
I heard it on NPR today, Kovac [?] with a small orch [I think], didnt know of it [not listed by Brymer!], beautiful first mv, upper clarion and lower altissimo, minor as I recall, more tech 2nd. Having turned rehersal piano pages for Elixer of Love [daughter-in-law sang in it!], I found some melodic similarities. A good day, I learned something new! Don
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Author: Kim
Date: 2000-02-02 01:38
I like Weber and Mozart. Depending on your ability, Poulenc and Debussy are great. I think that the Spohr is good too. Go with what you think is best for you.
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Author: Graham Elliott
Date: 2000-02-02 08:26
Try the Weber Sylvana Variations. Superficially like the Rossini but much more effective I think.
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Author: Cyril
Date: 2000-02-02 08:58
Rossini is a wonderful piece. I know on the page its all technical..but the challenge is for you to breathe life into it.
It is an extremely operatic piece .... and use your imagination. So much charm and character in the piece. Even the most simple run/scale or note can have so much life.
I would reconsider doing Rossini again...I have played it many times and it never fails to impress me. Each time..I discover something new.
Good luck.
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Author: Tim2
Date: 2000-02-03 00:09
I agree with Cyril. Reconsider the Rossini. It is operatic. Imagine yourself the colouratura (sp) soprano, showing off your beautiful voice. All sorts of mood here. It's sort of a comedy, I think.
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Author: tree
Date: 2000-02-03 04:18
The debussy rhapsody is a great technical and musical piece.
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Author: Tom Quick
Date: 2000-02-05 07:00
Why not Benny Goodman's "AC/DC Current"? The adjudicator might leave the imprint of his shoe on your backside...but I heard Stoltzman play "Goodbye" last year as an encore to the Copland Concerto and it blew me away.........
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Author: jim
Date: 2000-02-05 07:49
Please don't let anybody tell you that the Mozart is not a technical piece- sure, they all say Mozart is such a hard piece to perfect musically, despite it's lack of technical demands, but I will say that the Mozart is just as technically demanding, if not more so, as anything else out there, simply because everything is so exposed. A lot of the Rossini- like the second variation or the last one- happens so fast you can get by with a little glitch here and there (not that I'm advocating sloppy playing), but even amongst the pros you will find few people who nail the Bb7 arpeggio in the first movement perfectly- and even the slightest glitch stands out immediately. You can't get away with anything in the Mozart without it being noticed- and then there's still the musicality stuff that everyone talks about. Add all that up, and that's one demanding piece of music, not to mention the whole thing runs around half an hour. Yes, it's not the most grateful piece in the world in that the better you play it, the easier it sounds to the casual listener, but if you can pull it off I think it's one of those universal pieces that will relate to any audience.
Having said that, I think rejecting the Rossini on the grounds that it isn't musical should require a little reconsideration- I don't think there's any music that's not "musical". The musicality of a piece comes from the performer. If a piece doesn't strike you as very heartfelt and emotional from the beginning, to me that just makes it a greater challenge to bring it off as a living work of art. The common perception is that it's the slow movements where lyricism and expression dominate, while fast movements demand technical precision, but even the most frilly of technical passages (and the ROssini contains a good deal of them) can be as expressive and communicative as you would like, depending on the effort you put into doing just that.
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