 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: kjs
Date: 2005-10-26 23:03
I am a member of a group that is a woodwind quintet minus one oboe player; clarinet, flute, bassoon and french horn. It appears there is not much literature written for this 'odd' combination. We have pieces by Shaffner, Gambaro, Stamitz, Bach, Rossini. We were able to modify a few Joplin quintet pieces and got a few fun Beatles and blues and soul arrangements. Our french horn player got hold of some books from Music as a Last Resort written in keys of Bb, C and F. Is that all there is?
We have a copy of a piece called 'Four Modes for Winds' by Robert R. Fink which we all love, but, is out of print. Has anyone ever heard of this composer? The piece was written in the 60's and published by Summy Brichard (all of this is from my not always reliable memory)...
What is the fate of our ensemble? Should the french horn player and I start working on C transpositions of string quartets, or, should I read A and Bb and have our horn player start thinking he is an oboe?
Is there a definitive list of all chamber pieces ever written? We'd welcome your input......
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-10-26 23:27
Is it possible to find another instrument with the approximate range of an oboe? While substituting something else for an oboe wouldn't be what the composer had in mind, for the sake of reportoire (is this just for fun, or are you trying to cut records?) it might be an option.
Maybe it'll be tougher to blend or get certain tonalities in the music through, but when you think about it, anytime you play a piece, you're taking the composer's thoughts and playing your interpretation of them. You can view the substitution as another "interpretation" of the music. Think of it as a "transcription" instead of substitution if that helps.
Hell, if you feel up to it and have a little music theory background, you might want to go through some pieces and try to almost rewrite, or divide up the melody and harmony in such a way to make that oboe part seem as though it was never needed. Maybe not a solution for "right now", but might make a fun project nonetheless.
Another thing you can do is look for other quartets (not necessarily made for the instruments you have, or strings) and use other quartets with substitutions. Maybe a quartet for clarinet, bassoon, oboe and french horn (with flute playing oboe), or some other variation. Let your imagination run wild with this.
Granted, it's probably fun as anything to perform an authentic wind quintet (never had the opportunity myself), but IMO just for the sake of having fun and making some music, doesn't mean you have to have the "correct" instrumentation for whatever piece you're playing.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2005-10-27 03:03
Well, the plus with doing string quartets with this orchestration is that you wouldn't have to play the viola part! 
My trio (vln clar accordion) has been reading some string quartet arrangements of the "typical" American wedding repertoire, and while I acknowledge that they're not your typical string quartet viola parts, they ARE boring!
Katrina
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2005-10-27 16:30
The leader of our WW5 has a remarkable collection of music --he tries to have copies of EVERYTHING.
When one of our members is absent from rehearsal, he always has a few charts written for the reduced group. In fact, tonight our oboe player will be off in the hinterlands. We'll be playing stuff that fits your normal complement of musicians.
I'll take notes of the stuff in the folder and post a copy tomorrow.
Bob Phillips
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Author: BassetHorn
Date: 2005-10-27 17:18
What about finding a soprano sax in C to play the oboe part? Stay in the reed family and also conical shape. Or what about a treble/soprano or tenor recorder? They are also both in C and stay within the “woodwind” family. Or, find a C clarinet…..
My pick would be going for C soprano sax. Rare to find though.
All this would be a lot of fun and definitely doable if you are not old school in following strictly the instruments.
Willy
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Author: crnichols
Date: 2005-10-27 17:42
In military bands, it is common to use another flute when lacking an oboe.
Christopher Nichols
1st Infantry Division Band
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2005-10-28 16:45
kjs,
I'm dissapointed to report only one WW4 for clarinet, bassoon, horn and flute. I guess that we spent so much time with this one that I didn't notice that it was the only one we have.
It is
Sech Quartette (Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon, Flute)
by Cioacchino Rossini
the publisher is B. Schotts Sonne, Mainz, Germany
ZU Edition schott 3164
It brandishes the flute on some tough riffs and has some challenging segments for everyone. I think its well worth running down.
Bob Phillips
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Author: Wes
Date: 2005-10-30 05:01
Maybe you could encourage a clarinet player to buy an E11 Buffet C clarinet, not so expensive, get it properly adjusted and have them play the oboe part in quintets. As an oboe/clarinet player, I feel this would probably be quite good. Even a violinist would be fine in this role.
Transcription of string pieces is generally not great for woodwinds because of the string figures. There is just a lot of sawing with the bow and woodwinds find that tiresome and hard.
I have a large collection of flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon quartets and have played them in many concerts. As a generality, the quintet literature is a little better than the quartet literature and more listenable, although the quartets are quite good. There is, as you know, little for your combination. Transcription of the above-mentioned quartets to have a horn play the oboe parts would mostly not be appropriate because of the difficulty of the oboe parts.
If you lived in Redond Beach, I would volunteer! Good luck!
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Author: kjs
Date: 2005-11-02 22:15
Alexi,
If the opportunity arises to play with a ww quintet---go for it. It's great and the literature is wonderful.
Our group rehearses and performs for fun---payment is however a nice incentive.
We did precisely what you suggested in your 3rd paragraph with the Joplin quintet arrangement we had and it came out fine. Thanks
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Author: kjs
Date: 2005-11-02 22:20
Katrina,
Just performed a symphony arrangement with accordion from the 'Louisiana Story'----the movement was called 'The Squeeze Box'. It was a great piece and quite a hit with the audience.
What an interesting trio you play with. Thanks for the warning about the 'string' part.
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Author: kjs
Date: 2005-11-03 00:19
Thank you all for your ideas.
Bob, We too have the Rossini. We enjoy the 4th movement of the Sechs Quartette.
Mark, I checked the Clarinet Composition Database and was pleasantly surprised to find some ideas from the flute, clarinet, bassoon, 'horn'(Bb trumpet) listing. Would you like a comparable list of the pieces we have for flute, clarinet, bassoon, french horn? There is some replication.
While browsing through this database it dawned on me that perhaps we could recruit a violinist for the oboe chair. My quartet mates thought this was a curious but interesting idea.
Wes, if you move or pass through coastal northern California let me know; we'll set up a chair, stand and music for you. I go online once a week on public access computers.
I'm sad no one has a lead on Robert R. Fink. His "Four Modes" is a GOOD work. What is the fate of out of print compositions----obscurity to extinction? To 'save a piece, such as this one, is there somewhere/someone I should notify?
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Author: Richard Salzman
Date: 2005-11-03 00:24
If you don't mind writing out transposed parts [a music software program is good for this] why not try arranging Bach chorales. I have in the past made arrangements of Mozart piano and piano violin sonatas for trio which were very effective.A fourth voice could easily be added in keyboard parts with more complex voicing as for example a Bach fugue.
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