 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Mary Jo
Date: 2006-01-13 13:29
I'm curious what clarinets, besides the soprano, can be used primarily as solo instruments. Yes, this information might be used in the future to add to my collection of clarinets, all soprano so far.
Thank you for providing this information.
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Author: BassetHorn
Date: 2006-01-13 13:34
From Eb sopraninno down to Bb contrabass, anything your heart desires.
But more commonly, A, Bb, C soprano, basset horn, and bass clarinet.
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2006-01-13 13:39
I don't understand your question.
Any instrument can be used primarily as a solo instrument. If I desired to play extended solos on a bass drum or a contrabass sarrusophone, no doubt I could do so.
But if you really mean which clarinets are used primarily as solo instruments in the real world of music performance, then I'd say "none of them". Well, apart from those individual instruments owned by famous soloists. Listen to any orchestral piece; what proportion of its duration has a prominent solo clarinet part? Very little, compared to the length of time the player is part of the tutti sound. There are only two instruments used primarily to play solos, and they are the piano and the organ.
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If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.
To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2006-01-13 16:29
I've heard there are even such things as ALTO clarinet solos. Actually, the alto sounds quite nice. Much prettier than an alto sax. IMHO
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Author: GBK
Date: 2006-01-13 16:58
Brenda Siewert wrote:
> Actually, the alto sounds quite nice. Much prettier than an
> alto sax. IMHO
I'll consider that the next time I play "I've Got It Bad and that Ain't Good" or "Harlem Nocturne" with my big band.
Not....
...GBK
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2006-01-13 17:22
While any clarinet may be used as a solo instrument, in terms of professional (published) recital/concert quality literature, the bass clarinet leads the pack by a wide margin. I think the bassett horn, would be a distant second with a relatively few notable works from the classical period and a very few modern works. Next in line is, I think, the Eb which has a very few relatively recent works (Garlick, Blackwood and Bolcom come to mind).
The others really haven't received much notice. I have one piece for alto clarinet that a composer generously sent me some time ago. I don't think it has ever been published, though. I have heard of a couple of modern works for contrabass, again probably unpublished. Among early composers for clarinet, Molter wrote his concertos for D clarinet and, at least one of the Vanhal sonatas was written for C clarinet.
If you go to a site such as Luyben's and look at their sections on music for harmony clarinets, you will actually find a number of solos listed. Most of these, however, are transcriptions of works written for other clarinets or other instruments, their primary pupose appears to be to provide literature for state high school festivals/competitions, and IMNSHO, most aren't worth troubling with.
As far as important/exposed parts in concert works for orchestra and band are concerned, I still think the bass clarinet leads by a wide margin, followed by Eb and C (though the last is considered by most to be a member of the "soprano" family with the Bb and A).
Outside the scope of classical music, the bass clarinet frequently turns up in jazz and Klezmer music. The C clarinet is also used in Klezmer and some traditional jazz, and Joe Lovano has achieved some notoriety as a jazz alto clarinet player.
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2006-01-13 17:33
The great clarinet and bass clarinet player Evan Ziporyn has a solo CD. Also I have bass clarinet solos on CDs by Eric Dolphy and Louis Sclavis (one of the most amazing bass clarinet solos I've heard).
At the world bass clarinet convention I've heard a lot of written solos for bass clarinet, some good, some not so much.Two of the very nice pieces I remember are Press Release and Why Not.
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Author: BassetHorn
Date: 2006-01-13 17:59
There are contemporary composers who wrote and some published music for contrabass clarinet. Check out this website: http://www.contrabassclarinet.org/. I suppose one can actually build a career as a contrabass clarinettist (a la Susan Nigro with the contrabassoon) by playing exclusively on these original pieces and commissioning more. Challenging but doable.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2006-01-13 18:18
Well, GBK, you can play it, but we don't have to listen. However, my comment was an attempt to be kind to the alto clarinet players on the bboard, since this isn't strictly a sax board.
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2006-01-13 20:14
But, if you are kind to them, then they will take heart and assume that the alto clarinet should occupy a higher position in life than it does. Far better not to give them any false hopes...
And, as in all cases, beauty is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. While I'd not use an alto horn for anything but land fill, there are those that appreciate its "unique" character. Isn't that why we have so many record albums of alto clarinet soloists plying their trade? Oh, wait a minute...there are but one or two such records in existence...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2006-01-13 20:19
Terry and Brenda,
If you want to talk about ugly sounds: Last night I played EEb contra-alto in a community band; some of the available parts were for alto clarinet -- so there I was, trying to play alto clarinet parts on the contra, an octave higher than written --- man, was it awful! I was arrested upon leaving the bandroom, charged with 1st-degree aural murder. I'm writing this email from my jail cell.
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2006-01-13 20:25
Well, you know, GBK is correct about the use of the sax on the tunes he mentioned, and I've even heard some sax players who sounded quite nice. We have one in our community band that has the smoothest sound. So, it's possible.
But, don't be too hard on alto clarinet players. They're nice on some concert numbers--not jazz, of course.
David, I really will just have to send you my best in your new location. Don't get around to visit many people in jail these days. Too confining. I'd be happy to be a character witness. I can testify that you're quite a character.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2006-01-13 20:40
Uh, er, thanks, Brenda! One thing you could do for me to ease my stay in the pokey --- send me some Paul Desmond records, if you can --- he was an alto clarinetist, wasn't he? Sounded pretty good in his day.......
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2006-01-14 07:25
"But, don't be too hard on alto clarinet players. They're nice on some concert numbers--not jazz, of course."
Why of course? What is the problem with playing alto clarinet jazz?
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2006-01-14 19:17
GBK mentioned that an alto clarinet doesn't work well on "I've Got It Bad and that Ain't Good" or "Harlem Nocturne." Those numbers probably do sound better on a sax. So, I'll extend to jazz although it might be possible.
David, Sorry, fresh out of those.
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Author: joannew
Date: 2006-01-15 17:33
> ...there are but one or two such records in existence...
alto clarinets on record, really? Do you have more details??
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Author: Igloo Bob
Date: 2006-01-15 21:35
Quote:
Two of the very nice pieces I remember are Press Release and Why Not.
Isn't "Why Not" a standard latin jazz tune? I have at least one recording of it sitting around somewhere, with Paquito playing alto sax on it.
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2006-01-16 05:37
Joe Lovano plays alto clarinet on "Flights of Fancy" and "Saxophone Summit."
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2006-01-16 05:39
Igloo Bob, it probably is, but that is such a regular name that I'm sure there are at least a few songs by that name.
The 'Why Not' I meant is a piece written by Christopher Hobbs for English bass clarinetist Ian Mitchel, and here is the story behind it. Ian Mitchel, if I remember correct, is a teacher of bass clarinet at a college in England. He was asked to do a master class for children about the bass clarinet. He asked Christopher Hobbs if he can compose a piece that shows a good example of what the bass clarinet can do, so he can play it for the kids, and Hobbs' reply was: "why not?"
Anyway, that also reminded me the old joke about names of jazz standards. If you haven't heard it before I can tell it.
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2006-01-16 09:02
Yup, anything can be played solo with the right person behind it. Just look what Evelyn Glennie's done with percussion, for example.
I played in a band with an alto clarinet once. It was lovely. I'm sure it was an ancient, ancient Leblanc which he claimed he 'found in the attic' one day. Crazy, but there you are.
Go on, clarnibass, what's the joke?
Brenda - the 'trouble' with sax is that too many bad saxophonists play solos. Clarinetists are more modest. Bad clarinetists move in packs and play out of tune with each other ;-D
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2006-01-16 12:26
I've got my nerd credential (I own my own alto clarinet, a Selmer), and a contra-alto, too (Bundy), but I have to admit that, if I played in public (I don't--terminal stage fright), those are the last two instruments I'd choose for jazz solos, unless I could make sure trumpet and saxophone players would stifle themselves every time I took a chorus. Either that or I'd want a mic and they don't get one. (Yeah, and I could wish in one hand and spit in the other and see which hand fills up first....)
I picked out my Selmer and Bundy because they're among the strongest, loudest alto clarinets I've ever heard. I set them up to enhance that strength by using saxophone reeds on both of them. Neither of them has the infamous muffled quality and they don't choke just above the break, the way some altos do. Still, I can't delude myself that these alto clarinets could compete against brasses and brassy reeds unless I used the contra case to bash the brassholes upside the head first.
Btw, Hamiett Bluiett is best known as a baritone sax player, but he also plays bass and contrabass clarinets on most of his albums. He's not to everyone's taste, since much of the time, he plays post-bop free jazz, and most of the rest of the time, he plays fusion that (deliberately) doesn't quite fuse, with African and Caribbean musicians, but he's one of the innovators and I like his music a lot.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
Post Edited (2006-01-16 13:04)
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2006-01-16 13:15
Very well said, Lelia L, I also have one of the best alto cls, a Selmer B series, and I have gotten compliments from sax and French horn players such as "I didn't know the AC could sound so good". This was in particular on our band's arr. of L'Arlesienne Suite # 2, that beautiful flute solo movement, where I had a fairly long unison duet with F H, and we worked on pitch/volume uniformity quite hard. There is a ?minor? conflagration going on now re: substituting ACs for Basset Horns on M's Partita et al, of possible interest to a few of us [DS, LL, DP, B, CB, GBK?] on the Yahoo "New Bass Cl" site entitled "NYC B H Player Sought", it makes interesting reading !! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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