 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2008-03-11 19:47
For a (fictional) scene set in 1916, I need advice on what orchestral piece would be extremely difficult for the first clarinet in a major, professional orchestra. Here's the tricky bit: For reasons that would take too long to explain here, this music written before 1916 has to be for Bb clarinet--originally scored for the Bb, not for clarinet in A but not old enough to have been written for basset clarinet.
A big, splashy, late 19th century piece would be perfect if it's got an exposed solo for Bb clarinet. I'd like something fiendish, the type of thing where, if there's anything wrong with the clarinet, the first chair player is in Godzilla-sized trouble. Thanks very much for any suggestions!
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
Post Edited (2008-03-11 19:49)
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Author: srattle
Date: 2008-03-11 20:05
Check out some shostakovich symphonies. There is some pretty mean stuff in there, well, at least it sounds mean. I don't know about Bb, but I'm sure there's got to be something.
Miraculous Mandarin has a great solo for Bb, and I promise you it's exposed. I don't know when it was written though. . .
It's not so hard, but Don Juan - Strauß has a beautiful Bb clarinet solo.
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2008-03-11 20:07
Debussy- Premiere Rhapsody (version for clarinet and orchestra)
Post Edited (2008-03-11 20:08)
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2008-03-11 20:23
Perhaps not the most technically difficult works in the literature but how about the opening to Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody? (familiar, flashy and exposed) or the third movement of Scheherezade? or something in a Strauss tone poem?
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2008-03-11 21:02
Rimski Korsakov (Scheherazade, Capriccio Espagnol)comes to mind, although some things may be in A.
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2008-03-11 21:11
The Debussy comes from 1909-1910, but of course it's not an orchestral part.
Miraculous Mandarin was written in 1918-19, so that doesn't count. Shostakovich was born in 1906, so his symphonies were written after 1916.
The Gypsy Baron Overture solo is short but infamous. Anthony Gigliotti said it was his toughest spot.
The cadenza in Tchaikovsky's Mozartiana is for C clarinet and usually is transposed on the A, on which it's merely difficult. On Bb, it's nearly impossible. Ralph McLane used it as his warmup lick.
Daphnis & Chloe, premiered in 1912, has plenty of hair-raising clarinet solos, which I assume are for Bb. The quiet noodling at the beginning is extremely difficult, and the solos alternating between Eb and Bb at the end of Suite #2 will scare anybody.
Ken Shaw
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Author: mrn
Date: 2008-03-11 23:22
The scherzo from Midsummer Night's Dream is scored for Bb. (or at least the usual orchestral excerpt commonly played for auditions is) It requires a very fast tongue.
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Author: mrn
Date: 2008-03-11 23:27
I just thought of something. Stravinsky's early ballets (Firebird, Petroushka, and Rite of Spring) were pre-1916.
Although I've never played it myself, the Rite of Spring would arguably be difficult for any musician, because it is so complex. Maybe somebody who has played clarinet on it can comment as to whether the clarinet part is really that difficult.
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2008-03-12 00:50
From what I remember (it's been nearly 20 years), the Bb parts in Rite are nothing like the Eb and bass parts.
Trust Ken.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-03-12 01:01
Daphnis and Capriccio Espagnol are on A clarinet and the clarinet part to the Firebird Suite is also on A. Petroushka is difficult but not that much and may have been written later. Nielsen 5th would fit the bill but I'm not sure the exact date it was written, you'll have to look it up. Otherwise I'd go with the Liszt 2nd or Midsummer Scherzo as recommended above. ESP
Www.peabody.jhu.edu/457
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Author: GBK
Date: 2008-03-12 02:44
Lelia Loban wrote:
> A big, splashy, late 19th century piece would be perfect
> if it's got an exposed solo for Bb clarinet. I'd like
> something fiendish, the type of thing where, if there's
> anything wrong with the clarinet, the first chair player
> is in Godzilla-sized trouble.
Le coq d'or (which is often played transposed on Bb clarinet)
...GBK
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2008-03-12 03:59
"this music written before 1916 has to be for Bb clarinet--originally scored for the Bb, not for clarinet in A"
Disqualifies L'Coq d'Or, I think. The cadenza for the first clarinet at the beginning of L' Coq d'Or is written originally for A clarinet. Oddly enough, the second clarinetist answers on the Bb. Even a substantial part of the bass clarinet part, if not most of it is written for A bass clarinet.
Nielsen's first three symphonies were written before 1916. The fourth dates from 1914-16. The fifth was written in 1921-22.
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: Tony Beck
Date: 2008-03-12 11:41
How about Borodin's Polovtsian Dances. Several good, and very exposed solos there.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2008-03-12 15:51
Thank you for the suggestions! With the possibilities narrowed down, I'll be able to go look up some of these scores and identify and describe the worst possible passage for the register key pad to start making its decrepitude obvious, in mid-concert on Friday evening. (The orchestra has to play the same concert twice more, on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.) I'm especially glad there are some possibilites among compositions with occult themes, since there's an ambiguous element of boogety-boogety in the story.
Thank you again!
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-03-12 18:10
Dare I ask who you're setting up for a big fall?
Though the Debussy 'Permiere Rhapsodie' has plenty of exposed throat Bbs in the beginning which will show up any tonal grief between it and the register change.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2008-03-12 18:18)
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2008-03-13 00:25
I would add the Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Ballet as a pretty rough go...I mean the whole ballet..it seems to be more like flute music..fast and faster.
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Author: davyd
Date: 2008-03-13 17:25
If the scene is fictional, why can't the piece in question be fictional too?
Or perhaps it could be a hypothetical piece, such as a hitherto-unknown Dvorak 10th or Brahms 5th that was subsequently suppressed.
Or perhaps it might be a real work, but in a rough draft form, with the difficult passage(s) in question assigned to (an) other instrument(s) prior to publication.
Or not.
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