 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: NBeaty
Date: 2009-01-31 02:02
Hey guys,
I was just wondering what you thought of this as a program for a master's recital:
Mucynsky- Time Pieces
Brahms Second Sonata
Intermission
(possibly) Dancing Solo- Mvt. 4
Copland Concerto
Besides, who doesn't want to end a recital with gliss to a D? =)
Thanks for your input,
Nathan
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Author: lowclarinetman
Date: 2009-01-31 16:26
It seems like a fine recital. I might suggest to end the first half with the time pieces, since the ending is a bit bigger and more technically demanding. Might be hard to refocus mentally and find the right sentiment on the start of the Brahms after the Time Pieces.
Did you consider Gra by Elliot Carter instead of Dancing solo? Just from my personal standpoint I do no like to do bits and pieces of works and feel it is better to do an entire short piece than part of a longer work. I am not familiar with how common it is to break the Larson. The few times I have heard it live, it has always been performed with all mvts.
Something else to consider is that this is a VERY long recital. The Muczynsky, Copland and Brahms are aprox. 1 hr without intermission or time to breath between mvts let alone pieces. Add a solo piece of under 5 min and an intermission, this will probably be an hour and a half event.
Good luck with your recital.
Bob Hoit
Associate Professor of Clarinet Escuela Superior de Musica y Danza
Co-principal clarinet OSUANL
Monterrey,MX
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Author: NBeaty
Date: 2009-01-31 16:52
I played the GRA at my last recital as well as for auditions for grad school, great piece! The last mvt. of the dancing solo is done sometimes as a fun "filler" as well as being a crowd pleaser.
I'm trying to keep the recital at less than 1.5 hours (with a 20 minute intermission). For my program there is a solo recital the first year and an orchestral excerpt exam the second year (of most any excerpt you can think of!). So I wanted to do something significant where I could hopefully get some good live recordings of standard pieces.
Thanks for your input!
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Author: MBrad
Date: 2009-01-31 18:55
It could be an interesting program--why did you choose these pieces in particular? I would also recommend starting with the Brahms as well... and you might want to think about using the Larson as an encore rather than opening the second half.
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Author: Danny Boy
Date: 2009-01-31 22:28
I've said this before on this board and I'll say it again - with all the fantastic music we have available for our instrument, why would you play a concerto in a recital? I assume that means you'll be playing with the reduction for piano (I know the reduction is by the composer but still...)
Perhaps this is required by the institution offering the degree - if so, fair enough - but I see many programmes posted here that contain concertos and it leaves me totally baffled.
Maybe it's a UK thing, but for me - concertos are for orchestral concerts and recital programmes don't contain them.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2009-02-01 20:17
Do you mean 1:30 including the intermission, or 1:50?
Sounds like an exhausting concert, with repertoire that both is long and can feel long. In any case, I'd put the Brahms first on any concert that I had the strange notion to program it on... while the audience is still fresh. Whatever's right after it should be perky, wake them up a bit.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: mrn
Date: 2009-02-01 20:49
Danny Boy wrote:
<<Perhaps this is required by the institution offering the degree - if so, fair enough - but I see many programmes posted here that contain concertos and it leaves me totally baffled.>>
I was wondering if maybe it had something to do with the difficulty level of the piece. Do you have any recommendations for clarinet/piano duos/sonatas of comparable difficulty level to the Copland Concerto?
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2009-02-01 21:22
mrn wrote:
>> Do you have any recommendations for clarinet/piano duos/sonatas of comparable difficulty level to the Copland Concerto?<<
Comparable difficulty? Sure. Maybe not many "this is like the Copland Concerto" pieces. But that's a funky standard to put yourself to. Most sonatas tend not to be written like concertos, and most anything I would put in as a "Copland substitute" would be shorter... perhaps two pieces in its place. Or I'd substitute another concerto, which would defeat the purpose.
If concertos were out, I might cut the dancing solo and put two small-medium pieces on the second half... looking at my library (please note, all but two of these are from my never-played-it-but-looks-cool section), I might pick the Szalowski Sonatina, McAllister's Bling Bling, Bremer Sonata, Clare Fischer Sonatine, Milhaud Sonatine, S. Slonimsky Monologue and Toccata, Yehudi Wyner Commedia. Or perhaps the Bernstein.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Danny Boy
Date: 2009-02-01 21:37
mrn - indeed, let me put my thinking cap on for a moment and try to be helpful, I didn't mean for my last post to come across is somewhat sallow and reading it back it does...apologies Nathan.
I'm not sure it's case of substituting the Copland, more complimenting and contrasting the Brahms and other pieces. Like Alex I think I'd use a couple of pieces to take the place of the Copland. It already seems massively long to me, my own Masters and equivalent level recitals were all no longer than an hour, and the Brahms is already a big chunk by itself.
The first thing that came to mind to be 'Copland-like' was the Horovitz Sonatina, but it's let down by it's first movement in my opinion and is half the length. There are the pyrotechnics of the Francaix Theme and Variations, or something deceptively difficult like the Howells Sonata. I just think that with these plus Debussy, Schumann, Brahms etc etc etc all potentially on the menu I don't think I could even consider putting the Copland on a recital programme.
If you want to demonstrate sheer difficulty and facility on the instrument, then I'd choose something like the Berio Sequenza (actually, I did for my Masters final, but on bass).
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Author: NBeaty
Date: 2009-02-01 21:45
Danny,
I agree with you that concertos are meant for orchestral performances. Who gets to play solos with orchestras though? I only know a few people my age who have done that. Nonetheless, the repertoire needs to be known and worked up, so that's why I have no personal objection to putting it on a solo recital.
Don't worry about your first post, I didn't take offense.
Dain, send me a recording of your recital (which should be soon, eh?). The DDS told me you were taking my place as equipment and ebay guy in the studio, good luck! haha.
I might not be able to do the Copland after all due to accompanist being too busy, but we'll see.
Thanks for your input
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