 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: GBK
Date: 2009-09-07 21:13
The latest issue of BBC Music Magazine has an article discussing the orchestral solo passages which "have musicians waking up in a cold sweat" and the "tunes which terrify and scare the (most accomplished) players"
#3 on their list is the Rachmaninov Second Symphony - the 3rd movement clarinet solo.
They write: "...This solo lasting two and a half minutes, requires strength and stamina, and possibly the aid of an iron lung; yet it should sound effortless: a most beautiful musing wending its way as if it were being made up there and then..."
...GBK
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-09-07 21:21
I really don't think that a professional player considers the Rach.2 to be terrifying and I don't remember waking up in a cold sweat when I had the opportunity to play the first clarinet part. As far as having an iron lung, there are plenty places to take breaths though it is a long blow and needs to be done with some thought. The main thing I was concerned was having a great reed, as always. ESP
http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: davyd
Date: 2009-09-07 22:49
Bass clarinet part in "On the trail": got through it once; hopefully, never again.
Opening solo in "Rhapsody in blue": even people who don't know classical music know this solo.
Cat running up the tree in "Peter & the wolf": no place to hide.
Does chamber music count? If so, the last measures of "Shepherd on the rock". You're already presto and exhausted, and now this.
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Author: bcl1dso
Date: 2009-09-07 23:02
Definitely going to put the Ginastera as number one. Hands down.
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Author: Barry Vincent
Date: 2009-09-07 23:05
How about the Clarinet duet of Maurice Raval's Daphnis & Chloe. It's included as a sample exercise in Frederick Thurston's comprehensive Method. Fast and awsome.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2009-09-07 23:07
Down where I live, there are a lot of terrifying solo passages. ![[tongue]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie6.gif)
--
Ben
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Author: lrooff
Date: 2009-09-08 01:27
And for some of us, all solo passages are terrifying... :-) My worst one was being called in at the last minute to cover for an ill bassoonist, and discovering at the start of the performance that I had two solos in stuff I'd never seen before.
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Author: Dileep Gangolli
Date: 2009-09-08 01:44
Many a clarinetist has quaked at having to play.....
The triplet quarter-note written A's (ppp) in the slow movement of Beethoven 5th. Hard to do well.
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Author: David Niethamer
Date: 2009-09-08 02:18
Ginastera - hands down. I'm not scared of much (in the clarinet repertoire, anyway!), but that one, even after 5 performances over the years and a recording, is a bear.
David
niethamer@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/index.html
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Author: mrn
Date: 2009-09-08 17:28
So what was #1? (I assume it wasn't a clarinet solo, but I'm still curious)
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2009-09-08 17:55
There are piles of difficult clarinet parts in Shotstakovich..from wickedly fast to excruciatingly slow. The 9th has a very difficult clarinet book.
David Dow
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2009-09-08 19:21
I haven't played in an orchestra since high school, but most of the music we got wasn't stunningly difficult. The passages that gave me the worst nightmares were the exposed *easy* passages with plenty of time and freedom to over-think. ("If I flub something this simple, I'll make a total fool of myself....") The more I told myself to relax, the more I'd bite like a bulldog.
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: GBK
Date: 2009-09-08 19:55
mrn wrote>
> So what was #1? (I assume it wasn't a clarinet solo,
> but I'm still curious)
There were a number of solo and ensemble passages listed in the article.
Some examples:
- the "almost impossible to play" 1st violin part in the "Ride of the Valkyries"
- the 2nd oboe going down to an exposed hushed pp low B natural in Stravinsky's Cantata
- the first cornet part in La mer - where after not playing at all in the first two movements the cornet must enter with 3 exposed notes
- the off stage trumpet parts in the "Tuba Mirum' section of the Verdi Requiem
- the fast string parts in the Tannhauser Overture
The top 5 were:
1. Mahler Symphony #10 - the viola opening melody
2. Mahler Symphony #3 - the posthorn solo
3. Rachmaninov Symphony #2 - clarinet solo
4. Verdi requiem - Offertory, cello section solo
5. Beethoven Symphony #9 - 3rd movement, fourth horn solo
...GBK
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Author: Dileep Gangolli
Date: 2009-09-09 01:13
My incidental comments, some serious, some humorous. You decide which is which.
here were a number of solo and ensemble passages listed in the article.
Some examples:
- the "almost impossible to play" 1st violin part in the "Ride of the Valkyries"
DRG: Doesn't matter. That's what brass players are for.
- the 2nd oboe going down to an exposed hushed pp low B natural in Stravinsky's Cantata
DRG: Don't know the piece so cannot comment.
- the first cornet part in La mer - where after not playing at all in the first two movements the cornet must enter with 3 exposed notes
DRG: I have never heard a trumpet (cornet) player complain about this nor have I noticed it as being something that I wish I could have turned around to see who screwed it up.
- the off stage trumpet parts in the "Tuba Mirum' section of the Verdi Requiem
DRG: Always sounds bad. Flat and cracked notes. And always a microsecond late. Even in Chicago.
- the fast string parts in the Tannhauser Overture
DRG: See above reference to Wagner and brass players.
The top 5 were:
1. Mahler Symphony #10 - the viola opening melody
DRG: It's a viola....duh.
2. Mahler Symphony #3 - the posthorn solo
DRG: This reviewer never heard Herseth. He made it sound easy. As does the new principal in the CSO, Chris Martin.
3. Rachmaninov Symphony #2 - clarinet solo
DRG: I agree with the others, not really a hard solo if you are in shape and do not smoke. The real decision is what to do for the high D.
4. Verdi requiem - Offertory, cello section solo
DRG: Don't let the back of the section play too loud.
5. Beethoven Symphony #9 - 3rd movement, fourth horn solo
y
DRG: Many orchestras with weak 4th horn players (or selfish first horn players) put that solo in the first book.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2009-09-09 01:51
Sometimes the problems arise from the amount of playing one has to do overall in a concert. For example in Dvorak 9 there is a long legato solo in Mvt. 4 that is quite tricky considering the amount of work the embouchure has had to do up to that point!
So, as for the Mandarin by Bartok I always did the suite that was the short one not the whole work and found it quite easy to get through.
As for solos the slow movement of Beethoven 5 is easy to mess up...another hard solo is the Pines of Rome given the amount of difficult tuttis that have come before in the previous movements. Beethoven 1 has a tricky horn clarinet bit in the menuetto..very tough to get perfect.
Alot of playing in a given setting is gauging fatique and keeping on top of what come next. As for the hardest works I think the Shostakovich 1st has a nasty little book...so many accidentals ...Peter and the Wolf not so bad, but hard for flute.
I remember the Brahms 4 being tough mainly because of so many unisons that came before long solos..in fact most of the solos are straightforward in Brahms...Beethoven 6 is a hard book because movement 2 is tiring and quite constant in terms of sonority, on top the final movement has a thematic transition with the horn which has to stand out.
Mahler 7 is really nasty...the middle movements have alot of throat notes for the whole section very hard to tune.
Bruckner 6 has little calls in movement one that are hard to get perfect...mvt 2 of the same piece some tricky long held passages and sustained style playing
Bruckner 8 has a very tricky coda solo on clarinet at the end of one of the movements..just can't remember which one right now.
Stravinsky Circus Polka is no fun at all
there are plenty more such is life!
David Dow
Post Edited (2009-09-09 01:55)
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Author: Dan Paprocki
Date: 2009-09-09 02:11
How about a different turn on this topic.
Ravel Piano Concerto in G Mvt. iii - Eb clarinet part. I'm not terrified of the actual clarinet part just the 16 measures that you count BEFORE you come in - and good luck hearing something to hang onto in the solo piano. This is also after you sit quietly for the second movement and hope that you rewetted and positioned your reed ok for the solo - you can't do a test note before hand.
Dan Paprocki
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Author: Dileep Gangolli
Date: 2009-09-09 02:40
David,
Nice post and great observations.
DRG
PS I also agree with the Ravel Piano concerto being more of a counting issue, coming in with courage, and then not being late esp at the end of the solo.
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