 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Michele
Date: 1999-04-03 02:00
For my junior recital I would like to include my 2 vocal friends, a mezzo-soprano and a soprano. Does anyone know of any pieces that I could play with them? I'm sure piano will be needed too. Thanks for your input.
Oh, another question... what do you all think of the Hindemith Sonata?
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Author: Mario
Date: 1999-04-06 12:54
You are so lucky. One of my deepest dream is to play the several beautiful trio for piano, clarinet and high-voice that exist out there. During the romantic period, this combination was the object of some wonderful work. Here are a few.
The most popular one is probably "The Shepard on the Rock" by Shubert. Pastoral and sublime. A typical Shubert lieder with a subtle clarinet obligato.
The most difficult that I know is "Six German Songs" by Spohr. Very technical for all musicians, but simply wonderful musically. You need a superb signer here since his(her) role is to move the audience while the piano and clarinet carry-out some amazing lines in the background. The singer must be strong enough to get us to focus on the singing instead of on the pyrotechnics.
Meyerbeer has another suite of German songs. Shubert has a little romance wich is simply of marvelous little miniature (one page in total for the clarinet).
Enjoy!
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 1999-04-06 19:21
Michele wrote:
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For my junior recital I would like to include my 2 vocal friends, a mezzo-soprano and a soprano. Does anyone know of any pieces that I could play with them? I'm sure piano will be needed too. Thanks for your input.
Oh, another question... what do you all think of the Hindemith Sonata?
Michele -
I'm sure there are some pieces for 2 singers, clarinet and piano, but I don't know of any offhand. Browse in the Sneezy indexes, or try www.luyben.com, which has a good stock.
The Hindemith sonata is one of the finest 20th century clarinet sonatas. It's not too difficult and is very tonal and very beautiful, with a lyrical quality.
Hindemith was a great student of medieval and renaissance music, and he used some characteristic early music phrasing, with unequal phrase lengths and shifts back and forth between duple and triple meter (even though the time signature doesn't change).
For example, in the opening line, the first 3 notes are a pickup, the G is a downbeat, the next 3 notes are an ornament, followed by a downbeat on the next G. The following high C is on a weak beat and should not be accented. The next accented note is the F, which then relaxes off to the D in a feminine phrase ending.
In the following phrase, once again the strong note is the G on top of the staff, and not the following high D.
You determine these things by listening to the piano and noting where the chord changes are.
The interplay between the clarinet and the piano is very important in the Hindemith sonata. Often, the piano will have the melodic material (sometimes in the left hand). You must be careful not to cover this up. At that point, you are the accompaniment. A good example is at the very end of the last movement, where the piano echoes the main melodic figure. This means, among other things, that the pianist has to bring this out, and also that you must not slow down, even a little bit, at the end, so that the melody remains recognizable and has its rhythmic energy, like a quite series of taps on a snare drum.
If you are playing the Hindemith sonata in a competition, you should know that one thing the judges listen for is whether you do the rising figure half note quadruplet in the first movement accurately. You have to subdivide into 12 units and give exactly 3 to each note. Also, the passage after that is one of those where the piano has the melody, so you have to pull back.
The first movement should be at a moderate "walking pace" andante -- not too fast, so you can bring out all the changes of meter and irregular phrase lengths.
The second movement should be played with feeling and some sentiment. Once again, the arching phrases usually don't have the highest note as the important (loudest) note. Usually, you go to the note following the high one, followed by a multi-note feminine ending.
The finale should have some movement, but should never go too fast for the "chuckling" good-humored quality to be heard. Keep the staccato light and play with a smile.
Have fun. It's a wonderful piece.
Ken Shaw
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