 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ben
Date: 2001-03-29 17:18
Is there a most difficult piece for the clarinet?
If there is not a piece which is universally recognized as the hardest, what piece/s would be the best possibilities?
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Author: Mario
Date: 2001-03-29 17:24
Define hard!
For the shear mastery needed to develop the piece to its ultimate potential (with perfection, grace and musicality), for the fact that the grandest of all clarinetists took this piece to unbelieveable heights (thus making it difficult for young musician to say something really new about it), the Mozart Concerto is probably second to none.
For shear technical complexity, the Nielson concerto is probably way up there
Naturally, there are tons of modern pieces out there that are simply extermely difficult, without enough musicality to justify investing in them.
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Author: pam
Date: 2001-03-29 19:36
Concerto: probably the Nielsen. Others may be harder, but they are musically not as good. I agree with Mario.
Orchestra: Daphnis and Chloe, Suite #2. And perhaps Variations Concertante by Ginastera.
Etudes: Check out some of the books by Rudolf Jettel.
Of course the hardest parts of all are some of those ridiculous band transcriptions of orchestra music. Clarinet ends up with all of the violin licks.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2001-03-29 20:19
The Corigliano concerto ranks up there for a technically difficult <i>and</i> very musical piece.
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Author: Quido
Date: 2001-03-29 23:44
I agree with Mark; the Corigliano is a modern masterpiece technically and musically. A piece that demands virtuoso technique but is rather lacking musically is the Francaix Concerto. I think it is a fun piece, but it seems Francaix crammed as many notes as he could onto each page.
Quido
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2001-03-30 02:06
Sequenza by Luciano Berio.
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Author: ron b
Date: 2001-03-30 02:21
The one I chickened out of playing at the fifth grade talent show :[
- ron b -
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Author: Chris Hill
Date: 2001-03-30 09:51
I have to admit that Coq d'or by Rimsky-Korsakoff frightens me. However, for me, the most difficult technically is the Ginistera (at least as far as orchestral literature is concerned.)
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Author: Bob Curtis
Date: 2001-03-31 19:03
Amazing, no one yet has mentioned the Premiere Rhapsody by deBussy. That has to be a Booger!! I know that it is not a Concerto, but so what!
Bob Curtis
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Author: Ken
Date: 2001-03-31 19:49
You've heard it from vocalists for years, ask them what the most difficult piece is for them to sing and they'll invariably say the "Star Bangled Banner".
Some of the most god-awful/challenging, even unplayable literature you'll ever see is orchestra/violin transcriptions for concert band or solo clarinet.
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Author: Chrissie
Date: 2001-04-01 18:09
I can't say much because I'm still pretty early in clarinet literature... =)
But I agree with band transcriptions of Orchestra pieces being.....grrrr! There's a *reason* I didn't play the violin......
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Author: Mario
Date: 2001-04-02 14:14
In concert band transcriptions of concert band music, clarinets often play the violon part. This can be quite difficult especially since concert bands tend to be staffed with average clarinetists (just the law of large numbers - the two clarinets in the local amateur symphony are always pretty good compared to the average level of the string sections; in concert bands, you have just about anybody playing the clarinet in the band - hence the low average).
The situation is particularly critical when clarinetists are asked to play rapid passages that are articulated. Articulation (in particular staccato) is the last piece of clarinet technique to fall in place.
Many, many years ago, I had the chance of working with a grand master of concert band conducting (Michel Perrault). He got us to play fast things like the William Tell Overture by Rossini, with staccato included. This is the way he did it:
- Take a long passage with a lot of notes (say, a string of 16th played at 130).
- Split the passage between the two players sharing a music stand (each of then playing 1-2-3-4-1 in succession).
- Have member 1 play one beat, then have member 2 play the next beat, then switch back to 1, then to 2, one player per beat at the time.
- Articulation issues diappear quickly once people learn to switch in synch.
This can make a clarinet section play incredibly fast staccato passages with average amateurs. Since the first 16th of every beat is played by two players, this first note actually has a litte bit more energy conveyed to the audience. There is a nice forward pulsing drive. The results is a vigorous rendering of these difficult passages - it sure beats screwing up everything after a few beats, when 20 tongues and 200 fingers get out of wack.
At the end of a concert where this technique was used, a knowlegeable member of the audiance told the conductor: "It is impossible for clarinets to play that fast.
Michel did not revealed his trick to this person and left him very puzzled. He was right of course: nobody actually played all notes, but we sure faked our way through beautifully.
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