 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: annev
Date: 2016-01-09 20:29
Hello,
I currently have the opportunity to play with a community orchestra and so I've borrowed an A clarinet for three months (a lovely Buffet R13 A from the 1970s - such a joy to play!). I was thinking that I would love to work on some solo A clarinet repertoire in my lessons during this time as well. I'm familiar with the Mozart Clarinet Concerto and the Quintet, as well as the Schumann Phantasiestucke pieces. I'm wondering if you could recommend some other possible repertoire. Thanks so much!
Post Edited (2016-01-09 22:18)
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2016-01-09 20:51
(satire)
![[wink]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie3.gif) BbMajorBoy, don't you think we should hear from your twin brother on the board, AMajorBoy on this subject matter? It might be a bit out of your league.
(serious)
Of course the Mozart Clarinet Concerto was originally written for "A" clarinet---yes Basset [A] Clarinet for the purists out there.
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Author: sonicbang
Date: 2016-01-10 01:29
L. Spohr: Concert in e minor is a not so frequently played piece and IMHO it's the same as the Mozart, however not as polular.
Regarding the Mozart Concerto, I could never imagne how the composer could wrote for a so called Basset A. How could the instrument makers built such a complicated (and chromatic) mechanims with those systems we know from that age? Anybody who played or seen a modern 'Mozart Clarinet' can confirm it's as complicated as a bass clarinet. How that makers could make such an instrument from boxwood and copper? For me it's very hard to belive they could do it at all. And just think about it: this kind of instrument should have been widely used and well known before Mozart wrote anything for it. Why? because there is no such thing that somebody writes a piece of music, and then somebody builds an instrument to play that. Basset clarinets in F and G were existed in those times, yes. But why there's no Basset clarinet in A found from that age? Because it was never made. This is just Buffet's business I think.
Mark
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Author: tommo84
Date: 2016-01-10 01:51
sonicbang, maybe this can help you:
http://www.sfoxclarinets.com/Stadler.html
the basset clarinet DID exist. It was a unique instrument, made for Stadler, a clarinet player friend of Mozart. Mozart wrote his concert and quintet for Stadler, so it is natural that he wrote for the instrument Stadler was playing.
The original instrument was never found, but there is an image on a concert programme in Prague, where Stadler played the Mozart's concerto.
Nowadays you can find different copies based on that image! and they work!
and by the way, Mozart originally wrote the concerto for a Basset Horn in G, and then later he changed for the basset clarinet in A to suit Stadler's instrument. A basset horn is a more complicated instrument than a basset clarinet...and they were weel made back in the days ( and used too, as in Requeim for example...).
After Mozart's death, the editors decided to publish a version of the concert in the usual A clarinet range, with transposed parts, in order to sell more easily the scores ( after all...who would play a piece made for a unique instrument?)
Luckily, "Buffet business", as you call it, as made it possible today to play and listen to what Mozart created in his genius mind.
Cheers
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Author: sonicbang
Date: 2016-01-10 20:00
'A basset horn is a more complicated instrument than a basset clarinet'
Well that illustration from the Stephen Fox website is anything but complicated.
What you wrote makes sense however. So I made a search. What I found about this:
https://www.clarinet.org/clarinetFestArchive.asp?archive=46
Reading this, I still say that the only original part what remained (that 199 bars) was written for a Basset horn in G and all we have is a drawing from a concert programme. That hardly proves anything. What it does prove, that the exact basset horn which was part of an illustration, has nothing to do with modern so called 'Mozart Clarinet'.
Sorry for this off-topic discussion.
Mark
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2016-01-10 20:34
sonicbang wrote:
> 'A basset horn is a more complicated instrument than a basset
> clarinet'
>
> Well that illustration from the Stephen Fox website is anything
> but complicated.
>
> What you wrote makes sense however. So I made a search. What I
> found about this:
>
> https://www.clarinet.org/clarinetFestArchive.asp?archive=46
>
> Reading this, I still say that the only original part what
> remained (that 199 bars) was written for a Basset horn in G and
> all we have is a drawing from a concert programme. That hardly
> proves anything. What it does prove, that the exact basset horn
> which was part of an illustration, has nothing to do with
> modern so called 'Mozart Clarinet'.
>
> Sorry for this off-topic discussion.
>
> Mark
Perhaps this would be better to read, since it's possible to read Pamela Poulin's entire thesis, which started more investigations into the Basset Clarinet:
https://urresearch.rochester.edu/institutionalPublicationPublicView.action?institutionalItemId=5327
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Author: annev
Date: 2016-01-10 23:26
Thank you for the suggestions. I'm not familiar with the Brahms quintet and it's very lovely.
Perhaps I should mention that I'm not looking for anything very extensive. More just something I could enjoy learning on A clarinet and possibly perform with piano accompaniment. Or it could also be as part of a trio - viola, A clarinet and piano. I sometimes have the opportunity to perform a prelude or postlude at church so something relatively short and fun to learn would be the key. (And if that doesn't exist for A clarinet, no problem - I just thought I'd ask since I know there are many knowledgeable people on this board!). Thank you again!
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2016-01-10 23:58
I think that some of the 8 trios for clar, viola and piano by Max Bruch also use the A clarinet and isn't there another work by Schumann for same combination?
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Author: tacet
Date: 2016-01-11 00:32
From the core repertoire, also the Brahms Trio (with Cello & Piano) comes to mind, but it does not qualify as "relatively short" ... the first two of Stravinsky's solo pieces ("preferably for clarinet in A") do fit that part of the bill.
The Sutermeister capriccio and Koechlin's "Repos de Tityre" are other non avant-garde unaccompanied solo pieces score for A. With piano, I can on the spot only think of the f# minor Reger sonata and the Honegger sonatina.
With your remark about playing in church in mind, there is also the theoretical option of playing some Oboe d'Amore baroque literature, as this is also in A instrument. For instance the Bach concerto BWV 1055 is an extremely beautiful piece... maybe worth giving it a try, though I cannot tell whether it would work out in a performance with clarinet.
NB: the Schumann trio with viola ("Märchenerzählungen") is scored for B flat clarinet.
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Author: JKL
Date: 2016-01-11 02:16
sonicbang wrote:
"Reading this, I still say that the only original part what remained (that 199 bars) was written for a Basset horn in G and all we have is a drawing from a concert programme. That hardly proves anything."
Are you serious?
read, for example:
http://dme.mozarteum.at/DME/objs/pdf/nma_139_-11_-3_eng.pdf
there is a huge amount of publications concerning this topic.
In every serious edition of this work, which are, at least, Bärenreiter, Henle, Schott, the history of the instrument is clearly documented and all sources mentioned, in particular the review of the concert in the "Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung", March 1802 - the reviewer knew the original version and reports which passages the publisher changed for normal A clarinet.
All this you can read in every publication about KV 622, for example the book Colin Lawson wrote about this concert, or in "The Clarinet" by Eric Hoeprich etc. etc.
JKL
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Author: JamesOrlandoGarcia
Date: 2016-01-11 03:53
"L. Spohr: Concert in e minor is a not so frequently played piece and IMHO it's the same as the Mozart, however not as popular."
As a performer who has performed the Mozart concerto before with orchestra and is now preparing Spohr 4 for a performance next month, I assure you that Spohr is much more demanding. Also, the rental fee is about $700. I wouldn't recommend it to someone who is borrowing an A clarinet who doesn't have regular experience on the instrument.
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Author: Hurstfarm
Date: 2016-01-11 12:39
A few more of varying style/combination/difficulty
Honneger Sonatine
Schumann 3 Romances
Stanford Concerto (last movement)
Stravinsky 3 Pieces 1&2 (unaccompanied, but composer preferred A!)
Reineke Trio (with viola and piano)
Bruch Double Concerto (with viola)
Nielsen Concerto
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Author: annev
Date: 2016-01-16 20:24
It's been a busy week, so I've just caught up with some searching and listening time with the suggestions that have been offered. Thank you so much for the helpful suggestions and the variety of choices! I found some choices that I think will work and I'm pretty inspired!
I was also intrigued by the suggestion of looking for baroque music written for the oboe d'amore. I actually play oboe as well (not as well as the clarinet, but I'm enjoying the learning) and I love the sound of the oboe d'amore. I think the range of the music would translate well to A clarinet, but I couldn't find much that could be played with either our small trio or piano. Perhaps a dream for when I'm more proficient on oboe! Thanks again!
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