 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ruben
Date: 2016-06-28 14:44
What is the story behind the above-mentioned piece? Why did Benjamin Britten never complete the piece? I might add that he wrote precious little for the clarinet. I don't know if he is reported to have expressed reservations about our instrument (as did Debussy).
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2016-06-28 19:32
The often told story about the Britten concerto is that when the composer was living in the U.S. Benny Goodman approached him with a request to compose a concerto for clarinet, which Britten readily accepted. This was during the early years of U.S. involvement in World War II, security was tight on the watch for enemy spies, and as Britten went through U.S. Customs to return to the U.K., his manuscript was seized by the government under suspicion that it might contain a secret code. This must have been embarassing for both Goodman (if he knew about it) and Britten, and evidently both clarinetist and composer returned to their very busy lives playing engagements, meeting deadlines, and so forth, never to bring up the matter again.
Is this true? Who knows; I certainly can't vouch for it, but it is the account given on liner notes of recordings and elsewhere.
As for Britten having reservations about the clarinet, if he did, they didn't stop him from writing an ebullient clarinet duet in A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.
Post Edited (2016-06-28 23:09)
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Author: cigleris
Date: 2016-06-29 01:40
From what I have read Britten came back to the sketches in the 1970s, possibly because Benny had or was to give the premier of Arnold's 2nd Clarinet Concerto but died while fleshing them out. It is said that the manuscripts where with him in hospital.
Peter Cigleris
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Author: ruben
Date: 2016-06-30 10:04
Peter: Maybe this would make a good clarinet-piano piece. Does there exist a piano reduction? I thank you, the very scholarly Seabreeze and Clarinetguy for the information.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: cigleris
Date: 2016-06-30 19:21
Rubén, I'm not sure honestly. Have you checked Boosey and Hawkes? I can try and find out
Peter Cigleris
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Author: ruben
Date: 2016-07-05 02:46
Many thanks for the information. I'm not altogether sure the piece is worth playing in public. Maybe it will grow on me if I give it a chance.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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The Clarinet Pages
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