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)
|
|
The Clarinet BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
