 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ruben
Date: 2025-02-06 13:25
Who were trhe major composers that never wrote chamber pieces or solo pieces involving the clarinet? I don't have in mind the symphonists like Bruckner, Mahler and Sibelius, who wrote very little chamber music anyway. Ravel, as far as I know, only composed one chamber piece involving the clarinet; Introduction et Allegro. Britten? Shostakovich? Who else and why? The French seemed to have liked the flute more than the clarinet. Britten preferred the oboe.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
Post Edited (2025-02-06 13:47)
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Author: graham
Date: 2025-02-06 16:17
I was going to say Dutilleux, but that’s incorrect because he wrote:
Hommage à Nadia Boulanger, for soprano, 3 violas, clarinet, percussion and zither (1967) So that’s something we can all aspire to play.
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Author: ruben
Date: 2025-02-06 20:41
Thank you Graham! My main reason for opening this discussion is to discover new pieces. It would be hard to get the musicians together for the Dutilleux piece; an unusual configuration. I doubt my topic will raise as much interest as topics about barrels or plastic reeds, but I'm already glad I started it, as I've already learned something.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2025-02-06 20:52
Tchaikovsky missed a massive trick in not writing any solely wind ensemble works, given the voicings and textures he used in his wind ensemble writing in his other major works.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: ruben
Date: 2025-02-07 00:35
brycon: or Palestrina!
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: GoatTnder
Date: 2025-02-07 00:59
Tchaikovsky was my first thought too. His woodwind parts are incredible in his orchestral works. He's especially good for clarinet (e.g., Nutcracker, Violin Concerto), and I've often wondered what his Russian romanticism could do for solo clarinet.
Andres Cabrera
South Bay Wind Ensemble
www.SouthBayWinds.com
sbwe@sbmusic.org
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Author: ruben
Date: 2025-02-07 11:02
Some of the composers that have been mentioned wrote very little chamber music, let alone for the clarinet. The only one that I know of that actually expressed a disliking for the instrument was Debussy. Yet he wrote a great piece for us!
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: davyd
Date: 2025-02-07 22:19
JS Bach: Those of us with A instruments can play oboe d'amore parts. I've been involved in 4 performances (and heard about another) where that was done. Not the same thing as actual clarinet pieces, though.
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Author: ruben
Date: 2025-02-07 23:41
davyd: the 3-part inventions work wondefully well when arranged for reed trio. And I play the Art of the fugue, which was never written for specific instruments (I played it with oboe, clar, bassoon and trombone)
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: lmliberson
Date: 2025-02-08 19:04
"The only one that I know of that actually expressed a disliking for the instrument was Debussy. Yet he wrote a great piece for us!"
Actually, he wrote two great pieces as his Petite Piece was composed as a sight-reading exercise for the Paris Conservatoire concours. It's quite a lovely, although brief, tune which is worth taking a look at as it is a bit more challenging than you might believe upon first sight.
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Author: ruben
Date: 2025-02-08 19:17
lmlieberson: Petite Pièce us too short to play in a recital. I suggest combining it with the two Debussy Arabesqes arranged for clarinet and piano (éditions Durand). They are are excellent arrangements. The three pieces combined make up an excellent additional work for clarinet. -and long enough for the artists and audience to have something they can sink their teeth into.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: lmliberson
Date: 2025-02-08 20:35
Hmmm...I didn't realize that suitability for a recital performance was part of the original question.
However, I have actually performed this in a recital - as an encore.
Size doesn't matter? 🤷🏻♂️
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Author: brycon
Date: 2025-02-10 06:06
Quote:
Bach :-(
Liquorice, in his book on the clarinet, Eric Hoeprich suggests that one of the Bach motets might have clarinet parts. If my memory is correct, it's O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht, which has several parts for something called a lituus. Hoeprich thinks this designation might refer to the clarinet.
When I was in school, I asked Christoph Wolff about it. He rolled his eyes and said something to the effect of: "Well of course a clarinet player would want to find clarinet parts in Bach!"
I guess we'll have to be content with the St. Matthew arrangement.
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Author: jim sclater
Date: 2025-02-10 17:47
Although some purists might sneer at the suggestion, the Bach Concerto for oboe d'amore in A works quite well for the A clarinet. I have programmed it on several occasions. Fun and challenging.
jsclater@comcast.net
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Author: ruben
Date: 2025-02-10 20:06
Benjamin Britten began a clarinet concerto that for some reason, he never finished. It has been partially reconstructed and goes by the name of: Movements for clarinet Faber music?
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2025-02-10 21:16
Imagine the sheer monotony of playing a wind ensemble work written by Philip Glass - having to play the same minor 3rd interval ad nauseum isn't what any wind player would've signed up for. I wonder if anyone's got repetitive strain injury from playing wallpaper music.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2025-02-11 22:36
To add to the Russian list, I've always wondered what a Prokofiev Clarinet Concerto would sound like or a Glazunov concerto.
On the western side of the Atlantic, how about Samuel Barber - he wrote two or three chamber pieces with clarinet parts, but nothing as a soloist. Same for Alberto Ginastera. This list could be quite long!
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The Clarinet Pages
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