 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Rob bell
Date: 2002-07-18 17:27
Why is this piece so unaccsessible! It is so unlike his symphonies, i really cannot get into the piece! Plus it is very difficult.
One quick question has anyone heard it played in the UK recently or ever?!?!? None of the big players in the uk (Collins, Johnson, etc) have recorded it i don't think. Plus if you try to buy the peters edition there catalog states it is only avaialble in America & canada in the peters version!!
Thanks,
Rob
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David
Date: 2002-07-19 01:02
Yeah. It is a bit horrible, isn't it? I used to look at it now and again. Too difficult for me to play or to encourage me to put the effort into practicing it.
Can I offer some comfort in this quote from the poor sod who premiered it?
"He (Nielsen) must be able to play the clarinet himself, otherwise he would hardly have been able to find the worst notes to play", the leading Danish clarinettist Aage Oxenvad (1884-1944) is claimed to have said when he had given Nielsen's clarinet concerto its baptism at a private concert in September 1928. Nielsen who knew Oxenvad very well had tailored the work to the somewhat choleric musician: "If Oxenvad can make nothing of it there is no-one who can", he wrote.
Johnson probably couldn't and Collins could, but he'd cruise through it and kill any interest that might have lurked there.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: John Moses
Date: 2002-07-19 04:10
I played the Concerto in Copenhagen many years ago.
Madame Nielsen was in the audience, to my great surprise, and offered to send me a xerox of her father's manuscript of the Concerto. It's was a real eye opener!
Good luck with the piece, it's worth it.
JJM
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: diz
Date: 2002-07-19 05:23
The Nielsen Concerto is odd, granted and quirky, but if you manage to "tame it" then it's rewards are enormous. Unfortunately, the orchestra also needs to be virtuoso as the string parts are almost as fiendish as the solo.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Robin
Date: 2002-07-19 09:51
If you don't like the piece...you don't like it. It is indeed quite hard to listen to at first.
But...
Maybe give it a bit of time. I found that as I started knowing it the concerto better and better (I was recently playing the piece) it soon became one of my favorites.
I believe the piece is full of much greater extremes of emotion than Nielsen's concertos for flute and violin. As a listener, one will feel exhausted by the end , after all of the highs and lows. Despite the piece's obvious technical challenge, the concerto strikes me as 'un-virtuosic' in the sense that there are few instances of technique for its own sake.
There is a very good article on this site by Eric Nelson regarding Nielsen's approach to composition and to the general character of Oxenvad. The article certainly shed a lot of light on what I was doing.
By the way, Oxenvad is also reputed to have said, "Well, Carl, you can write me a concerto if you want. But I don't have to play it." I wish I could have met this guy 'cause he sounds like a crack-up! Why not just get the Danish edition of the piece? I hadn't realised there was another.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ken
Date: 2002-07-20 01:27
I'm not sure I understand the "beef" over the "Peter's Edition", my copy is a 1984 Kobenhavn printing from Dansk Music I bought in Germany in 1989; the Peter's Corporation is stamped as the sole "distributor/agent". That indicates to me exactly that, it's a Kobenhavn engraving and editing and Peters is the import distributor.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Jamie Talbot
Date: 2002-07-20 07:56
I actually love the Nielsen concerto,but think that a more
user friendly edition would be welcomed.
It,s a difficult enough piece as it is without having to
negotiate the minefield of double sharps and flats that litter the
present editions.An edition that simplified the enharmonic
accidental changes would probably halve the amount of ink needed!
I heard Michael Collins play the concerto with the Philharmonia
Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall-London,about ten years ago.
It was a fantastic performance,played from memory.
I agree that the Nielsen concerto is not played often,in fact clarinet works in general are not heard often enough.In this years'
proms series I,m unaware of any any clarinet works being included,yet there are countless vocal,string and piano works.
Wind players seem to get the short end of the stick in this respect
which I think is a great pity.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Rob Bell
Date: 2002-07-20 10:31
Actually Jamie,
There is one clarinet work programmed in a concert with Ronald van Spaendonk (hope i spelt that right). He is a BBC Radio 3 New Generation artist.
He will be playing the Premier Rhapsody by Debussy, i am hoping to attend.
Rob
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: nellsonic
Date: 2015-05-29 01:08
I think I'm just now becoming a fan of this piece after years of indifference. It was this recent youtube posting that did it for me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y-3HelXglY
Perhaps it's Patrick Morgan's tone, musical approach, and ease with the work - or maybe it's just that the red uniforms hold my attention. 
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: seabreeze
Date: 2015-05-29 04:50
Patrick Morgan's performance is not only pleasing to listen to; it may be the best flimed presentation of the Nielsen ever done. Filming him so close up at that side angle lets you see and even study everything he's doing, from the use of a neck strap, to the kind of ligature and mouthpiece (Vandoren), to exact fingering, embouchure position, and breathing--and the mike pick up is super distinct and clear. What a great educational (as well as artistic) video! The ensemble is together throughout and the rhythmic drive never falters.
With each new generation of clarinetists, more and more are able to play this work accurately and convincingly early in their college or conservatory training and sometimes even in high school. There are youtube videos of the piece performed by by Joseph Morris, Sam Butris, and Boris Allakhverdyan, for example. The standards are amazingly high because some of the world's top clarinetists, including Sabine Meyer, Martin Frost, Ricardo Morales, Anthony McGill, Carey Bell, Julian Bliss, and Olivier Patey maintain the Nielsen as a staple in their repertoire. Though the concerto may still be difficult to play, it is certainly no longer an obscure piece that only a handful of players can manage.
Post Edited (2015-05-29 15:10)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2015-05-29 18:32
Thank you, nellsonic for sharing the video link for Morgan's performance with the small chamber orchestra. I thought the chamber music feel of their performance lent itself to a more intimate and nuanced reading of this piece, one I also had trouble getting my head around. It was written by Nielson to be rather manic at times, but at other times it is gentle. I thought Morgan and the orchestra carried that through.
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tom H
Date: 2015-05-30 01:17
I played it years ago with piano (clavinova on string setting). Took us 2 years of practise on & off. Some wonderful haunting melodies -- if you can get through the technical stuff. We didn't have the desired snare drum player.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2015-05-31 06:26
Ah, a very "lyrical" and (I'm NOT a fan of this work) listenable version of the Nielsen Concerto.
Quite a testament to Patrick Morgan, I sat through the WHOLE thing!
...........Paul Aviles
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
