 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Cass Tech
Date: 2007-12-24 16:40
Over the weekend I began to listen to my complete Brahms' lieder with Fischer-Dieskau (spelling?), Jesse Norman and Daniel Barenboim on DGG (7 compact discs). Not having listened to it for quite a while, I returned to it not just with the purpose of hearing some of Brahms greatest music played by three of the greatest lieder artists of all time, but also thinking in terms of which of the lieder would be adaptable for clarinet and piano miniatures. A transcriber could easily fill a thick volume with wonderful stuff for clarinet and piano enjoyment. If you're not familiar with this epic musical undertaking, I especially recomend, the Four Serious Songs, Two Songs for Alto, Viola and piano and the Gypsy Lieder songs. Perhaps only Schubert was Brahms' equal in the art of lieder (oh well, maybe Mahler and Wolf, etc.). I hardily recomend it - a fabulous feast for the ears!
Cass Tech (aka leatherlip)
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Author: NorbertTheParrot
Date: 2007-12-24 21:27
"Perhaps only Schubert was Brahms' equal in the art of lieder".
That's a very odd sentence.
"Perhaps only Brahms was Schubert's equal in the art of lieder" would be a more mainstream sentiment.
But who wants to be mainstream?
I had just written a paragraph questioning whether Jessye Norman is the right person to sing the Four Serious Songs - which are usually sung by a contralto - but then looked up the recording you have and discovered that they are sung by Fischer-Dieskau.
Try the Kathleen Ferrier recording. She had a terrible German accent and a severely limited emotional range (from misery to despair, halting briefly at stoic acceptance of the cruelty of fate) - but the end result is mesmerising. Ditto the songs with viola, though it's probably as well she never had a baby of her own to sing to sleep with Geistliches Wiegenlied. Her performance is fabulous so long as you don't know what the words mean.
Why you want to play this music on the clarinet is still not quite clear to me, but I wish you luck.
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Author: Cass Tech
Date: 2007-12-26 13:48
NorbertThe Parrot:
Thanks for the Kathleen Ferrier suggestion. Have you heard the old Alexander Kipnis recording? Not as sauve as Fischer-Dieskau, but true basso profundo.
Why transcriptions? Not of the more famous ones that are essentially vocal, but others that I love. More Brahms to play.
Cass Tech (aka leatherlip)
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Author: DaveF
Date: 2007-12-27 04:23
Speaking of transcriptions of this........how about the version I played for symphonic band and baritone voice of the Brahms Four Serious Songs? At Illinois, probably done by Mark Hindsley, and written for and performed by the late William Warfield, baritone. It was truly beautiful, but hardly fit well on a program of other band music.
Dave F.
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