 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: OpusII
Date: 2007-03-10 12:19
Does anybody know where I can get the orchestra score of Leonard Bernstein's wonderful town?
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Author: Indyclar
Date: 2007-03-10 21:09
Do you mean "On the Town"?
The orchestra parts are rental only. I don't know about the score.
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Author: Erik713
Date: 2007-03-10 23:12
No, Wonderful Town is a great musical by Mr. Bernstein! Unfortunately, all those scores are included when you rent the rights to do the show along with all of the books, scripts, etc.
~~~~~~~
~Woodwind doubler - sop./alto/tenor saxes, clarinet, oboe, English horn, flute/picc.
~Woodwind Teacher
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Author: sweetjames
Date: 2007-03-10 23:31
Dear OpusII,
No joy on the orchestral parts, but as far as I know, "Wonderful Town" and "On The Town" are very different animals, although the librettos for both are focused on New York City. "Wonderful Town" involves two sisters who have moved to NYC from Ohio. "On The Town" involves three sailors on liberty -- just one day -- in NYC.
I am not qualified to make judgments on music, but in my opinion there is some great examples of Leonard Bernstein's work in both musicals -- and, not surprisingly, some great clarinet stuff. The most memorable song from "On The Town" is probably, "New York, New York, It's A Helluva Town" and provides a marvelous clarinet lead that works even in different settings as a solo. I would think, as a clarinet noodler, that the "Wrong Note Rag" (Wonderful Town") might have some challenging aspects -- but I suppose that Mr. John Moses could better inform us about that.
You probably knew all this already, but the posts on this subject gave me a chance to riff on some favorite music.
James
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Author: OpusII
Date: 2007-03-11 21:02
Thanks for the comments... it's a shame that the scores aren't available in the stores... Mr. Bernstein has written some great music, and I would like to play it all ;o)
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2007-03-11 22:09
I did Wonderful Town last year, and the clarinet parts were about average in my eyes. Nothing impossible, but at the same time not the simplest parts you're going to encounter.
'Wrong Note Rag" sounds like it would be difficult, but (in keeping with all of the other Bernstein stuff that I've played (and I've done all of his musicals, even Candide), it is about average. There's more done there with "creative dissonance" (to coin a term) than there is with difficult clarinet parts.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: John J. Moses
Date: 2007-03-12 02:37
FYI: The woodwind doubles for WONDERFUL TOWN are:
Reed 1: Clarinet, alto saxophone
Reed 2: Clarinet, alto saxophone
Reed 3: Clarinet, tenor saxophone
Reed 4: Clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone
Reed 5: Clarinet, baritone saxophone
The NYC Public Library at Lincoln Center has the score. You can look at it there.
JJM
Légère Artist
Clark W. Fobes Artist
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Author: OpusII
Date: 2007-03-12 07:51
Thanks John, but it's a little bit to far away for me
(I'm from the Netherlands)
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2007-03-12 15:49
View the partition information above with a grain of salt. There is at least one other version out there, replete with bassoon, bass sax, oboe, flute and octave flute in addition to the clarinet/saxophone split described above.
I can't tell you just how they are split up, but the parts were there (or there were a hell of a lot of people improvising, one of the two). And, while the group I played it with was good, they weren't that good...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2007-03-12 16:05
Terry Stibal wrote:
> View the partition information above with a grain of salt.
Considering JJM closeness to the origins, I'd take other editions "with a grain of salt".
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Author: John J. Moses
Date: 2007-03-12 21:54
I have done the version I listed above, but Tams-Witmark offers the Reed books listed below in their rentals for WONDERFUL TOWN:
1 Reed I: Flute, Bb Clarinet, Eb Clarinet (or Flute) & Alto Saxophone
1 Reed II: Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Alto Saxophone & Baritone Saxophone
1 Reed III: Oboe, Engligh Horn (or Clarinet), Clarinet & Tenor Saxophone
1 Reed IV: Piccolo, Flute, Clarinet & Tenor Saxophone
1 Reed V: Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Bass Saxophone
(or Baritone Saxophone) & Bassoon
Since you are not able to get to NYC easily, perhaps you might contact Tams-Witmark about renting their score?
http://www.tamswitmark.com/musical.html
JJM
Légère Artist
Clark W. Fobes Artist
Post Edited (2007-03-12 21:55)
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2007-03-13 13:39
I saw the movie "On The Town" last nite on TCM, perhaps they may repeat it in their Gene Kelly series. Some of Bernstein's music sounded tough to me, as is the L B Tribute music we are rehearsing in our comm band, it has a goodly amount of Candide and W S S. Its great tho. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2007-03-13 13:46
Wonderful Town with no flute parts? I don't think so...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2007-03-13 13:56
Terry Stibal wrote:
> Wonderful Town with no flute parts? I don't think
> so...
Argue with John, who plays Broadway for a living.
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Author: John J. Moses
Date: 2007-03-14 04:17
Terry, we have no problem.
In the Tam-Witmark rental parts there are in fact, flute, oboe, EH, bassoon, and even a bass sax part, just as you suspected.
I have only done the simplier woodwind orchestration I've listed above.
Good luck,
FYI:
1 Reed I: Flute, Bb Clarinet, Eb Clarinet (or Flute) & Alto Saxophone
1 Reed II: Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Alto Saxophone & Baritone Saxophone
1 Reed III: Oboe, Engligh Horn (or Clarinet), Clarinet & Tenor Saxophone
1 Reed IV: Piccolo, Flute, Clarinet & Tenor Saxophone
1 Reed V: Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Bass Saxophone
(or Baritone Saxophone) & Bassoon
JJM
Légère Artist
Clark W. Fobes Artist
Post Edited (2007-03-14 04:20)
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Author: Wes
Date: 2007-03-14 04:41
When I played clarinet and alto saxophone on that show in the early 60s, it was a lot of fun. The bluesy clarinet part to high G in the Village Vanguard scene was great.
Recently, I asked a local conductor if the ever put it on or plan to put it on. His reply was in effect that it was passe and dated and that they could not get the "management" interested.
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Author: John J. Moses
Date: 2007-03-14 13:46
For those of you who don't know Terry Stibal very well.
Here is his very impressive bio:
Terry is the leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra.
Terry Stibal is our baritone saxophone player, doubling on clarinet, bass clarinet, flute and alto saxophone. He is a co-founder, and the current leader of the group.
Terry has been a music professional since the early 1960’s, and an American Federation of Musicians member for almost as long. His experience ranges from classical to rock, in a wide variety of performance venues. Once, very long ago, he was even an In Man, with the sunglasses, blue blazer and Motown moves to match.
When not loading and unloading our six hundred pounds of sheet music from his van, he manages the Federal government’s safety and health enforcement efforts from his Clear Lake area office. He lives in Pearland with his family, and plays ice hockey with the HPD Enforcers when he has the chance.
JJM
Légère Artist
Clark W. Fobes Artist
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2007-03-15 20:29
You never know if sarcasm is being implied or not...
Truth be told, the most important thing of all that there these days is that I play hockey on the cop team. It's gotten me out of more sticky unloading and parking situations for my musical group in downtown Houston with the Special Operations Division of HPD than any of my instrumental skills ever have. Sometimes the instrumental chops you need aren't the only ones to make things work.
Parking enforcement in Houston on a Friday or Saturday night is pretty vicious (towing right and left), but when the detail lieutenant is apprised that "These people are okay; the boss plays on Bruce's line on the Enforcers!", the way becomes smooth, I can park the van in a "No parking" zone without a boot or a tow. (I always make it a point to have the female vocalists thank the officers on the block with a smile and a demo compact disk, just to make sure.)
It just goes to show you that you never know who your friends are until the chips are down.
I'd list my show resume, but to some it would seem like overkill and to the rest like bragging. However, I will trot out the fact that I've been the on-stage tenor player in a paid production of Cabaret. In that case, not only did I have the chops for the part; I also had the legs to look passible in drag...
(The irony of this one was that my normal spot on the sax/clarinet line (including a bassoon part (see below) was taken by a quite attractive young lady (the want ads editor at the local paper) who could play tenor well enough for the on-stage stuff (and was much more womanly like in the bargain). The director was aiming for authenticity, or so he told me when this was all pointed out to him.)
(Oh, and I've done It's A Bird, It's A Plane; It's Superman (The New Musical). Those that haven't have no idea of the juicy clarinet parts that they've missed...)
This alternative orchestration stuff is something that we all will see eventually. This spring, I'm doing The Music Man again, a show that I've played many, many times over the years. However, this time the orchestration has thrust me out of my bass clarinet/clarinet/baritone comfort zone (losing the "hot" lead in the "Eccentric Couple Dance" on soprano to boot) into the purgatory of a clarinet/bassoon/bass saxophone book.
This makes three out of the past five shows with a bassoon part (and I ain't no bassoon player of note, I assures you that). Those bassoon to baritone sax swaps are hell enough; doing it with a bass saxophone will make you appreciate how easy it is to heft a baritone (not)...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
Post Edited (2007-03-16 12:57)
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Author: Erik713
Date: 2007-03-16 03:19
Wow! I didn't know that, John. Are most show scores available for perusal there? I might have to start visiting the library more often!
Erik
~~~~~~~
~Woodwind doubler - sop./alto/tenor saxes, clarinet, oboe, English horn, flute/picc.
~Woodwind Teacher
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Author: John J. Moses
Date: 2007-03-16 13:46
"Never does a good deed go unpunished" (not really)
Yes, Erik713, the NY Public Library at Lincoln Center, is an excellent source of music library material that you can examine there, and some can be taken out on loan.
For purchase or perusal, you might try Colony Records on Broadway, in the Theater District, in NYC.
Good luck,
JJM
Légère Artist
Clark W. Fobes Artist
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2009-02-18 10:52
Hi,
I'm doing WT next moth on Reed 4 (the version with picc, flute, clarinet, and tenor). I've got the book and it looks very doable with the only really tough items being some high picc work at times.
I asked the director and she said that the cast is using the original cast CD from the the 60s for rehearsal and not the redone version. We'll see how things match up but I am a little suspicious that with the newer instrumentation for the books, there may be a disconnect with that CD.
I'll report back.
HRL
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