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REPERTOIRE - SELECTED CONCERTOS FOR CLARINET & WIND BAND/ENSEMBLE Tim Reynish 18 January 2006 CONCERTOS FOR CLARINET WITH WIND ACCOMPANIMENT
WO = Wind Orchestra with full wind, brass and percussion and saxophones WE = Orchestral wind JE = Jazz Ensemble Reference Compact Discs
In July 2005 I gave a paper in Singapore for WASBE on significant works for wind orchestra or ensemble of the past two years, and I commented that Clarinet Concertos were like London busses, you wait for hours and then three come along at the same time. However, when I spent a little time in my CD library researching the repertoire, I found that I had over a score of substantial works for clarinet solo already in place. There are of course many more, and anyone wishing to follow this further should contact David McClune of Union University, Tennessee who wrote a dissertation on American Clarinet concerti. Two players are very actively commissioning, Linda Merrick of Royal Northern College, Manchester UK and the Belgian virtuoso Eddy Vanoosthuyse. CLARINET CONCERTI BY WASBE COMPOSER MEMBERS TRYGVI BALDVINSSON Baldvinsson’s Concerto was written for Icelandic clarinetist Sveinhildur Torfadottir for her final examination, and was premiered in January 2003 by the Royal College of Music, Gent, conducted by the composer. The work won the Icelandic Music prize for the best new composition in 2003. It is in three movements; the first is an impressively brooding impassioned, based on the treatment of a very small motifs, mainly of alternating major/minor thirds. The second movement is very evocative, centred around perfect and augmented fourths, with little cadenza like figures, accompanied by percussion, a wonderfully lyrical slow movement. The third movement is more extrovert, beginning with a folk like section, with shifting metrical changes, eventually landing on the motif of thirds which becomes an accompaniment to a lyrical section, in turn developing to an energetic jazz-inflected theme, a blues version and a joyful coda. MARCO PÜTZ At Singapore I was very happy to introduce several works by Marco Pütz, a composer for whom I have had a high regard for many years. He writes in a traditional language, approachable by both audiences and players, but rarely lapses into the clichéd writing of so many of his colleagues. His clarinet concerto was commissioned by Don DeRoche to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary….what a great idea. It was premiered by Don’s wife Julie with Don conducting. After a very brief brass introduction, two main thematic ideas emerge, both typical of Marco’s style, the first quirky, flitting through various tonal centres, the second more lyrical, with changes of metre and nice solos for the principal wind. As a distinguished saxophone player himself, Marco knows how important it is to distribute material. There is a deeply felt slow movement based on the motif D Es C H which is basically an accompanied cadenza which runs into an exciting finale. CSABA DEAK I remember hearing Csaba Deak’s Clarinet Concerto some time ago at a symposium in Stockholm, and I was immediately struck by the drama and lyricism of the work. It is in three movements, a little over eighteen minutes in length, eighteen minutes of tightly controlled and organised musical material, with strong contrasts of emotion. This is a work which places Deak firmly in the tradition of his Hungarian contemporaries, Ligeti and Kurtag, and it appears on a disc which includes his moving Memento Mare and the impressive Symphony for Wind Orchestra. Here is a major figure whose music should be featured at WASBE Conferences. MARTIN ELLERBY Martin Ellerby’s Clarinet Concerto was premiered by Linda Merrick with the Yorkshire Wind Orchestra conducted by Keiron Anderson on 3rd December 2000. It was played at the WASBE Conference of 2001 in Luzern. Martin writes that he aimed to write a work “that would prove attractive to soloists, bands and audiences”. The opening Carousel looks towards American minimalism for its inspiration, and there is more than a hint of one of the composer’s mentors and major influences, Joseph Horovitz. The second movement Cameo begins with a fine lyrical line for the soloist, with a short contrasting more dramatic middle section of little cadenzas before a return to the optimistic lyricism of the opening, while the finale, entitled Charabanc, is a free rondo with influences from jazz and other light music. For full details of Philip Sparke’s Clarinet Concerto, please visit his website by pointing your mouse at his name above. The composer is as long-time friend of clarinettist Linda Merrick, whose PhD thesis is on the development and genesis of concertos for clarinet and concert band. The original concept was for a series of short movements, each with its own character, but the work evolved into a three movement piece. The opening movement contains much syncopation and is almost rag-like in style. The slower second movement explores initially the chalumeau register, and this leads straight into the third movement which shows the jazzy side of the clarinet. GUY WOOLFENDEN Guy’s Rondo Variations is a bon bouche of nearly nine minutes, the finale of an orchestral concerto which he wrote for the great Jack Brymer. It is deftly transcribed for wind, and inhabits the witty world of Guy’s Mockbeggar Variations, very English, full of charm and little surprises. Guy has also made an excellent transcription of Malcolm Arnold’s Pre-Goodman Rag, stylisahly recapturing the verve of the original. The most recent concerto premiered by Linda Merrick is the Clarinet Concerto by Stephen McNeff, who is composer in residence with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. McNeff’s experience in the theatre equips him well for the pull and thrust of writing a concerto. This work has intense changes of energy and atmosphere, and after a stirring introduction to the slow movement on brass, worthy of Sibelius, a theme follows of limpid unhackneyed beauty. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF REMAINING REPERTOIRE There are two major works with jazzy overtones, Stravinsky’s Ebony Concerto and Bernstein’s sole work for wind ensemble, Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, both classics, to which can be added the Artie Shaw Concerto - we must try to persuade the Stravinskys, Bernsteins and Shaws of the 21st century to write for our medium, and at the highest level this must mean the involvement of WASBE in getting international commissioning consortia together. (The web is a fantastic tool – browsed the link to Charlie Parker met Stravinsky for a fascinating read). I often find the music of both Nigel Clarke and Michael Daugherty a little aggressive for my taste, but in their major works for clarinet and wind they have both shown a new more lyrical side to their composition, and if you enjoy their music, you should get hold of these two works. Stephen Dodgson’s little Concertante Capriccioso was written for the young virtuoso Michael Collins, has happily been published recently by Dennis Wick, and remains one of his best works, with its programme making it a natural choice for a Halowe’en concert. James Fry’s Concerto for Clarinet & Wind Ensemble is on a recording made by Joseph Missal and Oklahoma State University Wind Ensemble at CBDNA in Boulder in 1995. The work is just over twelve minutes long, in two movements, and on a quick hearing I found it quite striking, a brooding opening featuring cadenzas, and a second movement of considerable energy based on folk-like material. Contact Joseph Missal Ohio State University for more information. AVANT GARDE WORKS I gave the world premiere and second performance of Philip Grange’s extraordinary Sheng Sheng Bui Shi; this is a major avant garde work, and has been rescued from oblivion by Philip Scott who has conducted two performances recently with the. Tackling this is a tough assignment, which will stretch any ensemble technically and emotionally, and Philip, soloist Sarah Williamson and the National Youth Wind Ensemble of Great Britain has recently recorded the concerto. I found Michael Finnissey’s Giant Abstract Samba hard to get into but I am assured that it is well worth the effort. Two works which we used to play reasonably frequently at the Royal Northern College of Music are the miniature concerto A Dramatic Landscape by John McLeod, written for amateur players in Peter Maxwell Davies’ Festival in Orkney, and the Double Concerto by Krommer arranged for the small early 19th century Swedish military band by the composer Crussell. This works cries out for an edition, perhaps preserving the original scoring with some modern alternatives. Robert Rumbelow’s transcription of the Mozart Concerto made for the Eastman Wind Ensemble works extraordinarily well, using as it does a slightly enlarged Harmonie ensemble. It is worth mentioning that he has also tackled the Haydn Trumpet Concerto and Mozart Oboe and Horn Concerti. I have conducted the Ponchielli which I remember as being agreeable but not as striking nor witty as the Krommer, while the Rimsky-Korsakov is a standard work, now probably getting fewer performances as more entertaining works emerge. BLACK DOG Finally one of the most effective solo works which I have conducted recently is Black Dog by the American composer, Scott McAllister. Written for Jim Croft and Frank Kowalsky and premiered at Florida State University, this is a kind of post Frank Zappa rhapsody, pools of almost silent lyricism reminding us of the start of the Copland Concerto, alternating with frenetic activity, a great piece for the soloist, players and audience. Important reference dissertation: Annotated survey of original Clarinet Concertos with Band by American Composers 1987 –1996, paper presented at RNCM, Manchester UK, CBDNA in Athens Ohio and International Clarinet Association, 1997 by David McClune, Professor of Clarinet and Director of Bands at Union University in Jackson, TN Dr. David McClune Director of Bands, Professor of Woodlands Union University 1050 Union University Dr.Jackson, TN 38305 Phone: 731/661-5294 TWENTY FIVE YEAR CELEBRATION A quarter of a century ago, a group of conductors, composers and publishers formed WASBE and BASBWE, the World Association for Symphonic Bands & Ensembles and the British Association of Symphonic Bands & Wind Ensembles. Partially thanks to this initiative, there is now an extensive “serious” international repertoire for the wind and ensemble; this is one of a series of entirely personal selections from the international repertoire for solo instruments; on my website will be found similar articles for saxophone, trumpet and trombone. Tim Reynish (timreynish@tiscali.co.uk) is formerly Head of Wind & Percussion at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester UK, and a former President of WASBE, the World Association for Symphonic Bands & Ensembles |