Notes for Clarinetists: A Guide to the Repertoire

by Albert R. Rice

Overview

Notes for Clarinetists: A Guide to the Repertoire offers important historical and analytical information about thirty-five of the best-known pieces written for the instrument. Numerous contextual and theoretical insights make it an essential resource for professional, amateur, and student clarinetists. With engaging prose supported by fact-filled analytical charts, the book offers rich biographical information and informative analyses to help clarinetists gain a more complete understanding of Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo by Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland's Concerto for Clarinet, String Orchestra, Harp, and Piano, Robert Schumann's Fantasy Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 73. and Time Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 43. by Robert Muczynski, among many others.

With close attention to matters of context, style, and harmonic and formal analysis, Albert Rice explores a significant portion of the repertoire, and offers a faithful and comprehensive guide that includes works by Boulez, Brahms, and Mozart to Hindemith, Poulenc, and Stamitz. Rice includes biographical information on each composer and highlights history's impact on the creation and performance of important works for clarinet.

Intended as a starting point for connecting performance studies with scholarship, Rice's analysis will help clarinetists gain a more complete picture of a given work. Its valuable insights make it essential to musicians preparing and presenting programs, and its detailed historical information about the work and composer will encourage readers to explore other works in a similarly analytical way. Covering concertos, chamber pieces, and works for solo clarinet, Rice presents Notes for Clarinetists as an indispensable handbook for students and professionals alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190205218
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/09/2017
Series:	Notes for Performers
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Albert R. Rice holds a Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University. He is a clarinetist, author, researcher, appraiser of musical instruments, past president of the American Musical Instrument Society, and review editor for the AMIS Journal and Newsletter. He has written three books on the history of the clarinet, published by Oxford University Press, and Four Centuries of Musical Instruments: the Catalog of the Marlowe A. Sigal Musical Instrument Collection, published by Schiffer Publications. He is also a retired librarian, and was a musical instrument museum curator. In 2011, he was awarded the American Musical Instrument Society's Curt Sachs Prize honoring lifetime devotion to scholarship related to musical instruments, and the 2011 Nicholas Besseraboff Prize for the most distinguished book-length work in English published in 2009 which best furthers the Society's goal "to promote study of the history, design, and use of musical instruments in all cultures and from all periods."

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Dedication
Table of Contents
Preface
Abbreviations

Chapter 1 Arthur Benjamin, Le Tombeau de Ravel Valse-Caprices for clarinet and piano
Chapter 2 Alban Berg, Four pieces for clarinet and piano, op. 5
Chapter 3 Luciano Berio, Sequenza IXa for clarinet solo
Chapter 4 Leonard Bernstein, Sonata for clarinet and piano
Chapter 5 Pierre Boulez, Domaines for clarinet alone
Chapter 6 Johannes Brahms, Sonata for clarinet and piano, op. 120, no. 1
Chapter 7 Aaron Copland, Concerto for clarinet, string orchestra, harp, and piano
Chapter 8 Bernhard Henrik Crusell, Concerto for clarinet and orchestra, op. 5
Chapter 9 Claude Debussy, Première Rhapsodie for clarinet and piano
Chapter 10 Gerald Finzi, Five Bagatelles for clarinet and piano, op. 23
Chapter 11 Jean Françaix, Concerto for clarinet and orchestra
Chapter 12 Paul Hindemith, Sonata for clarinet and piano
Chapter 13 Franz Krommer, Concerto for clarinet and orchestra, op. 36
Chapter 14 Jean-Xavier Lefèvre, Sonata for clarinet and bass, op. 12, no. 1
Chapter 15 Witold Lutosawski, Dance Preludes for clarinet and piano
Chapter 16 Donald Martino, A set for clarinet unaccompanied
Chapter 17 Bohuslav Martinu, Sonatina for clarinet and piano
Chapter 18 Darius Milhaud, Sonatina for clarinet and piano, op. 100
Chapter 19 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Concerto for clarinet and orchestra, K. 622
Chapter 20 Robert Muczynski, Time pieces for clarinet and piano, op. 43
Chapter 21 Carl Nielsen, Concerto for clarinet and orchestra, op. 57
Chapter 22 Krzysztof Penderecki, Three miniatures for clarinet and piano
Chapter 23 Francis Poulenc, Sonata for clarinet and piano
Chapter 24 Max Reger, Sonata for clarinet and piano, op. 107
Chapter 25 Gioachino Rossini, Introduction, theme & variations for clarinet & orchestra
Chapter 26 Archduke Rudolph of Austria, Sonata for clarinet and piano, op. 2
Chapter 27 Camille Saint-Saëns, Sonata for clarinet and piano, op. 162
Chapter 28 Robert Schumann, Fantasy pieces for clarinet and piano, op. 73
Chapter 29 William O. Smith, Variants for solo clarinet
Chapter 30 Louis Spohr, Concerto for clarinet and orchestra, op. 26
Chapter 31 Johann Stamitz, Concerto for clarinet and orchestra
Chapter 32 Karlheinz Stockhausen, Der Kleine Harlekin für Klarinette, Werk Nr. 42½
Chapter 33 Igor Stravinsky, Three pieces for clarinet solo
Chapter 34 Antoni Szalowki, Sonatina for clarinet and piano
Chapter 35 Carl Maria von Weber, Grand duo concertant for clarinet and piano, op. 48

Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"...A book full of fascinating and useful information. Belongs on the desk of every clarinetist and clarinet teacher..."—Dr. David Ross, Professor of Music, University of Texas at El Paso, Noted Clarinet Historian

"Notes for Clarinetists shows that Albert Rice is not only one of the foremost historians of the clarinet, but also a thoughtful and accomplished musician. The book will be of great help to clarinetists as they prepare for performances of the significant repertoire it covers. Each essay provides a wealth of information that will surely be an indispensible resource deserving a place on every clarinetist's bookshelf."—Jane Ellsworth, Professor of Music, Eastern Washington University

"With clear and precise prose, the chosen point of view for analysis of each work is eminently practical and designed for the reader to easily identify the most important points [of each piece]...The book's utility, especially for professors and practitioners, is indisputable. We all know how frequently print editions include mistakes. Rice, through his thorough research, anticipates these errors, always providing corrections and naming sources...Notes for Clarinetists [is] an indispensable tool for professional clarinetists, professors, students, amateurs and researchers." —Quodlibet

[Albert Rice] presents information that will shape and deepen a performance. While every sentence in this invaluable reference is packed with content, the book is an easy, enjoyable and fascinating read. Each entry includes analytical charts or musical examples to allow the performer to better understand how the music is structured...Notes for Clarinetists will quickly become a go-to book for clarinetists of all levels, from amateurs and students to top professionals."—The Clarinet

"Rice, a prolific writer-researcher on the development of the clarinet, has now published a book on this instrument's repertory. The 35 works chosen for inclusion are commonly performed by advanced students, and lean toward the serious works in the repertory: one quarter are standard concertos (Mozart, Spohr, Copland, and Nielsen) and less-familiar ones (Crussell, Krommer, Françaix, and Stamitz)...He is the recipient of the Besseraboff and Curt Sachs prizes from the American Musical Instrument Society, of which he is a past president" — Choice, C.A. Kolczynski

"Notes for Clarinetists also fills a gap in clarinet scholarship. While numerous books cover the history of the instrument, performance techniques, individual composers, or specific pieces, there have been few surveys of the core repertoire for the instrument. Rice's volume achieves this admirably. It provides a treasure trove of information that can get any clarinetist started on the road to understanding and performing some of the most important pieces in the repertoire. While each chapter provides a snapshot of a musical work, the organizational formula ties the individual chapters together in a cohesive whole. Rice's enthusiasm for the literature is evident throughout, making this an informative and enjoyable read. Notes for Clarinetists deserves a place on every clarinetist's shelf." —Notes

From the Publisher