Clarinet: Encyclopedia II - Clarinet - Usage and repertoire of the clarinet

Clarinet - Usage and repertoire of the clarinet

Clarinet - Classical music

In classical music, clarinets are part of standard orchestral instrumentation, which frequently includes two clarinetists playing individual parts — each player usually equipped with a pair of standard clarinets in B flat and A. Clarinet sections grew larger during the 19th century, employing a third clarinetist or a bass clarinet. In the 20th century, composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Richard Strauss and Olivier Messiaen enlarged the clarinet section on occasion to up to nine players, employing many different clarinets including the Eb or D sopranino clarinets, bassett horn, bass clarinet and/or contrabass clarinet. This practice of using a variety of clarinets to achieve colouristic variety was common in 20th century music and continues today. However, many clarinetists and conductors prefer to play parts originally written for obscure instruments such as the C or D clarinets on B-flat or E-flat clarinets, which are of better quality and more prevalent and accessible.

The clarinet is widely used as a solo instrument. The relatively late evolution of the clarinet (when compared to other orchestral woodwinds) has left a considerable amount of solo repertoire from the Classical, Romantic and Modern periods but few works from the Baroque era. A number of clarinet concertos have been written to showcase the instrument, with the one by Mozart, Copland and Weber being particularly well known.

Many works of chamber music have also been written for the clarinet. Particularly common combinations are:

• clarinet and piano (including clarinet sonatas)
• clarinet, piano and another instrument (e.g. string instrument or voice)
• Clarinet Quintet, generally made up of a clarinet plus a string quartet,
• Wind Quintet, consists of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn.
• Trio d'Anches, or Trio of Reeds consists of oboe, clarinet, and bassoon.
• Wind Octet, consists of pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and horns.
• clarinet, violin, piano

Clarinet - Concert bands

In wind bands, clarinets are a particularly central part of the instrumentation, occupying the same space (and often playing the same parts) in bands that the strings do in orchestras. Bands usually include several B♭ clarinets, divided into sections each consisting of 2-3 clarinetists playing the same part. There is almost always a bass clarinet part, usually doubled at the least. Sopranino, alto, contra-alto, and contrabass clarinets are sometimes used as well.

Clarinet - Jazz

Clarinets are also commonly found in jazz, especially in its earlier forms such as the Big Band music of the 1930s and 1940s.

The clarinet was a central instrument in early jazz starting in the 1910s and remaining popular through the big band era into the 1940s. Larry Shields, Ted Lewis, Jimmie Noone and Sidney Bechet were influential in early jazz. The B flat soprano was the most common, but a few early jazz musicians such as Louis Nelson Deslile and Alcide Nunez prefered the C soprano, and many New Orleans jazz brass bands have used E flat sopranino.

Swing clarinetists such as Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and Woody Herman led perhaps the most successful popular music groups of their era.

With the decline of big bands' popularity in the late 1940s, the clarinet faded from its prominent position in jazz, though a few players (Buddy DeFranco, Jimmy Giuffre, Perry Robinson and others) used clarinet in bebop and free jazz. However, the instrument has seen something of a resurgence since the 1980s, with Eddie Daniels, Don Byron and others playing the clarinet in more contemporary contexts. The instrument remains common in such styles as Dixieland, Pete Fountain being a notable performer in this genre. One notable enthusiast is filmmaker Woody Allen, who regularly plays New Orleans-style jazz in New York.

Clarinet - Klezmer

Clarinets are also feature prominently in much Klezmer music, which requires a very distinctive style of playing.

Clarinet - Groups of clarinets

Groups of clarinets playing together have become increasingly popular among clarinet enthusiasts in recent years. Common forms are:

• clarinet choir, which features a large number of clarinets playing together, usually involving a range of different members of the clarinet family (see Family of Clarinets). The homogeneity of tone across the different members of the clarinet family produces an effect with some similarities to a human choir.
• clarinet quartet, for which three B♭ sopranos and one B♭ bass is a particularly common combination

Clarinet choirs and quartets often play arrangements of both classical and popular music, in addition to a body of literature specially written for a combination of clarinets by composers such as Arnold Cooke, Alfred Uhl, Lucien Caillet and Vaclav Nehlybel.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Usage and repertoire of the clarinet", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki