Concertante in C minor for Bass Clarinet and Piano

Everyone here on YC seems like wonderful and well intentioned people, but as a person who is working to make a living as a composer, no matter how generous or tempting it is to want to share a score I have to protect my interests first. I'm still working on having my works published and well known so there has to be some wisdom on my part in sharing a score online.
I don't have a problem with others learning from me by studying a score of mine. However, if everything that is unique to me as a composer was always studied and assimilated I would consider myself robbed in a way.

I totally understand where you are coming from. One of my solutions is not to post a Finale score unless it is an excersize or something that I want to distribute for free. For most other works, posting a Midi file is a reasonable compromise, but articulations, grace notes, enharmonic spellings, words, and formatting in general etc. get lost in the translation. I can't really do a thourough critique/analysis of works submitted in this form. If you want to communicate those visually, I pdf the score and include a copyright notice. Then, if someone really wants to plagarize, they have to do it from scratch. I've already done this a few times and I think this will be my preferred method in the future - e.g., Post a link to and mp3 and provide a score in pdf format.

Certainly, this is a point of concern that deserves a lot of attention and further disscussion.

Majesty, Thank you for posting a score. As I mentioned previously, this is something that needs to be discussed at more length here. We need to find a way to have the composers that post here (myself included) feel as secure as possible about these things.

Now, on to your piece. This piece is a lot of fun. I especially like the polyrhythmic runs (like at m. 5) and the little motifs in the clarinet (like at m. 7,8,9,10).

One thing that would concern me if I were writing it - and I’m not a wind player at all so this may be totally off-base - is the sixteenth note patterns (like at m. 3) that are mimicked in the piano accompaniment. It just seems to me, from an arranging point of view, that the piano is unnecessarily doubling the clarinet. Sometimes note for note, although never for too long.

For instance, at m.4, take out the F#s and the cl. Is playing DDCDDC, while the piano is playing all Ds and doubling the F# on the off-beats. It just seems that the piano accompaniment is stealing the soloist’s thunder so to speak. I don’t know if this makes any sense but to put it another way, the subtle ways that a clarinetist might interpret this may tend to get masked by the piano, which is not really accompanying so much as doubling in places. Well, pseudo doubling.

Like I said, it’s not so much a criticism as it is a concern. And you may be more in touch with how this will sound with real instruments that than I am. But even playing it in Finale, the clarinet tends to get lost in the mix quite often when playing that particular figure. My solution, (if your interested) would simply be to make the piano rhythms more contrasting here - Maybe dotted quarter - sixteenth or sixteenth - eighth - sixteenth figures - or whatever. - maybe even more quarter-notey - heck, less may be better than more in this particular case - because it will feature the soloist more.

Anyways, very nice work.

Majesty, Thank you for posting a score. As I mentioned previously, this is something that needs to be discussed at more length here. We need to find a way to have the composers that post here (myself included) feel as secure as possible about these things.

Now, on to your piece. This piece is a lot of fun. I especially like the polyrhythmic runs (like at m. 5) and the little motifs in the clarinet (like at m. 7,8,9,10).

One thing that would concern me if I were writing it - and I’m not a wind player at all so this may be totally off-base - is the sixteenth note patterns (like at m. 3) that are mimicked in the piano accompaniment. It just seems to me, from an arranging point of view, that the piano is unnecessarily doubling the clarinet. Sometimes note for note, although never for too long.

For instance, at m.4, take out the F#s and the cl. Is playing DDCDDC, while the piano is playing all Ds and doubling the F# on the off-beats. It just seems that the piano accompaniment is stealing the soloist’s thunder so to speak. I don’t know if this makes any sense but to put it another way, the subtle ways that a clarinetist might interpret this may tend to get masked by the piano, which is not really accompanying so much as doubling in places. Well, pseudo doubling.

Like I said, it’s not so much a criticism as it is a concern. And you may be more in touch with how this will sound with real instruments that than I am. But even playing it in Finale, the clarinet tends to get lost in the mix quite often when playing that particular figure. My solution, (if your interested) would simply be to make the piano rhythms more contrasting here - Maybe dotted quarter - sixteenth or sixteenth - eighth - sixteenth figures - or whatever. - maybe even more quarter-notey - heck, less may be better than more in this particular case - because it will feature the soloist more.

Anyways, very nice work.

Thank you for your comments and analysis. Your concerns for the pseudo doubling is justified. Normally,
I would have been just as concerned. But in this case the piano and bass clarinet have such different timbres and the pseudo doublings usually occur in different octaves. Also, I'm not sure if you are familiar with the 'symphony concertante' style. In this style the soloists and ensemble aren't always as seen as separate entities. At times the soloist(s) will loose their "thunder" but the timbre of the instrument will speak. Therefore there is usually a back and forth thing going on between the soloist(s) and ensemble. I tried to use that concept in this concertante as my ideas was to depict two distinct personalities fused/intermingled together in friendship as well as back and forth converstation. Yet, at times the unique personality of the Bass Clarinet shines out by itself as the featured solo. I'm not entirely sure if by others perception of the piece that I conveyed the concept successfully or not. But, I truly understand what you are saying and what the concerns are and I will definitely take a listen to the performance keeps those things in mind.

Thanks!

But in this case the piano and bass clarinet have such different timbres and the pseudo doublings usually occur in different octaves.[/b]

I did notice this.

Also, I'm not sure if you are familiar with the 'symphony concertante' style. In this style the soloists and ensemble aren't always as seen as separate entities. At times the soloist(s) will loose their "thunder" but the timbre of the instrument will speak. Therefore there is usually a back and forth thing going on between the soloist(s) and ensemble. I tried to use that concept in this concertante as my ideas was to depict two distinct personalities fused/intermingled together in friendship as well as back and forth converstation. Yet, at times the unique personality of the Bass Clarinet shines out by itself as the featured solo.[/b]

I wasn't familiar with the style - but it makes sense - and it may very well help to break things up texturally. Thank you for enlightening me.

I did notice this.
I wasn't familiar with the style - but it makes sense - and it may very well help to break things up texturally. Thank you for enlightening me.

Well like I said, I hope that what I was trying to musically convey was succesful to the listeners. But, I guess it wasn't clear to you so perhaps I could have taken a different approach. So, thank you for pointing it out to me and making me even more aware. Your review was very helpful and appreciated.