Fantasy for Cello and Clarinet in E Flat Minor, Opus 8

Thanks. ^^

I won't give much technical comment since other people have and I don't play the cello or flute (played the recorder but that's not the same). However, I listened through all of it and followed along in the score and I thought you had some nice melodic ideas.

However, there probably could be a heightened sense of direction in the composition as a whole. I can't really recall a particular climactic moment that the music was building to.

I listened to the first five minutes or so, and enjoyed it. However, I was looking over the score... As a cellist, I'll disagree slightly with oboehazzard and say that in some instances, triple stops are sustainable, as long as at least one note is an open string. But, typically, one would roll the bow across and split the chord. And, like manossq said, most of the cello chords are quite playable, but not necessarily ones you'd want to play. Any piece with six flats in a pain, anyway. M. 48 is the only impossible one I see, glancing through quickly, as manossq said.

I'd also be happy to offer my assistance for cello orchestration, along with manossq's, if you ever want it.

Actually, probably what I would do, if you wanted to have those chords played, is divide the part between two cellists.

I look forward to hearing more!

David G.

Thanks for all your help, I will consult you when the need arises to modify the orchestration a bit.

David, I would split it between two cellists if there wasn't supposed to be the simbolism I want to convey of two different instruments in a sort of "unpredictable and fraccioned dialogue".

Berlioz,

Do you have a midi of this cello-clarinet fantasy?

I'd really like to listen to the piece, but a 14 minute mp3 file is way beyond the ability of my crippled dial-up technology to download.

Sure, only it'll suck big time in MIDI, as it already does in this mp3 without the rubato or human sensitivity...

Here it is:

Not to worry Berlioz, I have a great imagination. Besides I was more interested in hearing the structure than wallowing in the great music. I think a cello and clarinet make a good couple.

I like it quite a bit. I agree with some of the others though that you may be putting most cello players to quite the test from a realistic point of view. Although I don’t play the cello so I can’t really say but a lot of those triple-note cords were pretty quick, and based on the previous discussions in this thread, it may appear that they are not easy to negotiate.

Overall I enjoyed the piece quite a bit. But I did feel that it was a bit lengthy, and dare I say, uninteresting in a few places.

I can say that I cared much for measures 540 – 593 (approximately) that particular area just struck me like it was way too far removed from spirit of the rest of the piece (my personal perceptions obviously). You did seem to make a come back to the spirit of the piece, but I just felt that the piece kind of crashed at around measure 540 or so. There were a couple other areas that seemed rather devoid of rhyme or reason and, for me, didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the piece.

Because of the size of the piece I feel that you could afford to drop a few of the lesser interesting spots or at least shorten their duration. For me, they actually distracted from what would have otherwise been a very interesting piece.

For the vast majority of it though, I though it was great!

Thanks for posting the midi file. I’m glad to have had a chance to experience your work.