Intermezzo, bass clarinet and piano

Here is a fairly short and straightforward piece for bass clarinet and piano. Formwise, it is perhaps the most old-fashioned thing I have, as I had sonata form consciously in mind while writing it. I hope you enjoy it!

This also represents my first typesetting experience with GNU Lilypond. I had a lot of fun doing it (call me crazy) and I learned a lot about my own piece as well since I wrote this into Finale first and then re-engraved it with Lilypond. I was able to make some revisions accordingly.

The score

The music

This is beautiful! :-) I love the sound, the texture and the music that seems to flow seamlessly from beginning to end as if a single stream of thought. I especially enjoyed the punchy quarter-note chords/clusters in contrast to the moving 16ths.

Excellent ! Was it your intention to cover the clarinet with the piano chords at mes. 136 ? In fact, a ff with normal accent are equal to fff at the piano and a ff at the clarinet isn't equal to a piano's ff. I like the conclusion, but I thought hear -imho- the 16th notes continuing their ascent/rise (with the accented chords naturally) =D

It's not short, it's very very cool and a perfect work for chamber music !

The piece is technically fine and uses the bass clarinet in an idiomatic way. There are a lot of notation errors (mostly related to meter), and personally I dislike how you set some of the accidentals.

Otherwise, nice piece!

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I've always thought of accents as not merely meaning the next dynamic level, but a certain way of playing those particular notes. The piano here is playing perhaps too extreme in that passage, but a good pianist would be able to determine how loud to play to make both parts fit together. In that passage, the piano has the more striking material, with the bass clarinet having fragmented riffs to provide a backdrop. But in that instance, yes, the attention does go to the piano, which is the reason for the ffs. To a good performer dynamics are relative and not objective.

flint-wwrr, would you care to elaborate on the notation errors? I had to make some compromises here, because the very frequent hemiolas led me to decide to beam the 8th and 16th notes in a way that would make their phrasing clear - sometimes I feel that phrasing marks aren't enough to visually convey what you want. I used a lot of cautionary accidentals because there are a lot of flats and sharps and they change frequently - I think it is better to err on the side of caution.

Lovely piece.

I enjoy the rhythmic contrasts, the motives, the clarinet writing. I was worried some of the stuff in the lower register might have been unslurrable (...) but Flint has given it the OK.

Anyway, it was just really nice to listen to. Flowed very well.

As a bass clarinetist (unlike many, b.cl is my primary instrument and the Bb is my secondary), I'm glad someone here has written something for solo bass clarinet. I printed out the sheet music if you don't mind and ran through the bass clarinet part a few times and it is very nice. It is fairly reminiscent of Bozza's balade for bass clarinet, and I am glad you utilized nearly all registers of the instrument. I encourage you to explore the depths of the b.cl range (down to written low C), which most professional/college-level instruments have! I can definitely see this piece being used for all-state level auditions if you are planning on getting it published. As for the "unslurrable-ness" in the lower register, it's actually easier to slur in the lower register than to tongue rapidly. If I can perhaps learn the piece when I have a chance I could give you a live recording ;)

Daniel, thank you. I was an enjoyable experience to write - sometimes writing can seem agonizing but this was not the case in this particular piece.

cb3930, I'm glad a bass clarinetist gives it the thumbs up. I was wondering how common those low notes were on instruments and I will trust your judgment. The low register of the bass clarinet is my favorite register, it can add such a beautiful color in an ensemble, in my opinion. I think it is very much underused compared to its woodwind relative the bassoon.