Unsung Clarinet Works

[SadRobotSings]

Hey everyone, I have two Masters recitals coming up this year and I'm hoping to program some things that are out of the ordinary. I have a few ideas already but I thought I'd ask, what are your favorite unsung works for clarinet and piano? My most recent discovery is a Sonata by Giacomo Setaccioli that I think is really fantastic. I've been trying to get my hands on the music for sonatas by Leo Sowerby (unrecorded as far as I know) and Adolf Busch (recorded, but hard to get) as well.

Anyway, let me know your favorites!

[mbhaub]

How out of the ordinary is the Reinecke Fantasiestuck op 22? I've heard it played once at a recital - BA level though, maybe not hard enough for a Masters. Beautiful music, though. The piano part is not trivial.

[eschiss1]

I mostly know it in its usual form as Josef Rheinberger's 2nd violin sonata (E minor, 1877), but I think I have heard the clarinet version - arranged in ? published in? 1893 (in E-flat minor) - at least once; in any case, a fine piece with a memorable slow movement and a passionate finale. (The outer movements are mostly tougher in the transposed key - certainly for the pianist, I'd think, anyway?- but the slow movement ends up in B-flat rather than B major that way, too, so...)

BTW IMSLP lists some 40 pages with clarinet sonatas or somesuch (or which are sonatas and have clarinet arrangements on the page, etc.) (and more with works that aren't sonatas but are for clarinet and piano, of course). This includes works I haven't heard but which look interesting anyway e.g. Daniel Mason's sonata, Gretchaninov's 2nd sonata, Gouvy, Juon... Draeseke's sonata, which I have heard and very strongly recommend, is also on the site. (As is the Setaccioli you mention. Hrm. I wonder if Scontrino's little pieces for clarinet and piano, likewise recorded on Naxos awhile back I think- the Bozzetti...- are too?... though for myself if I want to recommend anything by Scontrino to anyone it's his string quartets, to quartets of course ... meanwhile, we also have Mendelssohn's still fairly obscure early clarinet sonata (1824?) (ms scan) ...

(As for works "for clarinet and piano" just generally from Classical-to-Modern, on the same site, one could try this page and further subdivide, or this for the current whole list, at least until more are uploaded etc.)
(Among more recent works in a Romantic-influenced vein, the late Belgian Willy Ostijn composed 4 Dances and a Canzon for clarinet and piano one can find, courtesy of typesets and uploads by his nephew, on IMSLP. See Canzon; 4 Dances (with a recording of the first, "Bolero", to listen to.)
Sorry not to be able to be more help just now though.

Martinu and Weinberg also wrote fine chamber works for clarinet and piano, but even further outside the range of this forum, I guess...

[Alan Howe]

Draeseke's Clarinet Sonata is a wonderfully sunny and memorable work.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Josef Holbrooke's Clarinet Quintet is one of his finest works,

[edurban]

York Bowen wrote a late (1943) but still Romantic, clarinet sonata. 

An earlier example from the States, as mentioned by Eric, is Daniel Gregory Mason's sonata of 1912-15, published in 1920.

Both works have been recorded.

David

[Martin Eastick]

Having done quite a lot of exploring the clarinet & piano repertoire for our own concerts in the past, I can offer a few suggestions as follows:
Ebenezer Prout: Sonata in D Op26 (clarinet in A). William Henry Hadow: Sonata in G major (1897) (cl.in A). Charles Swinnerton Heap: Sonata in B flat (1879). August Winding: 3 Fantasiestucke Op19. Ignace Dobrzynski: Grand Duo Op47. Carl Reissiger: Duo Brillante Op130.
Perhaps you already know some of these works, but certainly any would make an interesting alternative to the usual fare persistently offered!

[chill319]

You won't go wrong with clarinet sonatas by Draeseke and Bax, two of the greatest lesser-known composers.

[minacciosa]

Do check out Egon Kornauth's wonderful Clarinet Quintet Op.33, as well as his early Viola Sonata Op.3, which he designates as also for clarinet. You might also investigate Johanna Senftner's substantial Clarinet Sonata, Franz Schmidt's two Quintets (with piano left-hand), or Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Clarinet Quintet. I will enthusiastically second the recommendations of the Bax and Bowen sonatas; they are both excellent.

[dax]

Do you know the Gunter Raphael Sonata? It's on YouTube.

[TerraEpon]

Allow me to recommend Antonio Casimir Cartellieri, who wrote at least three concertos (two movements of #2 lost), a double concerto, and five quartets. All of it is wonderfully tuneful early romantic/late classical stuff (1772-1806, so comparable to Beethoven and Reicha).

[eschiss1]

There's a fair amount of undersung music (and sung, and arrangements of both for ensembles with clarinet) listed on this page of the Clarinet Institute. (Some of the works listed there, like Mayeur's quartet and NH Rice's quintet e.g., are also available in score and/or parts at IMSLP via Sibley/Rochester, or etc. etc. etc. ...)

Let's see - Spohr was only one of several composers of the Romantic era to compose lieder with clarinet parts obbligato? (Hrm... Worldcat lists quite a few hits for "musical score" & lieder & clarinet , not all in the Romantic era or from unsung composers of course.)

[mbhaub]

Just so happens this weekend I'm playing in a concert featuring Bruch's Double Concerto for viola, clarinet and orchestra - a work previously unknown to me. It's great! The last movement is quite exhilarating, the first two very beautiful and gorgeously scored. I know the Bruch symphonies and "the" violin concerto, but that's about it. This double concerto took me by surprise. Fortunately, the two soloists are superb.

[Jonathan]

I agree about the Bruch - it is a lovely work!

How about Coleridge-Taylor's Clarinet Quintet recorded on this disc:

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67590&vw=dc

I bought this last week (when it was in the sale) but have yet to hear it.  Might have time tomorrow!

[semloh]

The original request from SadRobotSings was for suggestions for a work featuring clarinet and piano, and since it refers to two sonatas, I had the impression it was for these two instruments only. I may be wrong, but if that's the case, I don't think we've been particularly helpful.

In addition to the superb Sonata in B-flat for Clarinet & Piano, Op.38 by DRAESEKE, as mentioned previously, the following works for clarinet & piano may be worth considering:

ALWYN - Clarinet Sonatina, Op.29
BAX - Clarinet Sonata
BERNSTEIN - Sonata for Clarinet & Piano
BLISS - Pastorale for Clarinet & piano (op. posth)
BURGMÜLLER - Duo in E-flat for Clarinet and Piano, Op.15
IRELAND - Fantasy Sonata in E flat for Clarinet & Piano
JENNER - Sonata for clarinet and piano in G major, Op.5
MENDELSSOHN - Konzertstücke, Opp.113 & 114; Sonata for Clarinet & Piano
MILHAUD - Scaramouche (arr. clarinet & piano); Suite for violin, clarinet & piano, Op.157b
RIES - Clarinet Sonatas, Op.29 & Op.169
SAINT-SAENS - Tarantella for Clarinet & Fortepiano, Op.6; Clarinet Sonata, Op.167
SCHUMANN - Fantasiestucke for Piano & Cello (arr. clarinet), Op.73
STANFORD - Clarinet Sonata, Op.129
STRAUSS, R - Romance for clarinet & piano, AV61
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS - Six Studies in English Folk Song (clarinet & piano)
WIDOR - Introduction & Rondo, Op.72 – for clarinet & piano.

In addition, there's a host of very approachable pieces for clarinet & piano by BUSONI and REBAY (the latter on Brilliant Classics CD)

Obviously, most of these fall outside the remit of UC, and I'm not sure how many are neglected in performance, so apologies to my co-administrators!  My personal favourite is the Vaughan Williams arrangement, maybe the least neglected of the works listed, and certainly one of the most beautiful.