giant REFRESH button--dedicated to allison

Status update from #####:

"I really really hate the Nielsen concerto. Dear Clarinetists out there, any recommendations on pieces to play that make you LOVE the clarinet instead of despising it highly?"

Ahhhh, yes. Haven't we

all been there?? Kind of like in high school when you are required to read GOOD stuff, but you don't even bother because you have been TOLD to do it??

I get stuck in my own music pile. I think...ugh...this is so boring! I have ALL the major rep (I don't) and still everything sucks and I don't want to play any of it. AND it's the same crap I had 5 years ago. And 10 years ago. And...yeah. You get the point.

"So many clothes, and yet, not a single thing to wear!"

Sometimes we all need to press the giant REFRESH button on our music collection.

Last week during Spring Break, I spring cleaned

my clarinet music.

That means that I took the giant pile of music from one corner of the room and combined it with the other giant piles in other corners and went through it.

I sorted through and divided by solo, orchestral excerpts, chamber music, and misc. crap.

I even purchased crates to make the organization PERMANENT:

It has taken me roughly 20 years (in other news...OMG, I think I'm coming up on my 20 year mark of playing...???!!!!) to organize all my music.

Anyhoo...I discovered A LOT. Music I didn't know I had, stuff from forever ago that I still have memorized, that I forgot I had memorized, weird music that I probably ran through once, then put it in the giant pile, etc., etc.

Then--Bob came for Clarinet Music Day. We had wanted to educate each other regarding our own repertoire libraries in an effort to find NEW pieces for ourselves.

Bob showed up with a huuuuuuge bag of music. It was really an interesting afternoon because I really had not heard of a lot of stuff in that bag. That might have a bit to do with the fact that Bob loves to scavenge for more obscure clarinet pieces. More on that later. (Bob: send me your Garden recital rep list!)

SO...this list is Part 1 from Bob's bag-o-music. We took 2 hours chatting, ahem, "dorking out," over clarinet music, and got 1/4 way through our piles.

Here's what I wrote down from Bob's list of music I need to get/try:

1. Alexander Manevich Concerto

2. G. Meister "Erwin Fantasy"

3. Paul Reade "Suite from the Victorian Kitchen Garden"

4. Reinecke Trio for Horn, Clarinet, and Piano <---duh

5. Cavallini "Adagio-Tarentella" <---oldie/goody, have no idea where mine went...need to replace!

6. Ewazen "Ballade"

7. R.M. Endersen "Pepperino"

8. Muczynski "Time Pieces"

9. Schickele "Elegies"

10. Arnold Cooke "Sonata in B-flat"

11. Elliot Carter "Gra"

My music refreshments are:

1. Leslie Basset "Solilquies." **Esp. for Allison. This is a solo piece and it is CRAAAZY, but FUN, and interesting to hear.

2. Joan Tower "Wings" although this probably will make you hate the clarinet

3. Jean Jean "Arabesques"

4. Milhaud "Duo Concertante" <---LOVE

5. Lutoslawski "Dance Preludes" <-- from Bob, too

6. Babin "Hillandale Waltzes" <--from both of us, harder than it should be!

7. Martino "Set" <---MMMMHMMM! whatever! actually, I like this piece, but it SUUUUUUUCKS to learn

8. Sarasate "Ziguenerweisen" ("Gypsy Airs") for clarinet & piano

9. Debussy "Rhapsody" and "Petite Piece"

10. Sutermeister "Capriccio" <--I don't know why I'm including this piece. I have a serious love/hate thing with it.

11. Hindemith "Sonate"

12. Finzi "Bagatelles" <--nothing will un-burn-you-out like some good old Finzi!

13. Gershwin "Preludes" transcribed from piano--fun! challenging

14. Osborne "Rhapsody" LOVE! Thought I'd hate it, but had fun with it

15. Milhaud "Caprice" LOVE

16. Weber "Intro, Theme, and Variations" AWESOMEEEEEE <---is this originally for clarinet & string quartet?

17. Various Klezmer music will un-burn-you-out, too. I'm lucky to have quite the binder that **the only** Jewish guy in Rochester (MN...obviously) put together for me years ago.

18. Debussy transcriptions of "La fille aux cheveux de lin, etc..."

19. Ravel transcriptions "Pavane for Dead Princess" etc

20. Kreisler violin transcriptions

21. Bach violin/cello transcriptions <---this has saved me more than once from certain doom

22. Horovitz Sonatina **siiiiiiiigh**

23. Piazzolla "Tango-Études"

A Few Pieces of Standard Rep that will not make you suicidal:

1. Copland Concerto

2. Poulenc Sonata, or as I say Pou-Pou

3. In my opinion, all Weber

4. Rossini "Intro, Theme, Variations'

5. Saint-Saens "Sonata"

6. Rabaud "Contest Piece"

More to come, as Bob & I are doing Part 2 of Clarinet Music Day tomorrow. Hopefully I will be able to get some sweets from this fine establishment prior to our festivities. And let me tell you: clarinet Sunday is soooo awesome. I wish every clarinetist had the opportunity to just sit for a couple hours every week and talk and play.

So...refreshing!

xo