Thought I'd break this off from my other thread for separate discussion.

Here's a bit of background to what I posted earlier : I'm involved in a little "music by candelight" concert next Friday at church. I will be playing unaccompanied (this is now confirmed. I was hoping I might have the chance to be accompanied but that is no longer an option. The lady concerned has too much on to take on any new music and the church does not have a proper piano either. It'll be a portable keyboard type thing which is not full size.)

Anyway as posted in the other thread:

It was suggested that, even though my teacher thinks that with careful use of rhubato and a few careful cuts this should work, it might not be the best choice....

So any alternative suggestions??

Criteria: Not too long (whole thing only lasts 1hr)
I need to know it already or it needs to be straightforward as I now have only a week.
It has to be something I already have access to as too late to go buy anything.

In the absence of any better achieveable ideas I will stick with the kitchen garden and at least the Prelude .... other aspects up for discussion.....

If you can find an arrangement of something like Gershwin's 'Summertime', I think that'd work well

Of the pieces I know you can play well, I would suggest;

No. 5 of the English Folk song studies - Vaughan Williams.

Sicilienne - Paradis

Romanze - Reger

They all have more or less continuous clarinet with no gaps whilst the piano is playing. Maybe you could do the Folk song and Sicilienne - they are both short.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I still am inclined to agree with my teacher that the Kitchen garden prelude sounds ok unaccompanied and is much more atmospheric than some of the other suggestions. There's still the smallest chance I could coax the other lady into havng a go for me on the Friday rehearsal before the event. Is the piano part particularly challenging???? (maybe this is all wishful thinking....)

Anyway: My plan this morning is to play these pieces and record them so I can truly see what I think later...

I'll try your suggestions too Oldnotes

Well off I go to

As I said in your other thread, if it works for you then do it.
I'm sure that if you are convinced by it then it will be fine.
It's obviously a piace you like which counts for a lot.

Conclusion: The kitchen garden Pieces sound best when recorded. Would be better with the piano/harp though but that's not to be.

Another contender possibly though.... Rachmaninov's Vocalise?????

Vocalise might work (was looking at it but got it taken off me for now after I had a bit of an overload problem...) but for me I found it made a lot more sense with the accompaniment. You are a much more advanced player than me so you'd probably pull it off unaccompanied but better.

Have you any of the Mozart Divertimenti? I'm looking at no.2 at the moment and I think that would stand alone. Don't know the others but they might too... or at least some movements.

OOh - I would second that! You are way ahead of me as a player but I would be inclined to keep it simple and pick something which you can play really, really well - go for the dynamics and playing style, rather than picking something you're going to have to practise like mad to have ready in time. I love playing Gershwin, so I'm biased anyway!

Just another thought... I realise that it won't be particularly challenging for you but given that you will be playing in a candlelit church, hopefully with some wonderful acoustics, have you considered Ave Maria? Played well (as I'm quite sure it would be!) I think this would be absolutely breathtaking in that setting!

More generally, I don't think you could go too far wrong with anything which was originally written for voice but at the end of the day, it's about what you feel happy playing!

I would say play something from your books which the audience will recognise. I agree with clarijo that Ave Maria would be wonderful

Sboha: haven't the foggiest with the Mozart Divertimenti and don't posess them I'm afraid.

Barry and Clarijo: Gershwin would be great but I don't have and can't locate on free scores etc....

Like the Ave Maria idea..... may have that in one of my guest spot books. Do you think it needs the Cd??? as I'd rather not bother with recorded accompaniment in this setting
or will it stand alone?????

Like you Sboha I'm unsure of parts of the vocalise without accomp but think it'd be doable....


Now the programe will already be done and will list the Victorian kitchen garden....

There's a young girl hopefully coming back from Cheathams to play. If so I think she's playing a sonata (flute). So I kind of want to keep up the standard. I know it's not a competition and there are a lot of relative beginners playing too.

I'm also involved in singing John Rutter's "Look at the World"

I think the idea was maybe to stay away from overtly religious music as a rule though.

I think I'll probably stick with the Kitchen Garden (selected movements) as I've practised them up but in case I need another piece or two to fill in any spaces I'll have a look at Ave Maria and maybe Vocalise unless I can find Summertime or similar.....

Thanks for allowing me to talk this out. Keep your feedback/opinions coming. I still have a week

I do indeed have a copy of Ave Maria. Will try it later....

Also guess what I just found!!!!! A Bb clarinet only copy of the Schumann Fantasy pieces!!!!! That's teh part that was missing from my ebay purchase earlier this year!! i can now attempt them. A cursory look suggests same key so will fit with piano.


A part : 3 flats starts on Eb
Bbpart: 2 sharps starts on D!!!


:hurray: So guess what else i'll be trying later!!!

Also found another couple of duet books and a clari/piano version of "pop go the classics"

Hi Dawn - just a line to let you know that you can download a free copy of Ave Maria from 8notes.com, if you want to compare it with yours. And yes, I have heard it done unaccompanied and I think it stands up beautifully! Pity about the Gershwin - I have a copy of Easy Gershwin for Clarinet and Piano but it's for grade 5 and under and I think you would want to play from the 'real' arrangements anyway! Do let us know what you decide to do!

Hi DawnF,

I have a haunting little piece called 'Lament' that would sound amazing in the church, the reverb would really make it so special. Although it's written with simple piano accompaniment, it would work well unaccompanied. You can hear it here; http://www.reverbnation.com/keridegg

click on the bottom track; 'Lament (Clarinet)'

If you think it may be useful just drop me a message and i can zap it over to you. I do have the backing track too if you wanted it.

I'm sure you'll be fab, and enjoy it!

Saxgirl

http://www.keridegg.co.uk

That's lovely music. I've pm'd you. Really kind too

Just to say.... Having had a go at it Saxgirl's composition is a very strong contender..... I think it would work wonderfully. BUT I might slot some of the Kitchen Garden in as well.

Think Ave Maria is not for this occasion but I was once asked by the previous Vicar if I'd mind playing something in church - maybe at communion or as people were arriving and I think this would be ideal if not too intrusive at communion. I''m never too sure about this.

So I'll store it for a future more religious based occasion - Maybe Christmas????

Thanks all for your suggestions/feeback. I do value them even if it might seem I've "stuck to my guns" a bit on this one.

I'll let you know how I get on.

I'm pleased that you've got a decision.
Now enjoy the concert.

Thankyou I just need to ask for my extra slot. I can probably get away with it as neither is too long and i did say i had two pieces ...

Nothing wrong with sticking to your guns! I think the Kitchen Garden pieces are beautiful accompanied or un-accompanied and at leat without accompaniment you can add more romantic rubato as the mood takes you.Anyway now that you have decided (more or less) that stress is removed and you can just concentrate on your playing and having a wonderful time. Go DawnF

All the best with the concert Dawn : I'm sure you'll do well

Thankyou BC and Clarimoo.

You'll be brilliant!....enjoy!

Saxgirl
xxx



http://www.keridegg.co.uk

to hear me performing a selection of recent compositions, please visit; http://www.reverbnation.com/keridegg

Well tomorrow night is the night..........


I gave a little preview performance to some friends this evening and they liked what they heard. And I didn't have my best reed on and didn't give my best performance as wasn't expecting to do this - tired lip too after playing bass. So tomorrow should be great Wish me luck ......

I'm thinking of introducing the pieces like this:


‘The Victorian Kitchen Garden'
This piece may be familiar to some of you. It was originally composed as the theme tune and background music to the BBC TV series ‘The Victorian Kitchen Garden' which went behind the high redbrick walls of Chilton Foliat in Berkshire to follow the restoration of a traditional kitchen garden. The garden was painstakingly transformed from weed-choked ground, by retired head gardener Harry Dodson, into an efficient and productive plot which was cultivated with the use of Victorian tools and techniques and planted with 19th century varieties of flowers, fruit and vegetables.
The music, composed by Paul Reade, was performed for the TV series by virtuoso clarinttist Emma Johnson accompanied by a harpist and it was the winner of the 1991 Ivor Novello Award for Best TV Theme.
Tonight I am going to perform three short movements from the suite, which on this occasion will be unaccompanied. They are, in order, the “Prelude” – which is slow and serene and 'sets the scene' or mood of the suite. Then follows “Spring” - a very short and lively piece conatining musical snippets indicative of birds twittering. Finally I will play “Summer” - A Flowing piece reminiscent of lazy summer days.


Lament
This piece was written by a little known Composer, Musician and Teacher based in Derbyshire called Keri Degg. She has kindly given me the music and full permission to perform it tonight. It is from a collection called “Mixed Bag of Styles” in which each piece is inspired and dedicated to a pupil. All her music is available through her website.This is what she says about this piece:
It's written for Sadie who shares my love of Irish laments, but is also inspired by a moment of quiet time where I imagined the pain of the fathers heart as he looks at his earth and how its people treat one another. Written in G minor the lament is played as a cry from the solo instrument with a repeated tenuto crotchet theme from the piano (like a lonely bell chime). The middle section briefly reverts to G major almost in remembrance of more positive times. The original theme returns to end the piece on a very contemplative note.

Sound Ok??

(If I don't manage to obtain piano accomp for lament I'll miss the bit about the piano note out

Looks good.

Only thing I'd possibly add is Keri being a first choice saxophonist somewhere.

All the best Dawn!

Thankyou.

(Spoken to Keri separately )

Just to update. Concert went down really well. Very favourable comments on my playing too. Particularly the Kitchen Garden. One lady said "That was amazing! Really really good! I've never been a fan of clarinet but do you know what? That might just have changed my mind!"

Unfortunately the balance was all wrong for lament and the piano/keyboard came over far too loud Not my fault or the pianist's - just a shame really. I nearly stopped and asked to readjust but then wondered if it was just that I was so close to the speaker so opted to just play up and hope the mic picked me up enough. was a bit of a battle though and unfortunately the haunting nature was lost somewhat. A real shame as it sounded Gorgeous (Yes with a capital G!) this morning. Think I'll have to air it again at some time in the future.


And you know what surprised me??? I wasn't at all nervous when it came down to it

The bass clari number went well too and the kids were great I'm hoping there's going to be another one sometime....

Well done Dawn! Glad you had a good time. It's possible that the levels sounded fine to the audience. I remember when I was asked to play at my boyfriend's grandad's funeral and I actually composed a piece for clarinet and piano. However not having a live pianist I had to provide a backing track to play along to. The piece had a short piano introduction and I remember when they started playing it that it was so quiet sounding. When I first started to play I was shaking because I couldn't hear the piano part properly and thought that I was going to mess the whole thing up. Luckily the guy in charge of the CD turned it up but it wasn't amazingly loud after that. However I managed to get through the piece, although I think I was probably occasionally just ahead or behind the beat. Afterwards my boyfriend said that they could hear the piano part so it was just from my position I think.

Hopefully you'll find another opportunity to pay again soon! Lucid

Thanks for that Lucid Maybe it wasn't so bad at the back but around where We were sitting (my family and I when not performing) a few rows from the front it was commented that the piano was just too loud and that it spoiled it somewhat. No point dwelling on it but I was sooo looking forward to this piece in church with the reverb it was just a bit of a let down. The pianist did turn down a bit but when we'd checked levels this morning she'd not been linked through a speaker.... I do now wish that I'd stopped , thet we'd readjusted the volume and restarted but it's difficult to know what to do for the best in that situation and when tuning it hadn't seemed so loud anyway.... It'd still be nice to do this in church again with a better balance. Will be awaiting an opportunity ...

Glad it went well Dawn. Sounds like a good experience before our December concert. See you Tuesday.

Well done Dawn : glad you enjoyed it, and that you got positive comments afterwards.

Thanks Oldnotes and Barry

Hi Dawn - glad it went well! Meant to send you a good luck message yesterday but had one of those days! I did listen to Lament and thought it was beautiful - hope you get an opportunity to play it again somewhere!