An Exploration of Late Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Clarinet Repertoire

Southern Illinois University Carbondale OpenSIUC Research Papers Graduate School Spring 2021 An Exploration of Late Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Clarinet Repertoire Grace Talaski [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/gs_rp Recommended Citation Talaski, Grace. "An Exploration of Late Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Clarinet Repertoire." (Spring 2021). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at OpenSIUC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Research Papers by an authorized administrator of OpenSIUC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AN EXPLORATION OF LATE TWENTIETH AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY CLARINET REPERTOIRE by Grace Talaski B.A., Albion College, 2017 A Research Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Music School of Music in the Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale April 2, 2021 Copyright by Grace Talaski, 2021 All Rights Reserved RESEARCH PAPER APPROVAL AN EXPLORATION OF LATE TWENTIETH AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY CLARINET REPERTOIRE by Grace Talaski A Research Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Music in the field of Music Approved by: Dr. Eric Mandat, Chair Dr. Christopher Walczak Dr. Douglas Worthen Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale April 2, 2021 AN ABSTRACT OF THE RESEARCH PAPER OF Grace Talaski, for the Master of Music degree in Performance, presented on April 2, 2021, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: AN EXPLORATION OF LATE TWENTIETH AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY CLARINET REPERTOIRE MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Eric Mandat This is an extended program note discussing a selection of compositions featuring the clarinet from the mid-1980s through the present. The first work, arioso/doubles, was composed by Benjamin Broening in 2002 for clarinet and electroacoustic sound. Folk Songs was composed by Eric P. Mandat in 1986 for solo clarinet. An Illustrated Ontogeny of The Flower Snark was composed by Carl Schimmel in 2013 for clarinet and piano. Lake Huron Sketches was composed by Grace Talaski in 2019-2020, and is a yet-to-be premiered work for solo clarinet. New York Counterpoint was composed by Steve Reich in 1985 for solo clarinet plus ten pre-recorded clarinet and bass clarinet parts to be played alongside the solo clarinet part by speakers during the live performance. i TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... i LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... iii CHAPTERS CHAPTER 1 – Arioso/Doubles ...........................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2 – Folk Songs ................................................................................................10 CHAPTER 3 – An Illustrated Ontogeny of The Flower Snark .........................................24 CHAPTER 4 – Lake Huron Sketches ................................................................................32 CHAPTER 5 – New York Counterpoint ...........................................................................37 REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................45 APPENDIX – Lake Huron Sketches Complete Score ...................................................................47 VITA ............................................................................................................................................57 ii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE Figure 1 - arioso/doubles mm. 1-25, sets labelled ...........................................................................3 Figure 2 - arioso/doubles mm. 26-39, sets labelled .........................................................................4 Figure 3 - arioso/doubles mm. 40-47, sets labelled .........................................................................4 Figure 4 - arioso/doubles mm. 63-84, sets labelled .........................................................................5 Figure 5 - arioso/doubles mm. 95-100, sets labelled .......................................................................6 Figure 6 - arioso/doubles mm. 101-125, sets labelled .....................................................................6 Figure 7 - arioso/doubles mm. 125-140, sets labelled .....................................................................7 Figure 8 - arioso/doubles mm. 142-145, sets labelled .....................................................................7 Figure 9 - arioso/doubles mm. 146-161, sets labelled .....................................................................8 Figure 10 - Folk Songs mvt. 1 mm. 1-2 multiphonic undulation ...................................................12 Figure 11 - Folk Songs mvt. 2 mm. 1-4 .........................................................................................14 Figure 12 - Folk Songs mvt. 2 m. 23..............................................................................................14 Figure 13 - Folk Songs mvt. 2 mm. 25-32 .....................................................................................15 Figure 14 - Folk Songs mvt. 3 page 1 lines 1-2 .............................................................................16 Figure 15 - Folk Songs mvt. 3 page 1 lines 4-5 .............................................................................17 Figure 16 - Folk Songs mvt. 3 page 1 line 6 ..................................................................................18 Figure 17 - Folk Songs mvt. 3 page 2 lines 1-2 .............................................................................18 Figure 18 - Folk Songs mvt. 3 page 2 lines 3-5 .............................................................................19 Figure 19 - Folk Songs mvt. 3 page 2 line 6 ..................................................................................20 Figure 20 - Folk Songs mvt. 4 mm. 1-4 with double staff notation ...............................................21 Figure 21 - Folk Songs mvt. 4 mm. 1-7 .........................................................................................23 iii Figure 22 - The growth stages of the J3 flower snark subspecies .................................................25 Figure 23 - Opening to “Dot” clarinet part ....................................................................................26 Figure 24 - “Dot” score mm. 15-20 ...............................................................................................27 Figure 25 - “Metamorphosis II” score mm. 137-138 .....................................................................29 Figure 26 - Beginning of “Flower Snark” clarinet part .................................................................30 Figure 26 - New York Counterpoint pulse chords volume automation in Ableton Live 11 ..........44 iv 1 CHAPTER 1 ARIOSO/DOUBLES Benjamin Broening’s chief compositional interests are the “expressive nature of sound and a sense of line derived from his background as a singer.”1 His compositions include orchestra, chamber, choral, and electroacoustic music. His works have been performed in over twenty-five countries by many ensembles including Eighth Blackbird, the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and the Richmond Symphony Orchestra.2 Throughout his career, he has received many awards including Guggenheim, Howard, and Fulbright Fellowships. Broening is Professor of Music at the University of Richmond and is the founder and artistic director of Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival.3 Benjamin Broening wrote arioso/doubles for clarinet and electroacoustic sound in 2002. The piece was commissioned for clarinetist Arthur Campbell by the Band and Orchestral Division of the Yamaha Corporation of America. According to Broening, the title arioso/doubles references the piece’s vocal music influences, seventeenth century opera in particular. His goal was to evoke the “changing nature of the melodic line that moves fluidly among declamatory or recitative-like passages, short melodic phrases and longer, more strongly characterized lines.” The term “doubles” refers to a variation technique in seventeenth and early eighteenth-century French music where ornamentation is applied to a melody while the supporting harmonies 1. Benjamin Broening, “arioso/doubles Program Notes,” 2020. 2. Benjamin Broening, “Benjamin Broening, About,” Accessed Mar. 7, 2020, https://benjaminbroening.net/about.html. 3. Broening, “arioso/doubles Program Notes.” 2 remain unchanged.4 It is interesting that Broening chose to look to seventeenth century music as his inspiration for a very contemporary, electroacoustic work. The hundreds of years old techniques have been recontextualized and intermixed with modernist techniques and pitch structures. There are many tempo/pulse changes throughout arioso/doubles.5 The tempo markings are mathematically related to each other, not arbitrarily chosen. Each tempo marking can be related to the previous one through a ratio of whole numbers. This is known as metric modulation, a technique originally pioneered by Elliot Carter in the twentieth century. The piece begins with quarter note = 120 bpm. At m. 26, the tempo changes to quarter note = 90 bpm.

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