Download Keene State College Department of Music STUDENT RECITAL

Keene State College
Department of Music
STUDENT RECITAL SERIES
presents
KATHRYNE LUNDSTEDT
CLARINET
assisted by
Dr. Maura Glennon, Piano
from the studio of Professor Stephanie Ratté- Jenkins
– PROGRAM –
Sonate in F Minor, Op. 120 No. 1
Allegro appassionato
Andante un poco adagio
Allegretto grazioso
Vivace
1 – Chroai from Polychromatic Diversions for Clarinet
Johannes Brahms
(1833-1897)
Ronald L. Caravan
(b.1946)
Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano
Malcolm Arnold
Allegro con brio
(1921-2006)
Andantino
Furioso
Saturday, December 7, 2013
7:30 p.m.
Alumni Recital Hall
Redfern Arts Center
This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
BACHELOR OF MUSIC IN MUSIC EDUCATION
Audience members are reminded to silence alarm watches, pagers, and cellular phones before the
performance. The unauthorized use of audio and video recording devices is prohibited in the
Alumni Recital Hall.
– PROGRAM NOTES –
Johannes Brahms was born in May of 1833 and died in April of 1897. A German composer, Brahms
clung to the idea of classicism and for some time after his death he was known as “the classical
composer who was born too late.” He wrote many works for a wide variety of genres including
symphonies, choral works, chamber music and solo repertoire. Throughout his life as a composer and
pianist he would come to be known as the renovator of abstract art and its traditional forms. Today
his works are standard repertoire and a model for modern composers.
Sonata Number 1 (Op. 120) was written in 1894 and was dedicated to the clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld.
Around the time that this piece was written Brahms had begun to discover the beauty and tone color
of the clarinet. This Sonata was one of the last that Brahms wrote before his death and is considered
one of the great masterpieces in clarinet repertoire.
Allegro appassionato, the first movement of this piece, is written in three-four time. It begins with solo
piano, which introduces the recurring motif throughout the movement. In this movement Brahms
builds a relationship between the clarinet and piano, moving the themes between the two
instruments rather than keeping them solely in the clarinet. The instruments move through many
different keys and finally resolve with a coda, which is a slower in tempo and based on material from
the introduction. The movement ends quietly in F major.
Andante un poco adagio, the second movement of this piece is written in ternary form, otherwise
known as a three-part musical form. The clarinet introduces a simple descending theme decorated
with turns. This A section is repeated twice and is the first part of the ternary form. The B section is
characterized by a faster rhythmic motion. The piano plays sixteenth-note runs outlining harmonies,
while the clarinet plays a slurred melody. The harmonies descend in an imitation of the A section
melody. The clarinet and piano trade parts and the piano plays the melody. The A melody returns in
the piano and then a short interlude of sixteenth notes in the piano alludes to the B section. A final
reiteration of the melody ends the movement.
Allegretto grazioso, the third movement is also in ternary form. The A section consists of an eight bar
melody played by the clarinet, and then traded off to the piano with the clarinet lending supporting
lines. A repeated A section allows the clarinet to hand off the melody to the piano. The B section is
much like the A although the piano starts off with the melody with the clarinet playing supporting
lines all in the space of a minor third. This is repeated, and as the A section before it, swapping the
parts.
Vivace, the final movement, is in an altered rondo form, which can be described as an A B A C B A
form. The movement begins with three accented notes in a piano introduction identifying the first
theme. The A theme is mostly eighth notes in stepwise motion. The contrasting B theme is made up
of quarter note triplets and is more slurred and leisurely. After a dramatic return to the A section, the
quiet C theme is played in the piano and then handed off to the clarinet. The clarinet then plays the
“call” from the introduction while the piano states the B theme again. Finally, the final A section ends
with a coda.
Ronald L. Caravan was born on November 20, 1946. A classical performer on both the clarinet and
saxophone, Dr. Caravan received degrees of Master of Arts in music theory and Doctor of Musical
Arts in music education from the Eastman School of Music. He is currently a professor at the Setnor
School of Music of Syracuse University where he teaches clarinet and saxophone and conducts the
saxophone ensemble. His doctoral dissertation, Extensions of Technique for Clarinet and Saxophone is a
widely recognized source on performance, pedagogy, and composition of unconventional sound
resources for these instruments. He has also created a line of saxophone mouthpieces based on the
original mouthpiece design of Adolphe Sax, which is widely known and used in many private
studios.
1 – Chroai is the first piece in Ronald Caravan’s Polychromatic Diversions for Clarinet. Chroai is defined
as internal intervals in descending order. As the title describes, this unique piece includes many
unconventional sounds and clarinet techniques. Timbre variation is one technique that will be heard.
The most effective and easily standardized method of achieving a variety of tone colors on a
particular pitch on the clarinet is to employ several fingering combinations, in addition to the most
conventional one. This approch will produce a different harmonic spectra from one to the other and
hence, produce different varied timbres. Multiphonics produced with special fingerings usually
require less deviation from normal playing technique, depending on how efficiently the fingering
patterns affect the air column. Some degree of adjustment in tongue position, embouchure, and/or
air speed will probably be necessary. The extent and nature of these adjustments are likely to vary
substantially among different multiphonic fingerings. Quarter tones, which are also present in this
piece, are played using special fingerings. Quarter tones are the pitches between the conventional
tones of the chromatic scale. Although, because the standard key mechanism was not made to
produce intervals smaller than a semitone, the production of quarter tones on the clarinet will
generally involve the use of numerous “cross fingerings.” Some of which can be quite complicated
from an acoustical as well as mechanical standpoint.
Malcolm Arnold was born in England on October 21, 1921 and died on the 23 September, 2006.
Arnold played trumpet professionally in the London Philharmonic Orchestra, but by age thirty he
was completely devoted to composition. He was regarded as one of the most sought-after composers
in Britain, ranking with Benjamin Britten. His natural melodic gift earned him a reputation as a
composer of light music. Arnold was also a highly successful composer of film music, penning the
scores to over a hundred features and documentaries, including titles such as The Bridge on the River
Kwai and the St. Trinian’s series. His nine symphonies are often deeply personal and show a more
serious side of his work. Arnold also wrote a variety of concertos and chamber works, as well as
music for the theatre including major ballets.
The Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano was completed in January 1951. The Sonatina was given its first
performance on March 20 of that year at the Gallery of the Royal Society of British Artists in London
by clarinetist Colin Davis. The piece is in three brief movements, a total of nine minutes.
Allegro con brio, the first movement of the Sonatina, has three dominant themes. The first is a bit wild,
with several wide leaps and chordal punctuations from the piano, the second hints at jazz rhythms,
and the third provides a quiet interlude before the concluding return of the opening theme, ending in
a decrescendo and an unexpected soft and passive eighth-note.
Andantino, the second movement is gentle and lovely. The triplet melody starts in the clarinet and is
passed to the piano, while the clarinet plays rhythmic accompaniment figures. The clarinet then takes
the lead for the last repetition of the melody.
Furioso, the third and final movement, is a breathless dance in triple meter that provides quite a
workout for both instrumentalists. Both the piano and clarinet pass long strings of sixteenth notes
back and forth with increasing speed. The piece ends with frantic eighth notes leaving listeners at the
edge of their seats waiting for the resolution that Malcolm Arnold never wrote.