Impromptu for clarinet and piano

I just completed a piece for clarinet and piano. I would be very interested in getting your comments. There is probably still a need for some revision (spelling issues, slurring etc.). I am particularly interested to know about the potential playability of this piece. I am looking forward to your feedback!

Hey @panta rei (or should I call you Johan?),

I love your work as always. It's very "panta rei" or "Johan" for me, with your modal mixtute, surprise modulation and fleeing rhythm. I love how you change the time signature for a fleeing effect! For me the clarinet melody is very beautiful, and the piano supports it well. I love the change of texture in piano, but I think the clarinet can do that as well!

I definitely love the modulation from F minor to F sharp major in b. 90 and Eb minor to D minor in b. 121!

I think there can be more interplay between clarinet and piano. I never see the clarinet act as the accompaniment to support the piano here. I love the interplay in b.101 - 108, and more can be added!

I think the clarinet is playable, the breathing is OK and the slur indicates the breathing well. But for the piano b.31 R.H. will be too wide for most of us though I can play it.

For spelling, the A# in b.10 should be Bb, D# in b.21 Eb, E# in b.37 F natural, D natural in b.110 C double sharp.

Thanks so much for sharing!

Henry

Hi again, let's dive into it.

• This is a very delicate piece, stained with more moving passages in the first third of its length. At least this is how it sounds. Perhaps the piano should use the una corda pedal to achieve this sound the digital playback is giving. 

• Very nice question-answer-structured passages, those might be the best of the piece in my opinion, but there's no passage that I would discard for that position,  excepting for the very end of the piece, which is something that I did not like. For how you "prepared" it, I would either have expected a final perfect cadence or smorz. instead of a simple diminuendo. Nevertheless, quite a beautiful piece you made.

• Two questions:

1. Why the clarinet part has all of its notes small? 
2. The overuse of cauldrons at the end of lots of bars both at the beginning or at the end suggest a more optimal writing, probably changing the time signature and speed. Have you considered it? In fact, I believe that the first 16th note should be before the first beat of the bar not a tempo. Here are some suggestions in case you consider my words: 
   
   or
   
   for measures 5 and 6.

That'd be all. Once again, very nice job, and as Henry said, thank you for sharing!

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ømicrón.

Wow, I really liked this. 

I can't remember ever hearing your music before, but I'll be sure to check more of it out. I enjoyed the simplicity of it; it was very easy to follow along with what you were doing. A lot of times composers try to be so overly complex, but this is a good example of just a good melody with piano accompaniment. As others said, it would have been nice to have the clarinet take the back seat and let the piano have the melody more, but in the end I think this works very well and wasn't that big of a deal. This is very much akin to the romantic era song style that I enjoy. I particularly like Schumann's piano and voice pieces, and this one reminded me of that. Simple and to the point, without a bunch of unnecessary filler. The writing is great!

One thing I noticed was that main rhythm of sixteenth-quarter-sixteenth-dotted quarter. It was a bit odd to me that the beat fell on that first sixteenth, rather than the quarter afterwards. Maybe something to investigate for the future. 

Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed this one! 

On 1/23/2023 at 3:11 PM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Hey @panta rei (or should I call you Johan?),

Yes, Johan would be fine (Panta is  of course my pseudonym)

On 1/23/2023 at 3:11 PM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I think there can be more interplay between clarinet and piano. I never see the clarinet act as the accompaniment to support the piano here. I love the interplay in b.101 - 108, and more can be added!

I see what you mean. I will remember this when I write my next piece.

I think the clarinet is playable, the breathing is OK and the slur indicates the breathing well. But for the piano b.31 R.H. will be too wide for most of us though I can play it.

I changed the  two top notes in the right hand chord to G and B-flat, so that the stretch is not more han one octave.

For spelling, the A# in b.10 should be Bb, D# in b.21 Eb, E# in b.37 F natural, D natural in b.110 C double sharp.

Thank you very much for your revision! (and the other comments!)

Johan

 

 

On 1/24/2023 at 2:31 AM, Omicronrg9 said:

Hello Daniel

• This is a very delicate piece, stained with more moving passages in the first third of its length. At least this is how it sounds. Perhaps the piano should use the una corda pedal to achieve this sound the digital playback is giving. 

 

I am not so sure about using una corde. I do not think that it is possible to make any judgement about this based on a digital playback. The una corda is of course not a substitute for a diminished sound level. On a well-regulated piano, you can achieve a whispering sound in the tre corde mode. The una corda  just provides another type of sound.

,  excepting for the very end of the piece, which is something that I did not like. For how you "prepared" it, I would either have expected a final perfect cadence or smorz. instead of a simple diminuendo. Nevertheless, quite a beautiful piece you made.

I agree with you (and thank you for pointing this out !). In fact, I finished the piece late at night, and I was a bit tired of it. So I sort of ended it in a sloppy way. And I will change it!




• Two questions:

1. Why the clarinet part has all of its notes small? 

It was a mistake I am sorry. I uploaded the piano part (which usually has the additional instrument scores written as small notes). I will upload a score with all notes in full size. I could also upload a separate clarinet part, if anyone would be interested.

 

On 1/24/2023 at 2:31 AM, Omicronrg9 said:

1. The overuse of cauldrons at the end of lots of bars both at the beginning or at the end suggest a more optimal writing, probably changing the time signature and speed. Have you considered it? In fact, I believe that the first 16th note should be before the first beat of the bar not a tempo. Here are some suggestions in case you consider my words: 
   
   or
   
   for measures 5 and 6.

A very good point! I would not consider to change the time signature of the whole piece to 6(8, since the piece is clearly in ¾ (with three beats/measure instead of two). Changing the time signature for the relevant passages would be possible, but maybe a bit messy.

Your second option looks better. This shows the beat to be on the dotted 1/8^th, which is correct. I will re-write the relevant passages. But probably, I also have to add some metronome signatures.

I will look into it. It will be a bit of work, but I will upload a revised score  (icluding the issues mentioned by Henry)in due time.

 

 

 

Thank you for a great review!

On 1/24/2023 at 2:31 AM, Omicronrg9 said:

 

 

8 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Wow, I really liked this. 

I can't remember ever hearing your music before, but I'll be sure to check more of it out. I enjoyed the simplicity of it; it was very easy to follow along with what you were doing. A lot of times composers try to be so overly complex, but this is a good example of just a good melody with piano accompaniment. As others said, it would have been nice to have the clarinet take the back seat and let the piano have the melody more, but in the end I think this works very well and wasn't that big of a deal. This is very much akin to the romantic era song style that I enjoy. I particularly like Schumann's piano and voice pieces, and this one reminded me of that. Simple and to the point, without a bunch of unnecessary filler. The writing is great!

One thing I noticed was that main rhythm of sixteenth-quarter-sixteenth-dotted quarter. It was a bit odd to me that the beat fell on that first sixteenth, rather than the quarter afterwards. Maybe something to investigate for the future. 

Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed this one! 

 

Thanks a lot for your comments!. I am very glad that you like the piece. It is indeed in the romantic song style which I like very much.

The issue of the up-beat 1/16" note has also been pointed out by Omicronrg9, and I will deal with it.

Thanks again!

I have nothin to add. But I like it a lot and I wanted to say it. I identify this in a early romantic style, but sometimes the piano resembles some of Fauré's songs.

Hello Henry,

Your suggestion for corrections are in the score below, Thanks again

Hello Daniel,

Here is a revised score and audio playback. I made the following changes:

l) The clarinet notes are now in full size

2) I have changed the ending of the piece.

3) I made changes in the score according to your example #2. Now, there are much less fermata´s and it looks rhythmically far more correct (Thanks again for bringing up this issue).

I also added metronome marks, which is just for your information. Itis is so easy to add them in electronic reproductions.However, it is just my own interpretation. I think that tempo changes are a bit up to the interpretation by musicians.

4) I have not yet replaced the score from my first upload. In this way, you can see what I have done.

Hello Louis,

Thank you very much for your reply, I am very glad that you like the piece.

Best regards