Clarinet Concerto for clarinet and small orchestra

Year
1996
Duration
18'
Category
Solo and Orchestra

Instrumentation: 1.2(II=corA).0.1-1.1.1.1-perc(3):I=glsp/high gavel/4bongos/sm tom-t/lg tom-t/med susp.cym/lg wood dr/tam-t/med SD/low gavel; II=xyl/2metal bl/tpl.bl/lg wdbl/lg SD/lg susp.cym; III=vib/sm wdbl/2cencerros/sm susp.cym/sm SD/tom-t/BD/whip-harp-pft-strings(1.1.1.1.1)
Dedication: pour Alain Damiens et l’Ensemble InterContemporain pour son vingtième anniversaire
Buy Score: Hendon Music (Boosey & Hawkes)
Manuscripts: Paul Sacher Stiftung

Premiere: Jan, 1997/ Alain Damiens, clarinet; Ensemble Intercontemporain; Pierre Boulez, conductor/ Auditorium de la Cité de la musique et de la danse, Strasbourg, France

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Clarinet Concerto clip

When asked by the Ensemble InterContemporain of Paris, which has performed repeatedly a large number of my works to write a second piece for it, I decided on a clarinet concerto, knowing how wonderful an artist its clarinettist, Alain Damiens, is. Besides, many clarinettists who had played my works and liked my writing for the instrument had been asking me for a concerto.

To my mind, the soloist in a concerto must be heard clearly whenever playing, so I was especially interested to write for a smaller group the Ensemble InterContemporain proposed which could be taken on tour. Its main problem is that it is composed of only five solo strings and then many other instruments that cover them easily. Thinking this over, I decided to divide the work into six short sections, each separated by a tutti, associating the clarinet with a group of instruments of similar sound adding a seventh in which the entire orchestra participates. Thus, after a brief tutti, the clarinet is associated with the harp, piano, marimba, vibraphone and in the next section with the unpitched percussion and so on. Each section, of course, has its own expressive character and also forms a foreground for short comments by the other parts of the orchestra.

This work was first performed in Paris by the clarinnetist, Alain Damiens and the Ensemble InterContemporain (to whom it is dedicated) conducted by Pierre Boulez at the Cité de la Musique on January 10 and 11, 1997. It was part of a concert celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Ensemble.

– Elliott Carter

Recordings (8)

winding UP, winding DOWN
Mark Records 56652-MCD (2023)
New England Conservatory Symphonic Winds | William Drury, conductor
New York
Alpha (2017)
Ensemble Intercontemporain | Jérôme Comte, clarinet | Matthias Pinscher, conductor
A Place Toward Other Places
Oberlin Music OC13-1 (2016)
Richard Hawkins, clarinet | Oberlin Contemporary Chamber Ensemble | Timothy Weiss, conductor
Elliott Carter: Symphonia: Sum Fluxae Pretium Spei
Deutsche Grammophon 0289 479 1520 1 (2013)
Michael Collins, clarinet | London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen, conductor | BBC Symphony Orchestra
Eddy Vanoosthuyse: American Clarinet Concertos
Aeon (2013)
Eddy Vanoosthuyse, clarinet | Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra | Paul Meyer, conductor
Nouvel Ensemble Moderne plays Elliott Carter
ATMA Classique (2002)
Caroline Lizotte, clarinet | Nouvel Ensemble Moderne | Lorraine Vaillancourt, conductor
Carter: Clarinet Concerto; Symphonia
Deutsche Grammophon 459 660-2 (2000)
Michael Collins, clarinet | London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen, conductor | BBC Symphony Orchestra
American Clarinet
Virgin Classics 7243 5 45351 2 3 (1999)
Alain Damiens, clarinet | Ensemble Intercontemporain, David Robertson