Clarinet quintet

[lunar_28664]

I've been lurking around the VSL forums for quite a while (have been using the software nearly 15 years) but mostly to get help with some unsolvable problem or other or occasionally to try and help others who were struggling even more!. Not sure if I even noticed there's actually a composition side to the forum so I thought I'd try and post the most recent piece composed entirely with VSL from the autumn.

The combination of bass clarinet, Bb clarinet and string trio is not so common but I got the idea from perhaps the best British composer of chamber music, Robert Simpson. Clarinet quintets are traditionally from Mozart onwards somewhat melancholic in character and you may find echos of Reger, Brahms or especially Franz Schmidt here. The bass clarinet though makes it somewhat darker and bleaker than usual. Near the end there is an attempt at a joyful conclusion but it fails and the piece returns to uncertainty. It's a full length work at 35' and any who might be tempted by this sort of thing are welcome to listen to listen only to the fnal slow movement starting at 19'40" if time is short. 

The strings are from the VSL Solo Strings and clarinets from the SE using VI Pro and the Mozartsaal accoustic. 

https://app.box.com/s/6ex3wu1jwn1iqcg0gdivml3ngtrr0qlj

[tchampe]

Lunar, this is some fine work, both the music and your midi realization. This Bb clarinet/string trio/bass clarinet configuration is very cool. I've never heard it used before. To me, the bass clarinet in and of itself does not add to darkness or "bleakness" of the sound; just a distinct, easily-differentiated bass voice...especally helpful in stuff like this with a polyphonic-type texture.

If I could ask a technical question: to my badly worn-out ears, it sometimes sounds like there are more things going on than the five afore-mentioned instruments. In paricular, at 1:40 and again at 6:57, there is a sound in the background, sort of pulsing quarter notes in minor seconds, that sounds for all the world like a couple of muted trumpets. I assume it's some kind of special technique in the strings but I can't identify it (I'm a brass player and don't have much knowledge of string performance methods). What is it?

Again, very impressive stuff. Thank you for sharing it.

[lunar_28664]

Hi Tchampe, many thanks for your comments and listening in the first place. You're quite right that the bass clarinet doesn't actually in itself really add gloom to the score -- it probably just encourages more gloomy music to be written! The beginning of the second subject at 1.40 and 6.57 is simply playing "sul ponticello" in the violin and cello and the viola plays the minor second. This gives the ghostly sound you describe.

I can assure you that no other instruments are used though there may be occasions where the particular articulation gives a different impression. There is very little double-stopping in the strings. I actually went over the score a few days ago and changed the dynamics in a few places where the opposite happened -- in other words I couldn't hear something clearly which was relatively important -- but you could spend your whole life doing this.....

David

[tchampe]

Thank you, David. I Iooked up a couple of YouTube videos of violinists demonstrating ponticello. I've heard it often enough, just didn't know that was the technique used to get that sound.