Made With Dorico: "3 Short Pieces for Alto Clarinet"

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I have another new work to introduce to you today that I wrote using Dorico Pro. The piece is called, “3 Short Pieces for Alto Clarinet,” and as the title implies, it’s for solo Alto Clarinet with Piano accompaniment. There are three movements to the work, and they clock in at just under 10 minutes’ playing time.

The first movement is a rather normal introductory movement. It is followed by a rondo-esque slow movement. The finale is a dance in 6/8 time that one listener said sounded a bit Celtic (that wasn’t the intention).

I chose the Alto Clarinet for three reasons: first, there are too few compositions for the instrument as is. Second, I played it a little bit back during my days at the University of Texas at Austin, and I enjoyed it. Finally, I simply got the inspiration to write for it.

I’ve uploaded the work to YouTube with a scrolling score, and I’m in the process of uploading it to J.W.Pepper’s “My Score” service. Please feel free to shoot feedback my direction, be it good or bad. Thanks for listening!

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Thank you Lee, lovely. The First movement reminds me of Finzi’s Eclogue.
I would love to have an Alto Clarinet to play (have Bb and Bass clarinets) but no time to play them :frowning:

Do you play piano also? just wondering about (First movement) bar 16 if you mean to have no slurs on each pair. (No need to comment back necessarily, just saw them there as it was playing and wondered.)

Best wishes with your composing!

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I did have these this way on purpose, thanks for asking. I tried them several different ways in NotePerformer, and this way sounded best. Did I notate them incorrectly?

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Great to see another Longhorn here. Hook’em! :sign_of_the_horns:

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Just my 2 Cents: I would also expect slurs in combination with staccato dots there. :slight_smile:

(And I’ve got used to having one score for printing and another one for the NP rendition…)

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I don’t know (me trying not to open up a “can of (unintentional) worms”.)

There is what you have to do in the score for better realism as @Estigy mentioned when using NP…

then there is how a player will be interpreting the notation as it is on the page.

A pianist would be more used to seeing each pair as slurred, and it would be the same if these were notes for the Alto clarinet part, (as you would already know, same breath for the slur, not tongued separate notes… as well as how a violinist would appreciate the difference also, related to bowing.) For the pianist, being used to seeing the slur and knowing how to execute it, would then see what you have written and be mindful of this, presumably its execution might (or could or would) be different in interpretation then, because they are individual notes being played, alternately staccato.
The choice is yours to make (each is valid), just bear in mind the pianist would act/think/execute differently to each, although it could be a subtle execution (being more thought, intention rather than clear and obviously aural.)

I just saw it this section as I was listening and just wondered, that’s all, I cannot see there is anything “wrong” with what you have. I suppose seeing it if I was playing it, I would be evaluating what difference I would bring to it (either more simply a mental attitude, an intention or in my actual playing, to make it sound different as opposed to if they were paired.)

Another: I also saw some piano phrases which I would have thought (might have) needed slurs, but that’s another discussion but as a pianist would have wanted to look through in detail and find out why they did not (or did) have slurs and see if I could understand if there was meaning (intention) behind the differences as you play through.

Sorry do not take any of this as any criticism at all, this is just me very much appreciating your composition! And as you know it is good to learn and discuss with composers about their compositions, processes, intentions, thoughts …

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Very nice Lee!!

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