MOZART'S CLARINET CONCERTO--A NEW EDITION
Mozart died while trying to complete a commission for a Requiem Mass, a sequence of events that has driven passionate interest in this work to the present day. Many point to Mozart’s Requiem as defining the composer’s legacy, even referring to it as “his” requiem---written for his own death. Truth be told, he wrote only small portions of this work, and a good amount of what he did write was “stolen” from the works of other composers.
A much better candidate for defining Mozart’s legacy is his Clarinet Concerto, an absolutely astounding work also written at the end of Mozart's life that transcends virtuosity while delivering a narrative that digs deep into Mozart’s soul. The three brief cadenzas—two in the first movement, and one in the second movement just prior to the reprise--serve more as musical “sighs” rather than a display of technical prowess. In place of technical display, throughout the work, Mozart chooses to seduce the listener with a hauntingly beautiful voice that is both introspective and wistful, even during the more energetic sections. Mozart made careful compositional choices to ensure that listeners would hear this voice. He not only removed trumpets and timpani from the typical scoring, but also removed oboes from the orchestra—a choice he made only sparingly in his concerti and symphonies. The result is an overall sound that is light, airy and flowing, evoking chamber music as much it does an orchestral texture.
Mozart's Clarinet Concerto is a personal and authentic musical statement. You can hear Mozart recalling a life that was far too short but that brought immense light and joy to the world.
As a clarinetist, I have a special place in my heart for this concerto, and two years ago I completed a new performing edition of the work, a newly revised version of which is now available at Subito Music Publishers.
One may ask, "why does anyone need a new edition of the orchestral materials for Mozart's Clarinet Concerto when we have the Neue Mozart‑Ausgabe edition?" Well, here is my answer:
Most of Mozart's works benefit from the Neue Mozart‑Ausgabe's (NMA) painstaking process using autographs and other source materials to right the wrongs of poor editing decisions of older editions. However, the Mozart Clarinet Concerto’s lack of an autograph score brings throws a wrench into this process. With the exception of a fragment autograph score of an early version written for Basset Horn in G, the autograph for the final version for Basset Clarinet in A (a different instrument) is lost. The only complete materials surviving were editions that were not only heavily edited by publishers in the traditional sense (articulations, phrasing and in some cases pitches, with considerable error and inconsistency), but also with the solo part transformed to be played on a traditional clarinet in A, likely as a way to sell more sheet music as the Basset Clarinet was, as it is today, quite rare. In recent years, there has been a renewed focus on reuniting the Basset Clarinet with Mozart's Clarinet Concerto---both by building and refining these rare instruments, and also by reconstructing a solo part for this instrument that is unencumbered by the more limited range of the standard clarinet.
Unfortunately, with all of the focus on restoring the Basset Clarinet part, the orchestral materials have been seriously neglected. The early editions contain inconsistent articulations, dynamics and pitches. Most critical edition editors are focused on conforming their editions to autograph sources, and are usually not focused on developing performing editions that require decisions about notation that are not supported literally by an autograph source. Since the Mozart Clarinet Concerto does not have an autograph source and the remaining materials are of poor quality, the output of the Neue Mozart‑Ausgabe's standard approach in the Barenreiter materials, while interesting and certainly "cleaner" that the older Breitkopf parts, is far from a definitive source for orchestral performing materials.
In preparing this edition I have corrected errors and applied consistent articulation and phrasing inline with the stylistic needs of the work. I hope that this edition is helpful to orchestras and conductors who are looking for better options than the currently available editions of the orchestral materials.
http://store.subitomusic.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=7153
