Dal niente

Eduard Brunner - Dal niente

recorded October 1995, released 1997

Eduard Brunner - clarinet

The composition Piri by Isang Yun, originally scored for the oboe, exploits the nuances of the single tone in a manner characteristic of East Asian music. Eduard Brunner transforms it into a paradigmatic clarinet piece.
...
Igor Stravinsky recommended the A clarinet with its darker timbre in the first two of his Three Pieces for Clarinet. The deep register thus has the effect of a Gedackt organ stop in the first of the three miniatures. The second piece as well as the third, which is played in the Bb clarinet, recall the puppet and fairy-tale world of Petrushka and The Soldier's Tale with their airy, lightfooted, prancing figurations. Stravinsky jotted down the following previously unpublished miniature of five measures on a decorative telegram with the works "Apprille Rome 1917." It is dedicated to Picasso.
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The Domaines by Pierre Boulez, also existant in a version for orchestra, illustrate the aleatory practice used by the composer to counteract the danger of formal rigidity inherent in serial thinking. According to the instructions in the score, the soloist is at liberty to decide on the order of the six Cahiers designated as Original, followed by six Miroirs (although "palindrome" would be an equally appropriate designation since most of these are reversed forms of the Originals).
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In Freundshaft (In Friendship), composed for the clarinettist Suzanne Stephens, was designed by Karlheinz Stockhausen so that it can be played by different solo instruments. The piece is composed in three layers, as horizontal polyphony.
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In Preghiera per un'ombra, Giacinto Scelsi also works with layers and registers in structuring the sound space. But instead of adhering to a strictly multilayered model, he lays a melodic trail by playing around single notes that recur elsewhere in the space of the sound, like hidden paths.
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Like Accanto for clarinet and orchestra, composed for Eduard Brunner in 1976, which also investigated the realm of pure sound, Helmut Lachenmann's Dal niente (Interieur III) also exploits the entire spectrum of possibilities contained in the clarinet. . . . Lachenmann's penchant for the shadowside, for rough surfaces, hollowed sounds or what might be called the unlit side of sound, could be interpreted as a musical version of Brecht's visual metaphors - "Those in the shadows remain unseen" - or perhaps only as an expression of scepticism towards the hackneyed language of conventional notions of the beautiful tone. And yet these sounds bespeak the power of musical invention. (Max Nyffeler)

Tracklisting:

1. Piri {10:25}
composed by Isang Yun

2. Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo: I {1:30}
composed by Igor Stravinsky

3. Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo: II {1:08}
composed by Igor Stravinsky

4. Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo: III {1:19}
composed by Igor Stravinsky

5. Piece for Clarinet Solo {0:38}
composed by Igor Stravinsky

6. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier A Original {0:43}
composed by Pierre Boulez

7. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier D Original {1:00}
composed by Pierre Boulez

8. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier F Original {2:29}
composed by Pierre Boulez

9. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier E Original {0:57}
composed by Pierre Boulez

10. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier B Original {1:38}
composed by Pierre Boulez

11. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier C Original {0:54}
composed by Pierre Boulez

12. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier C Miroir {0:58}
composed by Pierre Boulez

13. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier D Miroir {1:05}
composed by Pierre Boulez

14. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier E Miroir {1:03}
composed by Pierre Boulez

15. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier A Miroir {0:54}
composed by Pierre Boulez

16. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier B Miroir {1:21}
composed by Pierre Boulez

17. Domaines pour clarinette seule: Cahier F Miroir {2:38}
composed by Pierre Boulez

18. In Freundschaft {12:32}
composed by Karlheinz Stockhausen

19. Preghiera per un'ombra {11:04}
composed by Giacinto Scelsi

20. Dal niente (Interieur III) {16:16}
composed by Helmut Lachenmann

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