Three Miniatures for Clarinet and Piano explained

Three Miniatures for Clarinet and Piano is an early work by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. It was finished in 1956,[1] but was premiered four years later.

Composition and premiere

The Three Miniatures were composed when Penderecki was only 23 and still a music student. They were dedicated to Władysław Kosieradzki, who was the clarinet professor at the Academy of Music in Kraków,[2] and were premiered by the dedicatée at the clarinet and Zbigniew Jeżewski at the piano in the 1958 Polish Composers' Union concert, which took place in November 17. The score was published afterwards by the Polish Music Publishing House and Belwin-Mills.

Analysis

This composition consists of three short miniatures which take 1 to 1:30 minutes each to perform. The general mood and style of the work differs from the following works and shows no signs of Penderecki's later radicalism, in the sense that these miniatures are not focused on the sonority of the instruments to generate atmospheres, probably influenced by Béla Bartók.[3] The miniatures were titled as follows:[4]

  1. Allegro
  2. Andante cantabile
  3. Allegro ma non troppo

The two outer movements of this composition are active and fast, while the middle one is slower and more meditative.

Reception

The Miniatures were negatively received by critics.[5] Vincent McDermott, from The Musical Quarterly, described the whole set of miniatures as "dull".[6] However, the miniatures were some of the few early compositions accepted for publication.[7]

Notable recordings

Following are some of the most well-known recordings of this piece:

ClarinetPianoRecord CompanyYear of RecordingFormat
Lev MikhailovAlexei LubimovMelodiya1970LP
Kjell-Inge StevenssonEva KnardahlBIS Records1976CD[8]
Brian SchweickhartJohn CobbCoronet Records1981LP
Claude FaucomprezAlain RaësSolstice Records1983LP
Walter BoeykensRobert GroslotTerpsichore Records1983LP
Melvin WarnerSylvia ReynoldsCrystal Records1985LP and CD[9]
Joaquín ValdepeñasPatricia ParrCBC Records1987CD
Sabine MeyerAlfons KontarskyEMI1989LP[10]
Aleksander RomańskiSzábolcs EsztényiWERGO1993CD[11]
Michel LethiecJuhani LagerspetzNaxos2001CD[12]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 3 miniature.
  2. Web site: "Blue" Gene Tyranny. Krzysztof Penderecki Miniatures (3) for clarinet & piano. Rovi Corporation. 23 February 2014.
  3. Web site: Whitehouse. Richard. About this Recording 8.557052 – PENDERECKI: Sextet / Clarinet Quartet / Cello Divertimento. Naxos Digital Services. 23 February 2014.
  4. Web site: Three Miniatures composer: Krzysztof Penderecki. Schott Music. 23 February 2014.
  5. Book: Bylander, Cindy . Krzysztof Penderecki : a bio-bibliography . 2004 . Westport. Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.. 0-313-25658-6 .
  6. McDermott. Vincent. Milwaukee. Musical Quarterly. 1968. 54. 4. 524. 10.1093/mq/LIV.4.524.
  7. Web site: Three Miniatures for clarinet and piano. Nadorowy Instytut Audiowizualny. 23 February 2014.
  8. Web site: The Virtuoso Clarinet. BIS Records AB. 23 February 2014.
  9. Web site: CD332: Clarinet Candescence. Melvin Warner, Clarinet.. Crystal Records. 23 February 2014.
  10. Web site: MEYER, SABINE 20th Century Classics: Penderecki. Warner Classics. 23 February 2014.
  11. Web site: Musica da camera. WERGO. 23 February 2014.
  12. Web site: PENDERECKI: Sextet / Clarinet Quartet / Cello Divertimento. Naxos Digital Services. 23 February 2014.

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