Every Tuesday we'll be bringing you a brief rehearsal update, including the piece or pieces we've been focusing on this week, and any particular challenges or breakthroughs we've had.
Recently, we've been placing most of our focus on Yvonne Desportes' French Suite, particularly movements 1 (Prelude), 5 (Bouree), and 6 (Gigue). These three are similar in that they all have running arpeggio patterns that are passed throughout all parts. The challenge, of course, is the floaty, smooth quality these patterns require, and matching the style within the group. What we have found most helpful is to pick which of our four sounds or styles we like the best, and to all make changes in our own playing to match. The other difficulty is maintaining the simple, ethereal feel throughout all dynamic levels. It is often easy to have fortes sound harsh, and we are working on delicate fortes as a group.
This week, we also did some research on Yvonne Desportes. We discovered that she taught fugue at the Paris Conservatory, something that is very evident in the echo-like themes found in each movement of the suite. Also, Desportes is classified as a non-conformist traditionalist. Although at first, this seems like a contradictory descriptor, after deconstructing her style, it makes sense. In the piece we are studying, Desportes has written a dance suite, much like traditional Baroque and early Classical composers. However, she uses modern harmonies, and breaks tradition, giving her a non-conformist sound. We always find that knowing more about a composer and the environment they were writing in helps to influence the way we play their music.
Coming up next week, we'll begin work on our piece from Yoshiaki Onishi, which will be premiered at ClarinetFest 2013 in Assisi!
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