Fantasie (Widmann)

Fantasie
Fantasie
by Jörg Widmann
	The composer in 2006
Period	Contemporary
Composed	1993
Published	2005: Mainz
Publisher	Schott Music
Duration	7:00
Scoring	clarinet in B♭
Premiere
Date	1 March 1994
Location	Bayerischer Rundfunk, Munich
Performers	Jörg Widmann

Fantasie for Solo Clarinet is a solo instrumental work by Jörg Widmann and was composed in 1993. It is a showpiece.^[2] It offers a Romantic melodious sound with dance, klezmer and jazz music elements^[1] in a "Harlequin spirit".^[2]

History

The Fantasie for Solo Clarinet, composed in 1993, is one of Widmann's earliest compositions.^[3] He was inspired by Igor Stravinsky's Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet (1919) and Pierre Boulez's Dialogue de l'ombre double (1985) for clarinet and tape.^[4] Widmann had in mind the Harlequin figure from the Italian commedia dell'arte.^[4]^[a] The piece was premiered by the composer on 1 March 1994 at Bayerischer Rundfunk in Munich.^[1]

Music

Widmann wrote the Fantasie when he was just twenty years old. It is an expression of "youthful exuberance" with "virtuoso flourishes".^[3] He combines conventional playing with extended techniques (multiphonics, flutter-tonguing, key clicks),^[5] and non-pitched sounds.^[3] Widmann's skills in clarinet playing helped him in composing his Fantasie.^[6] The piece is full of extremes in dynamic, tempo, and character.^[7] Widmann disproved with a sustained four-note chord, that the clarinet is only a one-voice instrument.^[8] According to Widmann, the opening multiphonic of the Fantasie is being a parody of new music, since many new works of that time begin in a similar manner.^[4] Widmann identifies harmony as the central theme of the work.^[9] A typical sound are glissandos in the upper registers, in a klezmer or "exaggeratedly jazzy" style.^[2] Silences are important, Widmann notates them as a breath mark, a breath mark with a fermata, and an actual rest.^[2] Near the beginning the composer cites a melody from The Rite of Spring.^[10]

Structure

Sections:^[11]

Free, rhapsodically
Fast, brilliant
Presto possible
Tempo come prima, ma poco più mosso

Reception

The Fantasie is one of Widmann's most frequently performed works and is standard repertory of unaccompanied works for clarinet.^[7] Zachary Woolfe from The New York Times wrote: "...sounding like the most beautiful circus music ever written."^[10]

Recordings

Bettina Aust and Robert Aust, Bettina Aust – Deutscher Musikwettbewerb, Laureate 2015, Clarinet, Recorded at Ehemalige Sendestelle des Deutschlandradios, 16–19 October 2015, GENUIN classics, GEN 16432, 2016, compact disc. OCLC 987272763
Eduard Brunner, Music for Solo Clarinet, Recorded in Studio 2, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Munich, 14–15 December 2009, Naxos, 8.572470, 2011, compact disc. OCLC 1080882095
Stefan Neubauer, Solitary Changes, Recorded between 2012 and 2013, Orlando Records, or 0006, 2013. OCLC 887469607

Notes

^ Widmann was not aware of the unaccompanied clarinet work Harlekin (1975) by Karlheinz Stockhausen.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Fantasie". Schott Music. 3 June 2020. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Jörg Widmann's "Fantasie" with Andrew Lowy". LA Phil. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c Dierickx 2018, p. 24.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Dierickx 2018, p. 103.
^ Schmidl, Christina (28 October 2013). "Kritik: Jörg Widmann Gesprächskonzert". Klassikinfo.de (in German). Archived from the original on 26 April 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
^ Dierickx 2018, p. 76.
^ ^a ^b Dierickx 2018, p. 102.
^ Kaiserkern, Babette (16 October 2020). "Solist, Komponist, Dirigent: Jörg Widmann ist eine Ausnahmeerscheinung der Musik". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Archived from the original on 9 June 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
^ Dierickx 2018, p. 104.
^ ^a ^b Woolfe, Zachary (15 April 2013). "On Clarinet, the Composer". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on 22 August 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.(subscription required)
^ Dierickx 2018.

Sources

Dierickx, Zachary (2018). The Clarinet Works of Jörg Widmann: A Performance Guide to Fantasie for Clarinet Solo with a Survey of Unaccompanied Clarinet Repertoire and Guide to Contemporary Techniques (DMA thesis). Ohio State University.
Mala, Defrim (2019). The music avangard Jörg Widmann and an analyse on his main work "The Fantasie for Clarinet Solo" (Master's thesis). University of Agder. hdl:11250/2628871. Retrieved 4 June 2023.