The Clarinet Choir

Book excerpt: I am very pleased to present a new edition of this book first published in 2005. I have taken the opportunity to include various suggestions and developments in the last ten years. Many new clarinet choirs have been established around the world during this time both in the cultural sector and as training ensembles. This last fact should not however detract from the fact that the clarinet choir as a medium is generally becoming more popular and is emerging as a permanent feature of the concert life in many countries. In the course of giving concerts at home and abroad with my own ensemble, the Austrian Clarinet Choir, I have had the opportunity of getting to know many new arrangements and original works, gaining new inspiration and learning to appreciate the rich possibilities the Clarinet Choir offers. These days, its tonal palette is not only evident to us connoisseurs. In recent times, the public has started to appreciate the scoring of this unique ensemble ranging from the now well-known E flat clarinet down to the Contrabass Clarinet. While I have seen increased interest in the genre in the course of delivering lectures on the subject in Europe, the USA, Latin- and South America, South Africa... it has become apparent that there is hardly any literature on the subject, so it was obviously important to me to have the book translated into English and Spanish and to include as much new information and additional research as I could.