Repertoire

The Clarinet Quartet

The clarinet quartet typically consists of three Bb clarinets plus bass clarinet. However, composers have also called for anything from three bass clarinets and one contra-bass to one each of the Eb (piccolo), Bb, alto and bass clarinets, giving the ensemble a huge tessitural range (around six octaves) and with it an extensive palette of tone colour and dynamics which make it the true woodwind cousin of the string quartet. Contemporary works also draw on the full gamut of available expressive effects, including flutter-tonguing, multiphonics and microtonal pitches. This rich variety of sound colouring is reflected in the clarinet quartet repertoire, which extends from contemporary and 20th century works written for the combination, through transcriptions of well-known pieces from the baroque, classical and romantic periods, to the jazz of Benny Goodman and the Eastern sound of Klezmer.

Items marked with an asterisk were commissioned by, or are dedicated to, SCQ.

Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Romantic

  • Tomaso Albinoni/Remo Giazotto – Adagio for Clarinet Quartet and Organ
  • J.S. Bach (arr. South) – Air on the G string
  • J.S. Bach (arr. South/Rundell) – Brandenburg Concerto No.2 for Clarinet Quartet and Organ
  • J.S. Bach (arr. South) – Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659
  • J.S. Bach (arr. Smith) – Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 532
  • J.S. Bach (arr. South) – Prelude and Fugue in Eb major
  • Alexander Borodin (arr. South) – Notturno, from String Quartet No.2
  • William Byrd – Mass for Four Voices for Four Bass Clarinets
  • John Dowland – Lachrimae Antiquae
  • Don Carlo Gesualdo – O Vos Omnes
  • Orlando Gibbons – The Silver Swan
  • G.F. Handel – The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
  • Felix Mendelssohn – Quartet in Eb major
  • W.A. Mozart – Overture to The Magic Flute
  • W.A. Mozart (arr. Swierc) – Overture to The Marriage of Figaro
  • Johan Pachelbel – Canon in D major
  • Henry Purcell – Three Parts upon a Ground, Z731
  • Thomas Tallis – In Jejunio Fletu
  • Thomas Tallis – O Nata Lux
  • Giuseppe Tartini (arr. Smith) – Quartet in G major
  • Thomas Tomkins – Oh Yes! Has Any Found a Lad
  • Giuseppe Verdi (arr. South) – Overture to ‘La forza del destino’

20th-21st Century

  • Louis Andriessen – Workers Union for any loud-sounding group of instruments
  • Larry Austin – Threnos for Four Bass Clarinets and Tape
  • Eugène Bozza – Sonatine
  • Gareth Churchill – Riverform* for Four Bass Clarinets
  • Stephen Davismoon – eleventeenth dream* for Four Bass Clarinets
  • Claude Debussy (arr. Thilde) - Danse
  • Pierre Max Dubois – Quatuor
  • Ferenc Farkas – Early Hungarian Dances
  • David Fennessy – Confetti Medley – Slowing down study* for Four Bass Clarinets and Two Hand-Cranked Music Box Mechanisms
  • Michael Gordon – The Low Quartet for Three Bass Clarinets and Contrabass Clarinet
  • Sadie Harrison – Scathach (The Lady of Shadows)* for Four Bass Clarinets
  • Ian Holloway – Die Kunst der Klarinette (Variations on ‘Colonel Bogey’)
  • Richard Ingham – Mrs Malcolm, Her Reel (Funky Freuchie)*
  • Scott Lygate – The Forest*
  • Andrew McEwan – Spaces in Between* for Four Bass Clarinets
  • Edward McGuire – Celtic Knotwork
  • Edward McGuire - Chinese Knotwork
  • Iain McLarty – jow* for Four Bass Clarinets
  • Anna Meredith – four to the floor* for Four Bass Clarinets
  • Becky Milne – Waulking Bass* for Four Bass Clarinets
  • Oleg Paiberdin – Sob Out
  • Astor Piazzolla – Histoire du Tango
  • Michael Riessler – Bachmachine
  • Matt Rogers – god of doors* for Clarinet Quartet and Trombone
  • Matt Rogers - hum mantra*
  • Matt Rogers - timewave zero*
  • Matt Rogers/Gameshow Outpatient – The Parlour Guide to Exo-Politics
  • Oliver Searle – Downwarp* for Four Bass Clarinets
  • Dmitry Shostakovich (arr. South) – Quartet in C minor,Op.110
  • Roger Teichmann – Fantasy Sonata* for Four Bass Clarinets
  • Alec Templeton (arr. Henry Brant) – Bach Goes to Town!
  • Henri Tomasi – Trois Divertissements
  • Francine Trester Many Miles Away… Five quotations from Sir Walter Scott*
  • Mark-Anthony Turnage – A Deviant Fantasy (after J.S. Bach)
  • Alfred Uhl – Divertimento
  • Judith Weir (arr. Alex South) Sketches from a Bagpiper’s Album*
  • Tom David Wilson Wringhim His Demons* for Four Bass Clarinets
  • Marc Yeats – Fallen Angel* for Four Bass Clarinets and Percussion

Folk, Klezmer, Jazz and Popular

  • Randy Brecker – Some Skunk Funk
  • Dave Brubeck (arr. Swierc) – Blue Rondo à la Turk
  • Frank Churchill – Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs
  • Mike Curtis – A Klezmer Wedding
  • Mike Curtis – Bulgarian Bat Bite
  • Fred Fisher – Chicago
  • Errol Garner (arr. Brady) – Misty
  • Benny Goodman (arr. Andrew Sharkey) – Four Once More*
  • George Gershwin (arr. Marshall) – Liza
  • George Gershwin (arr. Marshall) – Oh, Lady Be Good
  • George Gershwin – The Man I Love
  • George Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue
  • George Gershwin (arr. South) – Slap That Bass
  • George Gershwin (arr. Brady) – Three Preludes
  • Bart Howard – Fly Me To The Moon
  • Komitas – Cool Me, Oh My Dear Mountain
  • Lennon & McCartney (arr. Brady) – Yesterday
  • Henry Mancini (arr. Brady) – Moon River
  • Hermeto Pascoal (arr. Andrew Sharkey) – Viagem*
  • Lenny Sayers – Mazeltov!
  • Lenny Sayers – Three Klezmer Melodies
  • Stephen Sondheim (arr. Brady) – Send in the Clowns