The Fretless Clarinet: Concerto for Clarinet & Orchestra (2021)

Composers: David Krakauer & Kathleen Tagg

I. Sanctuary City
II. Mozart on the Judengasse
III. Ancestral Grooves

Forces: Clarinet; 2 2 2 2 - 4 2 3 1 - 3 (2 plus drum kit) + timp - str

Performances:
David Krakauer with Santa Rosa Symphony: Nov 6,7,8 2021
David Krakauer with L'Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle-Aquitaine: Jan 7 2022
David Krakauer with Eugene Symphony: October 27 2022

PROGRAM NOTES:
The Fretless Clarinet: Concerto for Klezmer Clarinet and Orchestra is a natural extension of the past decade of Grammy-nominated clarinet soloist, composer and band-leader David Krakauer and pianist, composer and producer Kathleen Tagg’s collaborative creative work, which has seen them co-create large-scale concert works, multi-media and genre-crossing projects and installations, duo programs and music for film. This co-composition is their first concerto. 

While conceived as both a vehicle for Krakauer and a reflection of his unique sound world, this piece is also deeply imbued with the immediately recognizable sounds of traditional jewish klezmer music, incorporating numerous klezmer dance rhythms, typical melodic patterns and song forms. The Fretless Clarinet is in three movements. 

The first movement, Sanctuary City, reflects on the fact that New York City has been a kind of oasis of tolerance for people from cultures around the world for many many years. Krakauer drew on material from an improvisation he did a number of years ago that reflects many multi-genre and multi-cultural influences. This section moves through multiple key centers, with each section having its own instrumentation featuring different instruments of the orchestra, each with a free and improvisatory feel. Elements of that material is then incorporated into the body of the rest of the movement, as it explores and alters the material, eventually culminating in a klezmer-style dance: a “Terkisher” which is introduced by the drum kit and embellished by the brass and winds. 

The second movement (Mozart on the Judengasse) is based on fragments of the viola solo from the last movement of the Mozart Clarinet Quintet K. 581, which had always struck Krakauer as sounding like a Jewish prayer. Perhaps Mozart heard a similar melody wafting out of the window of a synagogue on the Judengasse in Salzburg when he was a boy. This melody is modified by Krakauer and Tagg and used as the basis for the second movement. The structure of this movement is a traditional klezmer tune in form and proportion, and was also influenced by the famous klezmer tune Der Gasn Nign (The Street Song).

The movement builds in intensity, with the clarinet line drawing more and more on klezmer-style improvisations over the orchestral structure until the final introverted recap of the melody, which leads into a highly personalized Krakauer-style cadenza bridging the second and third movements. This movement has a reduced instrumentation which is the same as the instrumentation of the Mozart clarinet concerto. 

The third movement (Ancestral Grooves) begins with a driven rhythmic figure in the strings that drew original inspiration from a driving rainstorm over Lake Como. The central melodic idea evolved from typical “riffs” found in klezmer doinas (modal, monophonic, melismatic improvisations). These riff fragments are given a high energy, motoric treatment to start off the movement. The middle section breaks down into groove-based material driven by the percussion and brass. An original “bulgar” (klezmer wedding dance) based on the doina material ends the movement in a joyous romp.

The Fretless Clarinet was co-commissioned by the Santa Rosa Symphony (lead commissioner), the Eugene Symphony and The Adele and John Gray Endowment Fund. The world premiere took place in November 2021 in Santa Rosa, California with the Santa Rosa Symphony and Maestro Francesco Lecce-Chong. 

ABOUT KRAKAUER & TAGG

Over the past decade, Krakauer & Tagg have created large-scale projects including their duo project Breath & Hammer; The Ties That Bind Us (a multi-media show for clarinet, piano, electronic loops and samples, surround sound audio and live video projections created for the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin); Connections (acoustic program combining world music, jazz and original compositions); and an avant-pop/world music project Mazel Tov Cocktail Party. Krakauer & Tagg have also co-composed a klezmer fantasy for concert band as well as an evening-length work for large forces: Keepers of the Flame (commissioned for “The Day of the Bridge Festival” by the Borderlands Foundation in Sejny, Poland) and the score for the film Minyan directed by Eric Steel (1st showing: Berlin Biennale 2020)