ORCHESTRAL EXCERPTS FOR CLARINET

Recently I made a survey that reveals a basic repertoire required of orchestral clarinet players. A total of 24 major orchestras sent me their clarinet audition lists, which I used to prepare the material that follows. I have organized the Bb clarinet list into threegroupings, according to the number of times audition pieces were requested: Always Requested, Frequently Requested and Sometimes Requested.  The majority of the orchestras surveyed stated that they also require the performance of a solo work, which the Mozart Concerto in A Major is mentioned most often.

--Cecil Gold

Bb Clarinet

Always Requested: 

Beethoven Symphony No. 4; Symphony No. 6

Symphony No. 3: Tempo de Minuetto and Trio

Brahms Symphony No. 3: Andante

Mendelssohn Scherzo from Midsummer Night’s Dream

Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf

Ravel Daphnis et Chloe, Suite No. 2 – meas. 155-158; 163-166;

meas. 201-204; 207-210; 210-end

Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio Espagnole: Mov’t. I, III and Cadenza;

Le Coq d’or; Scheherazade: Cadenza

Strauss Don Juan; Till Eulenspiegel

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4; Symphony No. 5

Frequently Requested:

Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique

Borodin Polovetsian Dances

Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2: Mov’t II; Symphony No. 4

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3, “Scottish”

Mozart Symphony No. 9

Ravel Rhapsodie Espagnole

Respighi Pines of Rome

Rossini Figario’s aria from The Barber of Seville

Schubert Symphony No. 8; Symphony No. 9

Shostakovich Symphony No. 1

Sibelius Opening of Symphony No. 1

Stravinsky Firebird; Petrouchka

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6

Sometimes Requested:

Beethoven Leonore No. 3

Brahms Symphony No. 1

Debussy Prelude Apres midi d’une Faune;

Nocturnes: Mov’t II - “Fetes” and Mov’t III - “Nuages”

Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue

Milhaud Creation of the World

Mozart Symphony No. 40

Nielsen Symphony No. 5

Prokofiev Classical Symphony

Ravel Bolero

Rossini Semiramide: Overture

Roussel Bacchus et Ariane

Schumann Piano Concerto

Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 ; Symphony No. 9

Strauss Death and Transfiguration; Ein Heldenleben

Stravinsky Jeu des cartes; Symphonies of Wind Instruments

Wagner Forest Murmurs

Weber Der Freischutz: Overture

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