Product Description
Flexible Instrumentation:
Transposed Score (E, B, Alto, Bass)
I. E or B Clarinet
II. B Clarinet, Basset Horn, or Alto Clarinet
III. B Clarinet, Basset Horn, Alto Clarinet, or Bass Clarinet
IV. Bass Clarinet (to low D) or E Contra-Alto Clarinet
Length: 5 minutes
Difficulty: Intermediate/Advanced
Notes:
J.S. Bachs Prelude and Fugue BWV 549 in C-minor is one of his earlier works, believed to be a transcription of a work originally in D-minor (BWV 549a). This arrangement has been scored for clarinet quartet using flexible instrumentation for increased accessibility. The score has been written for E, B, alto, and bass clarinet, however, any combination of the included parts is acceptable.
A B clarinet part has been included for Part III to allow for one of the most common and accessible clarinet quartet settings of three B clarinets and one bass clarinet, however, it required transposing some passages up an octave when it became too low, so using a basset horn, alto clarinet, or bass clarinet is preferable. The Part IV bass clarinet requires several low Ds so an extended range instrument is necessary. For a version that doesnt require an extended range bass clarinet, BWV 549a in D-minor is available (AMA-008). This version also retains more of the original octaves in III. B Clarinet.
Richard originally arranged this work for SATB saxophone quartet and I have adapted it for clarinets. The editing of this arrangement has been in consultation with the Bärenreiter (1972) and Breitkopf & Härtel (2013) Urtext editions for organ.
Dr Jason Alder, editor
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