Bartok Mikrokosmos -- For Clarinet and Bass Clarinet

Well, I had a request today for suggestions about what to play as a Clarinet and Bass Clarinet duet. It got me reminiscing about a few concerts I did with David Hattner back in the late 1980s. Hattner went to Northwestern, and studied with Marcellus. I went to Eastman where I studied with Neidich. Definitely different schools of clarinet playing. Once I went to one of Marcellus' "clarinet lunches" (I think they were wednesdays, but my memory doesn't always serve me too well.) Anyway, I remember Hattner telling Marcellus that I was in the room (he was blind by that time), and that I was studying with Charlie Neidich at Eastman. Marcellus said, and I quote, "Hmmmm. Charlie Neidich. I used to smoke pot with his father."

Anyway, Hattner and I were tight back then, and he would occasionally come up to Eastman to play recitals with me, and I would go to Northwestern to reciprocate. Or piss off the powers that be, more likely. We would do one solo piece each, but the rest were duos like the Mendelssohn concert pieces, or some stuff I'd write or Bach two-part inventions -- or in this case, the Bartok Mikrokosmos. These are the two-part pieces that Bartok wrote for the beginner pianist I guess, and since they were only two lines, I'd play the bottom on bass and he'd play the top on clarinet. This recording is from January 7, 1989 -- almost 18 years ago, jeeez -- when we played it at NU.

Here's the link to the MP3 (feel free to steal it if you want).

Yee hah. I'll try to post the Bach (which are SO fun to play) at another point soon.

Mike