I believe these transcriptions to be significant because they help fill a void of Baroque music for the clarinet. These transcriptions remain as authentic to the original compositions as possible. Because I believe Johann Sebastian Bach to be the preeminent Baroque composer, I started this project of transcribing Baroque pieces with only his works.  

 

Clarinetists are seldomly instructed throughout their training to study arrangements of Baroque music to improve their understanding of the Baroque period and to better themselves as musicians, and such arrangements have not become standard in the clarinetist’s repertoire. I believe the reasons for this are threefold. First, clarinet recordings exclusively featuring Baroque music do not exist, so exposure is limited. Second, it is very difficult to find Baroque music that can be transcribed to the clarinet with little or no alterations. While there are numerous arrangements of Baroque music for clarinet that are published, most have been unnecessarily altered from the original compositions. Such alterations include octave displacements, changing the keys, and simplifying the technique, all of which diminish the quality and authenticity of the compositions. Third, playing in the Baroque style is very different than the style in which clarinetists are trained from their earliest years. Because clarinet did not exist during the Baroque period, clarinetists don’t study this period as most other instrumentalists do. Therefore, most clarinetists don’t have an understanding or grasp on how to perform in the Baroque style, such as executing standard performance practice of the period and ornamentations. It has taken several years of listening to Baroque specialists, taking lessons with Baroque performers and reading pedagogical books by CPE Bach, Quantz and Donington, only to begin to understand and be able to execute Baroque style and performance on the clarinet.

 

Therefore, I undertook transcribing compositions that would work well as arrangements for the clarinet and would require very little or no alterations. Using these criteria to choose pieces resulted in a more select body of works to transcribe and made them more challenging to perform.

 

The resulting transcriptions are closer to what the composers would have composed for the modern clarinet if it had existed in their time. In addition, these transcriptions give clarinetists an expanded choice of quality repertoire from the Baroque era. To add to the authenticity of the recordings, these pieces were recorded with the accompanying instrumentation for which they were originally written.
 

Below are links to purchase these transcriptions and several CDs, including 'Bach in Time on the Clarinet'. The transcriptions contain very little and in some cases no dynamincs or written ornamentations, leaving these to the interpretive skills of the performer, as was done during the Baroque period.  I would encourage those who play these to study performance practice techniques of the Baroque period (overall style and ornamentations) through reading books by Quantz, CPE Bach and others, as well as listening to Baroque performance specialists.  I hope these transcriptions and this recording is worthwhile for pleasure, study and performance.