About Music – The Art of Listening with Brian Programme 111

Loading player...
The Woodwind Family, The Clarinet Family
In recent programmes we explored the flute, one of the oldest and most enduring of instruments. Today, we continue our journey through the woodwind family.

The woodwinds form four main branches:
• Flutes, where sound is made by blowing across or into a hole.
• Clarinets and Saxophones, which use a single reed vibrating against a mouthpiece.
• Oboes and Cor anglais, using a double reed — two blades of cane vibrating against each other.
Bassoons and Contrabassoons, the lower-pitched members of the double reed family.

Today we will look specifically at the Clarinet family, using these compositions:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622
Carl Maria von Weber - Clarinet Concerto No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 74, J. 118
and
Gabriel Pierné – Canzonetta, Op. 19

Happy listening!
18 Aug English South Africa Music · Music History

Other recent episodes

Programme 117 Double Reed, Double Delight – Concertos for Bassoon

A concert celebrating the wit, warmth, and expressive voice of the bassoon — that most human of instruments, capable of both laughter and lyric song. Few instruments have as much personality as the bassoon. With its long wooden body and curling metal crook, it looks slightly eccentric — and sounds…
20 Oct 1 hr 04 min

Programme 116 – Cor Anglais: Classical Roots and Romantic Voices

Welcome to today’s edition of “about Music” with Brian. Last week we listened to the Oboe, a double reed instrument with a bright treble penetrating sound. It is the familiar voice of the family. There are two more family members. The oboe d’amore, pitched lower in A, has a warmer,…
12 Oct 59 min

Easy Listening Oboe Concertos – Programme 115

Welcome to “about Music“ with Brian. In our exploration of the woodwind instruments of the orchestra, we have listened to members of the flute family, which are all played by blowing air across or into an opening, and members of the single reed family, which have a single reed that…
5 Oct 1 hr 08 min

About Music – The Art of Listening with Brian - Programme 113.

The Saxophone in the Concert Hall The saxophone is one of the youngest members of the woodwind family. Invented in the 1840s by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax, it combines the single reed mouthpiece of the clarinet with the brass body of a trumpet. This hybrid design gives the…
15 Sep 1 hour