Old instruments
Erik Hoeprich plays an antique bassette horn and has constructed the other two horns used by his friends. There is a big difference in sound between the bassettes lowest and highest tones. It sounds like a B-flat clarinet in the upper registers and like a bass in the lower. It's easy to understand that Mozart fell in love with the bassette horn.
The Stadler trio plays Mozart's Divertimento No. 2 KV439b
Boogie Woogie
The clarinet together with a trumpet gives very distinct sound used by some early jazz bands.
Albert Ammons plays Boogie Woogie Stomp (clarinettist probably Dalbert Bright and trumpetist probably Guy Keller)
Modern jazz
The clarinets versatility comes to it's right in the hands of skillful musicians that knows how to improvise.
Putte Wickman plays Janne Schaffer's Atlanta InnSolo clarinet
A solo clarinet can deliver almost any feeling. It's mellow almost melancholy sound really puts the listener into a deeper mode of sence.
Emma Johnson plays solo in Michael Berkeley's Flighting
Solo clarinet with orchestra
There are numerous of concertos written for the clarinet, both strict classical and more modern "jazzy" ones.
Benny Goodman plays Mozart's clarinet concerto (yes it's really Benny
from 1957)
Richard Stoltzman plays Aron Copland's Clarinet concerto
Clarinet and Bassette horn
Felix Mendelssohn wrote a few double concertos for the clarinet/bassette. It's said that the Op.114 was a "payment" to Bärmann and his son Carl for "yeast dumplings and cream strudels" which the Bärmanns cooked while Mendelssohn composed. It took him 3 hours to complete it.
Dieter Klöcker and Waldemar Wandel play Felix Mendelssohn's
konsertstück No. 2 op. 114 - Adagio
Two clarinets
Two equal clarinets playing together is very nice to listen to. There are a lot of sounds you can create with theese instrument. Mozart and many others understood how to write for this combination.
Sabine Meyer and her brother Wolfgang play Franz Krommer's concert for
2 clarinets Op.35
Small ensemble / Chamber music
The clarinet is very common in chamber music, like wind quintets or smaller settings. It gives brilliance to the sound and often also plays the melody part.
Henk de Graaf and friends play Max Bruch's Acht stücke Op.83 - No.7
Big ensemble / Clarinet Choir
The clarinet choir includes all the major members of the clarinet family wich is contra bass, bass, alto, b-flat and the e-flat on top.
Stockholm Clarinet Choir plays the 1:st movement of Mozarts Eine Kleine
NachtmusikNote! This is the whole piece.
Popular music
In pop music you can occationally hear the clarinet. An example is to let it play a riff between verses like here.
Enya plays On Your Shore
Jazz with the bass clarinet
This is a very interestning use of the bass clarinet. Not many clarinettists would be able to play like this.
Per "Texas" Johansson plays En kvart om dagen (15 minutes a day)
Jazz with the contrabass clarinet
This is one way to use the contrabass clarinet. Here it's used together with a distorted double bass to form a very special sound. Pay attention to the "groove" in the background and you'll understand.
Per "Texas" Johansson plays Flen tur och retur (Flen back and forth)
Anthony Braxton has taken the contrabass clarinet to his heart and
has
made some relly interesting jazz recordings with it.
Anthony Braxton plays Ornithology
Swedish folk music
The clarinet was a common folkinstrument in Sweden from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century. It was brought to Sweden by military people, and came to use at weddings, dinners and dances. Here are three short clips demonstrating a solo clarinet, then toghether with a fiddle and last together with a "varends" drum.
Kjell Leidhammar plays folkmusic from the west coast of Sweden
