This site is home to Alea Publishing & Recording, specializing in music for the bass clarinet.
We offer a growing catalog of creative, artistic transcriptions and new works for bass clarinet solo & ensemble.
About the Music
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) originally composed Canto Serioso for horn and piano in 1913, later arranging the work for 'cello and piano. After comparison of the different keys chosen by Nielsen for the horn and cello, the F major of the horn version was found to be more suitable to the bass clarinet, and so this original key was maintained. The work, with a duration of about 4 minutes, provides the bass clarinetist with excellent expressive opportunities. A true ensemble piece, the bass clarinet and piano parts exchange lovely melodies throughout. An extended-range instrument is required, although only for one brief passage.
In February 2015, Alea released the 2nd Edition; the Canto Serioso was one of our earliest publications, originally released in 1999.
Extended-range instrument required. Piano score: 5 pages, spiral bound; Part: 2 pages, single sheet.
Hard Copy Edition
Add this item to your cart if you wish to have the hard-copy music shipped to you. We also offer this piece via PDF download: click here to choose that option.
Listen to our recording as you watch the score:
Kim Davenport
President
Duo Alea, the father-daughter duo of Michael and Kimberly Davenport, began performing music for bass clarinet and piano in 1996. As performers searching for new repertoire and teachers working with students eager to develop as performers, it quickly became clear that there was a need for more repertoire featuring the bass clarinet. Filling this need became the mission of Alea Publishing & Recording.
Since our first publication in 1997, the Alea catalog has now grown to include over 300 titles. We pride ourselves on the accuracy and quality of our sheet music, as well as our ability to ship directly to customers around the world.
We are proud of the diversity of our catalog in terms of the inclusion of works by composers and arrangers from around the world. We are interested in continuing to expand this diversity, representing musical ideas from around the world.
Following Michael's passing in 2019, Kim has taken over solo management of Alea Publishing. In 2020, Alea established the Dolphy Prize, an annual composition award for new works for bass clarinet by black composers.
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