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.
Alea is pleased to present this fine transcription by clarinetist Erica Manzo, produced as part of her DMA studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Schumann's Quintet Op.44, originally for string quartet and piano, was composed in 1842. Dr. Manzo's artful transcription of the work for clarinet quartet and piano was completed in 2003.
The four-movement work is an excellent example of Romantic-era chamber music. This transcription retains the musical value of the original, while making an effective performance piece available to the clarinet quartet. The four-movement work offers a great variety of material: the sonata-allegro form first movement; a funeral march slow movement; a Scherzo; and a sonata-rondo form Finale.
The work easily stands on its own as a performance piece for recitals or chamber music concerts and as a learning tool for advanced students. Extended-range instrument NOT required for bass clarinet part. Score: 126 pages, spiral bound; Clarinet I, II, III, Bass Clarinet parts: staple bound.
Listen to the work in its original instrumentation:
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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