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2019

A master's recital in clarinet

Sayyod Mirzomurodov
University of Northern Iowa

Copyright ©2019 Sayyod Mirzomurodov

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A MASTER’S RECITAL IN CLARINET

An Abstract of a Recital

Submitted

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Music

Sayyod Mirzomurodov

University of Northern Iowa

May 2019
This Abstract by: Sayyod Mirzomurodov
Entitled: A Master’s Recital in Clarinet

Has been approved as meeting the abstract requirement for the

Degree of Master of Music

___________ _____________________________________________________
Date Dr. Amanda McCandless, Chair, Thesis Committee

___________ _____________________________________________________
Date Dr. Danny Galyen, Thesis Committee Member

___________ _____________________________________________________
Date Dr. Cayla Bellamy, Thesis Committee Member

___________ _____________________________________________________
Date Dr. Jennifer Waldron, Dean, Graduate College
This Recital Performance by: Sayyod Mirzomurodov
Entitled: A Master’s Recital in Clarinet
Date of Recital: March 26, 2019

Has been approved as meeting the abstract requirement for the

Degree of Master of Music

___________ _____________________________________________________
Date Dr. Amanda McCandless, Chair, Thesis Committee

___________ _____________________________________________________
Date Dr. Danny Galyen, Thesis Committee Member

___________ _____________________________________________________
Date Dr. Cayla Bellamy, Thesis Committee Member

___________ _____________________________________________________
Date Dr. Jennifer Waldron, Dean, Graduate College
 ABSTRACT

Sayyod Mirzomurodov performed his graduate recital on March 26, 2019 at 6:00

p.m. in Davis Hall at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. The recital was in

partial fulfillment of the requirement for his Master of Music degree in Clarinet

Performance. The recital program included The Shepherd on the Rock D. 965 by Franz

Schubert, Clarinet Sonata No. 2, Op. 120 No. 2 by Johannes Brahms, and Klezmer

Dances No. 2 by Göran Fröst.1 Following intermission, another part of the recital

program included Prelude for Solo Clarinet by Krzysztof Penderecki, Concerto for

Clarinet and String Orchestra, with Harp and Piano by Aaron Copland, and Let’s Be

Happy by Giora Feidman, arranged by Göran Fröst.2

The Shepherd on the Rock D. 965 by Franz Schubert

An Austrian composer, Franz Peter Schubert was born on January 31, 1797.

Schubert’s writing style was between the Classical and Romantic periods. He wrote in

different genres including songs, dances, chamber music, religious works, orchestral

music, and piano works; however, he is also well-known for writing the German lied.

Schubert received his elementary education in his father’s school in Vienna. He first took

violin lessons with his father and piano lessons with his brother Ignaz, and later he started

to study with his first music teacher, an organist and choir director named Michael

1
“Martin Fröst - Dances to a Black Pipe,” accessed February 27, 2019, http://bis.se/performers/frost-
martin/martin-frost-dances-to-a-black-pipe.
2
“Fröst & Friends: Encores,” accessed March 7, 2019,
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7988327--frost-friends-encores#about.
Holzer.3 In addition, he also studied composition with Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) who

trained him in the technique of composing. Even though he lived only thirty-one years, he

produced over 1,500 tremendous compositions during this short period.4

Schubert composed a number of works for vocal music and he was best known

for writing the German lied. In 1828, during his last moments of life, he composed his

beautiful and impressive piece Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock) for

soprano, clarinet, and piano. Schubert composed the lied at the request of his friend

Pauline Anna Milder-Hauptmann, an operatic soprano singer. The Leid consists of seven

verses which were written by two writers. German biographer and diplomat Karl August

Varnhagen von Ense wrote verses five and six of the lied while German lyric poet

Wilhelm Müller wrote the first four and the last verses. The German and English

translations follow:

3
Charles Osborne, Schubert and his Vienna, (New York: Knopf, 1985).
4
Peter Gammond, Schubert (London: Methuen, 1982), 143.
Translations

Der Hirt auf dem Felsen The Shepherd on the Rock

Verses 1-4, 7 by Wilhelm Müller Translation by Beaumont Glass,
(1794 - 1827) Schubert’s
Verses 5 & 6 by Karl August Varnhagen Complete Song Texts (1996)5
von Ense (1785 – 1858)

Wenn auf dem höchsten Fels ich steh’, When I stand on the highest rock,
In’s tiefe Tal hernieder seh’, Look down into the deep valley,
Und singe. And sing.
Fern aus dem tiefen dunkeln Tal Far out of the deep, dark valley
Schwingt sich empor der Widerhall The echo comes soaring up
Der Klüfte. From the ravines.
Je weiter meine Stimme dringt, The farther my voice carries,
Je heller sie mir wieder klingt The clearer it comes back to me
Von unten. From down below.
Mein Liebchen wohnt so weit von mir, My sweetheart lives so far from me,
Drum sehn’ ich mich so heiss nach ihr For that reason I am so ardently longing
Hinüber. for her
Over there.
In tiefem Bram verzehr’ ich mich, I am consumed by deep grief,
Mir ist die Freude hin, From me all joy is gone,
Auf Erden mir die Hoffnung wich, For me all hope on this earth has retreated,
Ich hier so einsam bin. I am so lonesome here.
So sehnend klang im Wald das Lied, So full of longing did the song ring out in
So sehnend klang es durch die Nacht, the wood,
Die Herzen es zum Himmel zieht So full of longing did it ring out through
Mit wunderbarer Macht. the night,
That it draws hearts toward heaven
With wondrous power.
Der Fühling will kommen, The spring will come,
Der Frühling, meine Freud’, The spring, my joy;
Nun mach’ ich mich fertig, Now I shall make myself ready,
Zum Wandern bereit. Prepared to go wandering again.

5
Franz Schubert and Beaumont Glass, Schubert's complete song texts, (Geneseo, N.Y.: Leyerle, 1996),
quoted in Jung Hee Lee, “A Graduate Recital in Voice” (Master’s thesis, Pittsburg State University,
Kansas, 2014), 27.
 Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen is about a shepherd’s experience with nature,

love, and work. The song consists of three sections. A short piano introduction leads to a

lovely and colorful clarinet melody which starts with a long note and then transfers to the

main melody. The melody characterizes the sounds of nature and feels dreamy. Then the

singer’s introduction demonstrates the shepherd’s scene and character; the shepherd’s

feelings such as desiring, dreaming, and being happy are displayed in this section. The

singer needs to perform carefully with no changing of the vocal color in leaping

melodies; the melodies should be performed using head voice and chest voice smoothly.6

The clarinet is often echoing the singer’s melody. In the next section, the character of the

music exhibits sad emotions. The clarinet plays short melodic phrases as an answer to the

shepherd’s desires. Although they are short phrases, it is important for the clarinet to

create appropriate dynamic contrast and colors to compliment the mood of the text. The

section ends with a short cadenza which plays a role of a bridge to the last section, and

the clarinet plays the cadenza. The last section is much faster, with the tempo marked

Allegretto. In this section, both the clarinet and the singer perform in dramatic and

expressive character. Before the end, the tempo alternates to the piu mosso and the song

finishes with the clarinet playing fast sixteenth notes with piano accompaniment. This

piece is one of the best illustrations of early Romantic chamber music because of its

intensity and expression of the text.

6
Jung Hee Lee, “A Graduate Recital in Voice” (Master’s thesis, Pittsburg State University, Kansas, 2014),
28.
Clarinet Sonata No. 2, Op. 120 No. 2 by Johannes Brahms

German composer, conductor, and pianist Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was one

the greatest composers of the Romantic period. He composed symphonies, concerti,

sonatas, piano works, choral compositions, vocal canons, and over 200 songs. In addition,

he was one of the leading composers in writing symphonies and sonatas in the nineteenth

century. His compositions include four complete symphonies, two piano concertos, one

concerto for violin, a double concerto for violin and cello, two sonatas for clarinet or

viola, and many chamber music including duets, trios, quartet, and quintets for strings,

clarinet, and horn. Brahms’ compositions are usually composed in classical style, but he

used his own remarkable interpretation which made masterful music.

Johannes Brahms wrote two Sonatas for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 120, nos. 1 and

2 in 1894. They were dedicated both to Richard Mühlfeld, a famous clarinetist at that

time. These two clarinet sonatas were composed late in Brahms’ life and they count

among his last chamber works. The sonatas are considered important pieces in the

clarinet’s standard repertoire. In Bad Ischl, Austria, Mühlfeld and Brahms performed

these two compositions around twenty times and they were very successful. Later, they

played these sonatas for Clara Schumann. Mühlfeld studied the violin as well as piano,

and applied his skills to the clarinet, creating a beautiful vibrato and gorgeous tone color.7

7
Albert R. Rice, “Johannes Brahms, Sonata for Clarinet and Piano op.120, no.1,” in Notes for Clarinetists:
A Guide to the Repertoire, (New York, Oxford University Press, 2017), 35.
Because of these Brahms’ sonatas, the genre of the clarinet sonata was developed

significantly.

The second sonata was written in three movements. The lyrical character of the

first movement leads to the second movement, which is in scherzo form, not a typical

slow tempo. The third movement is a theme and variation, followed by a finale that is

mostly a dialogue between clarinet and piano with overlapping and arpeggiated phrases.

The first movement is composed in sonata-allegro form. The opening tempo of the first

movement is marked Allegro amabile. The first theme is lyrical, happy, and relaxed. The

second theme, in B-flat major, is more somber and lyrical, using leaps of an octave and a

fifth. In this movement, Brahms uses interesting key relationships. For example, in the

recapitulation, the second theme is in C-flat major instead of the tonic key, E-flat major.

The tonic key is presented for only a few measures.8

The second movement is in three-part scherzo and trio form, and the tempo is

marked Allegro appassionato in the first section. The time signature for the whole

movement is written in 3/4. The first theme, in E-flat minor, begins with a pickup, and is

very expressive and emotional. The second section is slower, and the Sostenuto suggests

a slower tempo. In this section, the key changes to B major, and the character is deep and

thoughtful. After the trio section, the scherzo returns with marked Tempo I.

8
James Spencer Fay, “The Clarinet and its Use as a Solo Instrument in the Chamber Music of Johannes
Brahms” (DMA Diss., Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 1991), 166-67.
 The third movement of the sonata is in variation form, consisting of a theme and

four variations followed by a finale. The tempo is marked Andante con moto. The theme

consists of four phrases with AABA’ structure, and the same structure is represented in

each variation. The first variation is quiet and smooth. The second variation is livelier.

The piano part helps to create the character of the variation. The third variation is more

graceful and elegant. The piano continues the clarinet lines. The next variation starts after

the fermata over a double bar line. In this variation, the character is static, thoughtful, and

deep. The last section, marked Allegro, is in E-flat minor, and serves as a finale. The

character of the music changes, becoming energetic and agitated. The coda leads to E-flat

major, and the character of music becomes calm and quiet, but develops and moves to a

bright virtuosic ending.

Klezmer Dances No. 2 by Göran Fröst

A Swedish violist and composer, Göran Fröst, was born in 1974. As a composer,

he has been writing and arranging for orchestras such as the Royal Stockholm

Philharmonic Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, and Academy of St Martin in the Field.9

He also played as a solo performer and chamber musician in Europe and Japan. Fröst’s

style of arranging and composing is extremely creative and it has always been accepted

with a high degree of praise by audiences. His work, “Klezmer Dances No. 2” and

arrangement “Let’s Be Happy,” are brilliant works for solo clarinet and strings. These

9
“Göran Fröst – Violist,” accessed February 21, 2019, http://www.goranfrost.com/
compositions were written and arranged for his talented brother Martin Fröst, who is a

famous clarinetist.

“Klezmer Dances No. 2” is based on various Jewish traditional melodies.

However, Fröst’s composition utilizes a more modernized, contrasting, and virtuosic

style performed by the clarinet. For performing the piece, it is important for the clarinetist

to know how to make special effects on the clarinet in order to create a Klezmer clarinet

sound. The main key of the piece is D minor. The piece starts with a slow introduction by

leading clarinet melody. The strings accompany and create a mysterious mood in this

section, and the melodies are sad and dreamy. In the next section, the character becomes

energetic, sharp, and fast. The clarinet part has large jumping intervals, extending up to

high C in the altissimo register. It also has difficult fast trills and fast articulated sixteenth

notes that require double tonguing. In the next section, the meter changes to 2/4, and the

music is dominated by simple dancing rhythms. The melodies build from sad, lyrical

playing to the culmination of the piece, ending with a fast and bright coda after a short,

slow portion which reminds the listener of the first introduction.

Prelude for Solo Clarinet by Krzysztof Penderecki

Krzysztof Penderecki, a Polish composer and conductor, was born on November

23, 1933, in Dębica, Poland. Penderecki’s composition style covers various combination

of genres. He composed orchestral, chamber, instrumental, vocal-instrumental, and choral

music as well as for solo instruments. Penderecki has written eight symphonies and four

operas. His Threnody: to the Victims of Hiroshima, Symphony No. 3, St. Luke Passion,
Anaklasis, Polish Requiem, Utrenja, and Magnificat are well-known among his

compositions. Penderecki is also master of writing pieces based on texture. For example,

his unique piece Threnody: to the Victims of Hiroshima is written for fifty-two string

instruments in which each instrument plays certain types of sound and produces effects

by the unusual use of the bow.10

Prelude for Solo Clarinet was written in 1987 and dedicated to Paul Patterson, the

English composer and tuba professor. This piece is short and has an improvisatory and

meditative character. The opening tempo is marked Lento sostenuto. It starts with A (G

concert pitch) quarter note, after that, there are many rests between one or two notes. It

seems like he is developing the dynamic from soft to loud. He also uses different kinds of

articulation, legato with short phrases, and tremolo figures to develop a melody from a

single note. In this piece, there is a dialogue of various tone colors between the registers

on the clarinet. It is interesting how he groups notes. For example, in a three-note group,

he slurs the first two, and the last one plays staccato. There are some challenges for a

performer, such as playing glissando from clarinet G to C in the altissimo register. After

the energetic and aggressive climax, the music gradually calms down, returning to the

first theme which is soft and quiet, and disappears back to the original note A.

J. Peter Burkholder, Donald J. Grout, and Claude V. Palisca, “Postwar Crosscurrents” A History of
10

Western Music, 8th ed. (New York: W.W. Northon & Company, 2010), 949-50.
Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra, with Harp and Piano by Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was an important American composer,

compositional teacher, and conductor. By mixing modernism with American idioms, he

created a unique and expressive modern style. He was born in a Russian-Jewish

immigrant family in Brooklyn, New York. He started to take piano lessons in 1914 with

Leopold Wolfsohn. In 1916, he began to study theory, harmony, and composition with

Rubin Goldmark, who was a remarkable American composer and teacher. In addition,

another important teacher with whom Copland studied was Nadia Boulanger in France

from 1921 to 1924. Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid, Fanfare for the Common Man,

Rodeo, Third Symphony, and Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra, with Harp and

Piano are his famous compositions.

Concerto for Clarinet is a brilliant and bright composition. Two famous jazz

clarinetists requested compositions of Copland around the same time in 1946: a

composition for Woody Herman and his jazz band and a concerto for Benny Goodman.

He chose to write a concerto for Goodman. Copland listened to many recordings of

Goodman to start composing a concerto to get a sense of Goodman’s style. The first part

of the clarinet concerto was written while he was traveling in Latin America. He finished

the concerto in 1948. In 1950, the premiere of the concerto was performed by Ralph

McLane and the Philadelphia Orchestra; however, Goodman played the radio premiere.

In 1952 and 1963, Goodman and Copland successfully recorded this concerto. Copland

also did the piano version of the orchestra part for rehearsals with Goodman, and it was
so useful that Copland asked Boosey & Hawkes to publish this. Nowadays, clarinetists

play more with piano rather than with orchestra.11

The concerto is written in two parts, a slow movement and a fast movement

connected by a long cadenza. The slow movement is in ternary form. The concerto starts

with an introduction by the harp and strings. It is in the key of C major, marked

pianissimo, and the tempo is marked Slowly and expressively. After four measures,

clarinet plays a gentle and soft melody in 3/4 with some leaps in the clarion register.

Copland modulates to E-flat in the B section. The tempo quickens and the harmonies

become more dissonant. Then, the A section returns to the same key and opening

motives. The cadenza starts with the same quiet mood as the first movement and

develops in energy and virtuosity. It has many rhythmic and articulation challenges. The

motives in the cadenza are all found in the second movement of the concerto,

foreshadowing what is to come. After the cadenza, the fast movement starts with the

orchestra introduction in a new tempo, Rather Fast. In D-flat major, it begins a new

theme with staccatissimo in clarinet part and the following piano part. After this, Copland

uses many mixed meters, syncopations, and metric displacement which are characteristics

of jazz music. Goodman asked for some changes in four sections, one of them was

because of endurance, and another was because of technical challenges. This clarinet

11
Rice, Notes for Clarinetists: A Guide to the Repertoire, 42-8.
concerto is one of the greatest and most popular compositions for clarinet in the twentieth

century because it shows the instrument as both expressive and virtuosic.

“Let’s Be Happy” by Giora Feidman, arranged by Göran Fröst

Giora Feidman, an Israeli clarinetist and master of klezmer music, was born in

Argentina in a family of musicians on March 25, 1936. At an early age, he began to play

clarinet with his father. Feidman obtained his first position as a clarinetist at the Teatro

Colón in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Later when he moved to Israel, he was offered a

contract with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra where he worked more than twenty years.

Feidman began to work as a soloist in the 1970’s.

“Let’s Be Happy” was premiered by Giora Feidman with the guitar

accompanying in Klezmer style. However, later, it was arranged by Göran Fröst in

classical style for his brother Martin Fröst for clarinet and strings. This piece begins with

a slow introduction played by strings with points of imitation transferring from violins to

the double bass. At the end of the introduction, the clarinet enters from nowhere and

plays a cadenza. The beginning of the cadenza is based on Jewish melodies, and the tune

and scale of the melody are from folk music. The second half of the cadenza turns to fast

thirty-second notes which should be double tongued on the clarinet. After the cadenza,

the clarinet plays the main melody with a pickup joined by the strings. This section is fast

and depicts a dancing party. In some spots, the clarinet presents humoristic intonations

and phrases, and it sounds as a human laugh. Before the end, there is a brief fast and
virtuosic cadenza which leads to the brilliant ending. Although the piece is not extremely

serious, it requires the performer to have expressive and virtuosic skills on the clarinet.

The recital performance included various periods from the Romantic era to the

twenty-first century. The program represented challenging works which require technical,

collaborative, expressive, and artistic skills in performance on the clarinet. Starting with

Schubert’s The Shepherd on the Rock, the performer demonstrated simplicity and feelings

of nature to the audience. Following Schubert’s piece, Brahms’ clarinet sonata presented

sensitivity, expressiveness and dreaming images. Works by Fröst, Penderecki, and

Copland contained vast complexity and provided not only impressive emotions but also

tension. However, the last piece by Feidman was very traditional and folk music that

shared joyfulness and fun with the audience.

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Burkholder, J. Peter, Donald J. Grout, and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western

Music, 8th ed. New York: W.W. Northon & Company, 2010.

Fay, James Spencer. “The Clarinet and its Use as a Solo Instrument in the Chamber
Music of Johannes Brahms.” DMA Diss., Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore, 1991.

“Fröst & Friends: Encores.” Accessed March 7, 2019.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7988327--frost-friends-
encores#about.

Gammond, Peter. Schubert. London: Methuen. 1982.

“Göran Fröst – Violist.” Accessed February 21, 2019. http://www.goranfrost.com/

Lee, Jung Hee. “A Graduate Recital in Voice.” Master’s thesis, Pittsburg State
University, 2014.

“Martin Fröst - Dances to a Black Pipe.” Accessed February 27, 2019.

http://bis.se/performers/frost-martin/martin-frost-dances-to-a-black-pipe

Osborne, Charles. Schubert and his Vienna. New York: Knopf. 1985.

Rice, Albert R. Notes for Clarinetists: A Guide to the Repertoire. New York, Oxford
University Press, 2017.

Schubert, Franz, and Beaumont Glass. Schubert's complete song texts, Geneseo, N.Y.:
Leyerle, 1996.
 From the studio of Dr. McCandless

Sayyod Mirzomurodov, Clarinet

with
Mariya Akhadjanova, piano

Jenna Skarphol, voice

and
Bethany Washington, violin
Rachel Pakala, violin
Abigail Moore, violin
Lydia Pakala, violin
Gabriel Forero, viola
Kelsey Chidley, cello
Bridget Shoemaker, double bass

March 26, 2019, 6:00 p.m. Davis Hall, GBPAC

 Program
The Shepherd on the Rock D.965 ............................................................................ Franz Schubert
(1797-1828)
Jenna Skarphol, voice

Clarinet Sonata, Op.120 No.2 ............................................................................. Johannes Brahms

(1833-1897)
Allegro amabile
Allegro appassionato
Andante con moto

Klezmer Dances No.2 ....................................................................................................... Göran Fröst

(b. 1974)

INTERMISSION

Prelude for solo Clarinet .................................................................................. Krzysztof Penderecki

(b. 1933)

Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra, with Harp and Piano ................ Aaron Copland
(1900-1990)

Let’s Be Happy ............................................................................................................Giora Fiedman

(b.1936)
arr. Göran Fröst
 About the Artist
Sayyod Mirzomurodov is pursuing his Master of Music degree in Clarinet Performance at
the University of Northern Iowa where he is a student of Dr. McCandless. Sayyod is a
native of Uzbekistan and started playing clarinet at age 8. He received his Bachelor's
degree in Clarinet Performance from the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan in Tashkent.
Sayyod performed with National Symphony Orchestra and Wind ensemble in Uzbekistan
and other republics of Central Asia as a soloist and a chamber musician. He received a
diploma from International Competition named A. Jubanov in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Sayyod is a winner of Instrumental Concerto Competition at the University of Northern
Iowa, and he performed Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra by Jean Françaix in 2018.

This program is presented in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Master of Music
degree in Clarinet Performance.