Brahms Third Symphony

NOTE: Please ignore the bracket marks on the part. The excerpt you are learning does start on the first bracket mark, but ends on the next page, m. 181. Not necessary to practice the first ending and repeat.

Every year, when talking about excerpts for the ensemble auditions, I am a broken record, I admit it. I always stress the importance of listening to recordings of the whole piece. I always say ESPECIALLY this excerpt. All of the orchestral excerpts here are no different, Brahms 3 ESPECIALLY. The sound and sensibility of this piece is so warm and lyrical, you really need the sound of the whole orchestra in your ear to help mold your clarinet sound and finger movement for these passages.

METER: 9/4, 6/4, these meters can create a gentle flow. Use your air to bring out the beauty of these meters, and notice the passages that Brahms's lines imply 3/2 or emphasizes ties across the barlines. How accentuated should those interesting rhythms be? Use recordings as your guide to answer this question.

REGISTER CROSSINGS: lots of polish needed on the opening solo, usually takes me a few weeks before the musical line is happening without interruption from the technical challenges of the register crossings.

PHRASING: I also use thoughts of phrasing help my register crossings work. Also, plan your breaths carefully in this opening solo. Brahms's style, whether playing the symphonies or the sonatas, is a lot of careful attention to phrasing, not only the larger, macro-level arches, but also the more subtle nuance dynamics that gently bring out the character of the meter signature, and those that happen on the note-to-note level. In other words, once you have learned the notes, keep going, keep thinking about the shaping--how gentle, but interesting can you make it?

m. 46: Count the rests carefully, I count each quarter rest silently to myself. Lots of people shorten one or the other rest, I think it is because of the implied hemiola.

mm. 64–, mm. 173–: These two phrases, really listen to your fingers and make sure that they are moving evenly. If it were me, I would practice a bit of "air clarinet", playing without sound, and really listen carefully to the rhythm between the notes, listen for small moments of rushing, and gradually try to eliminate those.