La Feria (The Fair) is a Spanish fiesta! All the sights and sounds of a traditional Spanish street festival.
Paul Lacome wrote mostly operas-bouffes, light comic operas. That same drama and delight comes through in this piece. Originally written for orchestra, there have been many popular arrangements for band. I have arranged it for Clarinet Quartet without losing any of the Spanish tradition or dramatic character of the piece.
The Suite is in 3 sections. The first is entitled Los Toros (The Bulls). The running of the bulls is a tradition of nearly every Spanish fair. This highly energetic and rhythmic section is traditional Spanish fiesta music at its best. The second section is entitled La Reja (loosely-The Gate). This one is in the form of a Serenade. Every fair has a street barred off with a special archway entrance or gate. Inside, tents are set up serving local wine. Strolling street musicians will visit each tent and serenade. This section is scaled back dynamically and also in texture to imitate the solo or duo strolling musician. For the B theme of this section I move the melody to the Clarinet 3 part down low. I like to amuse myself and think of this brief growling melody as a tipsy patron of the tent singing back to the musicians. The street musicians then quickly resume their original song. The final section is entitled La Zarzuela. The Zarzuela is a uniquely Spanish comic opera that is heavy on dance and spoken dialogue. It has much in common with the American vaudeville shows. This section is in the form of a brisk waltz, another high energy rhythmic dance where Clarinet 2 takes the B theme melody.
This piece is of Advanced Intermediate difficulty due to constant movement, articulations, rhythm, and range. Clarinet 1 in particular uses the full range of the instrument.
21 page score, 4 pages @ part, 38 pages total booklet
4:30 minutes
temporary MIDI recording

?Take On Me?, Music by Waaktaar and Magne Furuholmne and Words by Waaktaar,Furuholmne and Harket arranged here for Clarinet Quartet. This is an intermediate level arrangement of the still very popular song created and made popular by theNorwegian Band a-ha. To view and listento this piece in its entirety as well as hundreds of other arrangements andtranscriptions by Kenneth Abeling at the lowest prices available please visit www.lincolnmusicpublications.com. Playing Time: 3:30 Preview this score on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkA6nk08DeQ

Alec Templeton was a blind musician very popular in England and America in the 1930's and 1940's. This nifty little piece shows his skills in composing a jazzy sound using the techniques of J. S. Bach. Benny Goodman recorded the fugue movement in 1938. Playing in a swing style, they played the piece first as written by Templeton, and then repeated with solos. It is worth listening to that performance if you want to get the swing right! It is set for clarinet quartet by John Gibson (clarinet 1,2,3, and bass with an alternate Eb alto in place of clarinet 3). The audio sample has short parts of both movements. With a little practice this could be played by advanced intermediate players. Have fun!