Private Game
For Bb Clarinet and Violoncello
by Shulamit Ran
Chamber Music - Sheet Music

Chamber Music Clarinet, Violoncello

SKU: PR.114402870

For Bb Clarinet and Violoncello. Composed by Shulamit Ran. Classical. Set of parts. With Standard notation. Duration 4 minutes. Theodore Presser Company #114-40287. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.114402870).

UPC: 680160005888.

The Da Capo Chamber Players’ invitation to write a short piece incorporating the ensemble’s name into its format provided an interesting challenge to Shulamit Ran in 1980. How could one best make use of Da Capo form within her musical language? Ran’s solution was to include strategically-placed segments of repetition that added coherence without arbitrary formalism. Regarding the details, Ran has written in her program note to the published edition, “They are my private game. Enough said.”.
Private Game for clarinet and cello (1979) was composed at the invitation of the Da Capo Chamber Players in connection with their tenth anniversary in 1980.  I was asked to write a short piece incorporating in any way desired, the group’s name into its format, which turned out to be an interesting challenge.  Repetition is the essence of comprehensibility.  But – da capo, today?  While the initial temptation was to use the term loosely, I found myself intrigued by the idea of having strict repetition, without giving the appearance of arbitrary formalism.  My solution: there are three brief da capo sections interlaced into the piece in a 1-2-1-3-2-3 sequence.  1 and 2 appear at key points structurally, 3 is more transitory and ornamental.  They are essential for they give the piece coherence, but they may or may not be consciously perceived as repetitions on first hearing.  They are my private game.