Low-range instruments > bass clarinet in B-flat
Range of the most common bass clarinets in B-flat to low C [ c / C3 ] sounding [ Bb, / Bb1 ]. Bass clarinets can also have a range to low E-flat [ eb / Eb3 ] sounding [ Db / Db2 ].
General
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Website of Australian clarinettist, Richard Elliot Haynes
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Pitched one octave below the standard B-flat clarinet, the bass clarinet plays as low as a bassoon and as high as an alto saxophone. Modern bass clarinets have a powerful tone colour and many developments have made the instrument very agile, despite its size. The bass clarinet has been an enormously popular instrument in new music, its sound almost becoming synonymous with the genre itself and therefore perhaps also slightly overused. It features in many of the great orchestral works of the 20th century thanks to its brooding, sombre and at times heroic sound.
Nearby range and tone colour pairings: bass flute, cor anglais, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, bassoon, contrabassoon, horn, trombone, bass trombone, percussion, viola, cello, double bass
Distant range and tone colour pairings: high woodwinds, high brass, high/small percussion, high strings
Video example (19th century)
Notable repertoire:
Othmar Schoeck — Sonata, op. 41 (1928) for bass clarinet and piano
Eugene Bozza — Ballade (1958) for bass clarinet and piano
Harald Genzmer — Sonata, GeWV 202 (1984) for solo bass clarinet
Johannes Maria Staud — Black Moon (1998) for solo bass clarinet
Georges Aperghis — Damespiel (2011) for solo bass clarinet
Liza Lim — Microbiome (2020) for solo bass clarinet
Transposition hacks
sounding > written: think a major second higher then one octave higher [ + M2 + Œ ] • if the sounding notation is in bass clef, read as mezzo-soprano clef • if the sounding notation is in treble clef, read as tenor clef
written > sounding: think a major second lower then one octave lower [ - M2 - Π]
