Joji Yuasa: Clarinet Solitude

Overview

Title: Clarinet Solitude

Composer: Joji Yuasa (b. 1929)

Composition Year: 1980

Instrumentation: Solo Clarinet in B-flat

Extended Techniques: Multiphonics, timbre changes, extreme high altissimo, quarter tones (just one)

Difficulty Level: 4/5

For our first analysis, we’ll be taking a look at Joji Yuasa’s Clarinet Solitude. I performed this piece for my undergraduate senior “recital” in April 2020 (which, of course, wasn’t actually a recital, but a series of recordings made in my living room, thanks to COVID-19). What drew me to this piece was the ghostly, melancholic character that pervades it. Yuasa makes tasteful use of extended techniques, as well as the clarinet’s capacity for huge dynamic contrasts, to create a hauntingly beautiful atmosphere, and within that atmosphere, he explores emotions like sorrow, anger, and despair. Given that Clarinet Solitude was written as a musical memorial, it makes sense that the piece has such a dark character. To me, it very much sounds like someone processing the loss of a loved one.

A little bit about the composer: Joji Yuasa (b. 1929) is a Japanese composer. He was a founding member of Jikken Kobo (1951-1957), a Japanese artists collective that created various works of “avant-garde” art during the 1950s, many of which combined various different art forms (dance, music, sculpture, etc.) to create experimental, multimedia works. One might expect, then, that Yuasa’s music bucks tradition in favor of a very “contemporary” sound, and it does! Even though Jikken Kobo has long since disbanded, Yuasa’s music has continued to explore new sounds and ideas throughout his life. Clarinet Solitude was composed in 1980 as a musical memorial for Yoshiro Irino (1921-1980), a fellow composer of Yuasa’s.

Analysis

So now let’s talk about technical challenges - What are the hardest things about this piece from a physical perspective? There are a few:

1. Long, sustained phrases: This is probably the most difficult aspect of Clarinet Solitude. The musical phrases in this piece are quite long and drawn out, developing very slowly and methodically (similar to the Abyss of Birds movement from Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time). These long phrases have very specific rhythmic and dynamic markings that must be carefully adhered to in order to create the effect Yuasa is aiming for. Sometimes the dynamic shifts are quick and dramatic, other times very subtle. Many phrases are also in the high register of the clarinet as well. All of these things put considerable demand on the performer’s voicing and air support; you need to be really secure in both of these aspects of your playing to make the phrases in Clarinet Solitude sing. This means controlling the altissimo register without biting; paying close attention to intonation; and actively engaging your air support across all dynamics and registers.

   1. Yuasa plays around a lot with the chromatic scale in this piece, taking clusters of notes that are only a half-step apart from one another and creating melodic lines out of them - this is likely a nod to Irino, who used twelve-tone technique in his own work. At the same time, he masks this chromaticism by placing the selected notes “out of order,” spreading them across different octaves, and/or writing them as grace notes. This means that there is a lot of rapid jumping between registers - especially the clarion and the altissimo - throughout the whole work. This is another reason why good voicing and air support are so crucial in performing this piece. Without either one, the phrase can easily falter.

2. Multiphonics: This piece is rife with multiphonics - there are a few sections where Yuasa builds entire phrases out of them! The good news here is that fingerings are provided, and, with the right voicing and embouchure settings, most of them speak relatively easily. However, there are some multiphonics that are quite difficult to execute; particularly the ones that cover only two notes across a fairly wide interval. If you are looking at the music, you might notice that most of these multiphonics have a regular high note fingering above them. What this really means is that you have to play the high note fingering, and then intentionally create a subtone using your voicing while keeping the high note going. To practice this, play the high note by itself, and then slowly lower the back of the tongue until you hear a grunt, and hold it. Memorize that physical setting, and then try to play the multiphonic in context. My other bit of advice: I find that using a slightly softer reed than what I’d usually use helps get the lower notes of a multiphonic to speak.

3. Timbre trills: In addition to multiphonics, Yuasa writes a lot of timbre trills. For those unfamiliar with this technique, timbre trilling (known to harpists as “bisbigliando”) is when you hold or repeatedly articulate a single note while switching between two different fingerings for that one note. Hence, you are “trilling” on a single note. Yuasa often accompanies his timbre trills with quick, drastic changes in dynamic (for example, sff to pp) between notes. Getting these dynamics down is going to be the hard part, really. He gives you all the timbre trill fingerings, so executing the trills themselves is just a matter of practice.

4. Extreme altissimo: Measures 36-38 are of particular note because they are written incredibly high. Yuasa uses extreme altissimo C, C#, D, and D#/Eb (another example of his chromaticisms!) as melodic material, and as if that weren’t hard enough, he puts it all in a piano dynamic. I’ll give a few pointers for this part here:

   1. Fingerings: For C, use T/R 1--|1-- Eb (adding the throat Ab key can help with response). For C#, use T/R -23|123 Eb. For D, use T/R -23|1--Eb (a normal altissimo D fingering). For D#/Eb, use T/R 123|123 with the left pinky C#/G# key.

   2. Voicing: Take in a bit more mouthpiece than usual; imagine flattening the back of your tongue in your mouth; and most importantly, slightly jut your lower jaw outward and “into” the mouthpiece, as though you are trying to perfectly align your top and bottom teeth (assuming you have a natural overbite). Please be careful to NOT pinch, as this is different. You are thinking “out” instead of “up” with the lower jaw.

5. Tremolos: Measures 54-61 are entirely made up of tremolos in the clarinet’s low register. They’re not that difficult. My only advice is to pay close attention to the dynamic markings, as they will help you figure out how you want to phrase this part. Be careful not to get too loud in this section, as it’s very easy to overblow and get an unwanted high partial here.

My last thoughts on Clarinet Solitude: Don’t be afraid to be dramatic with this piece - the more mystery and melancholy you can evoke, the better. Make the dynamic contrasts huge. Let the multiphonics marked f or ff really scream out! They should sound pained! And above all else, remember that the musical effect - the story or the atmosphere you are creating - is the most important thing in contemporary music. Approach everything, even the hard parts, with confidence and don’t hold anything back. If you do this, even if you miss a note or get a squeak, you will still get your ideas through, and that is what matters.

In ending this article, I would like to offer special thanks to Eric Mandat for the guidance he gave me on this piece, over the phone, just a few weeks before the pandemic forced me to cancel my recital.