Mozart Clarinet Concerto: Transcribed For Cello

This magnificent concerto was one of Mozart‘s last works, completed just a few weeks before his death in 1791. If we transpose the clarinet part down an octave it actually lies very well for the cello. Played on the original basset clarinet for which it was written, the lowest clarinet note (transposed down an octave) corresponds to the cello’s open C-string and the highest note to a D, a fourth above our mid-string harmonic on the A-string. This means that we can play it in its original key, giving us the enormous advantage of being able to use any original, untransposed accompaniment (orchestral or piano reduction), available at imslp.org.

This is probably more of a “fun” transcription than a serious addition to the cello’s concerto repertoire. While the register doesn’t present us with any particular problems, the idiomatic clarinet writing does. The fast-flowing scales and arpeggios for which the clarinet is so ideally suited are considerably more difficult on the cello, which makes the piece quite technically challenging for cellists. But the technical difficulty of this work makes it very useful as a general workout, requiring (and thus developing) enormous agility and mobility (= virtuosity) in both hands. Even if we play it mostly as a “study”, rarely is an intense technical workout so musically satisfying.

Normally, the cellofun “Easier Versions” are easier principally because the high-register passages are taken down an octave. For this concerto, no “Easier Version” is offered because the problems do not come from the register but rather from the difficulty of mimicking the clarinet’s speed and agility. The only way to make these movements easier (apart from playing them slower) would be to remove/change notes but this would be a massacre of unacceptable dimensions.

Unfortunately, Mozart’s original manuscript has been lost with the most authentic (oldest) source available being a manuscript copy from around 1830, available on imslp.org. This lack of Mozart’s original manuscript makes the creation of an “Urtext” edition impossible. Because the slurs and articulations in this oldest manuscript copy are unreliable and inconsistent, and also because there are quite a few note differences (usually octave changes) between this oldest manuscript source and modern clarinettist’s versions, no “Literal Version” edition is offered. The main source for the cello transcription has been Sabine Meyer’s excellent edition (also available on ismlp.org).

Two other cello transcriptions of this entire concert are available on imslp.org but both have certain deficiencies. The Berrocal transcription contains some note errors (bar 143 of 3rd movement for example) and many unnecessary or disruptive octave changes (bars 61-62, 69, 104, 150-159, 193-194 and 237 of the third movement for example). The Arnold Trowell version is more of a fantasy/arrangement than a transcription as he changes an enormous number of notes.

FIRST MOVEMENT: Allegro

1. Edited Performance Version
2.        Clean Performance Version
3.        Engraving Files (XML)