My friends know that I have a particular affinity for the key of E-flat major. A number of my favorite pieces are in the key or have movements or sections in it: Beethoven 3, Beethoven 4, Beethoven Septet… lots of Beethoven I guess. In any case, I was inspired by Sean’s arrangement of the Bach Violin Partita prelude (albeit originally in E major), to dive into the E-flat major cello suite.
The fourth of Bach’s six cello suites, it is, in my opinion, the most readily playable on the bass clarinet for a couple of reasons. First, save for the sarabande and the second bourrée, it rarely makes use of double/triple-stops, which can be awkward to approximate on wind instruments. Second, the key of E-flat major—which I understand is a particularly tricky one on stringed instruments—is one that a B-flat instrument like the bass clarinet is ideally suited for, sounding brilliant and resonant while easy in the fingers.
That being said, the bourrées certainly present a challenge on the bass clarinet, an instrument that can easily sound clunky and plodding where a light energy is absolutely key. I like to play the solo works of Bach for this very reason, with the goal of overcoming the technical idiosyncrasies of the clarinet in order to better communicate musical thoughts.
