# Symphonies With the Most Haunting Use of a Clarinet



## Christine (Sep 29, 2020)

This one goes to Shostakovich #8, fourth movement.

I've never heard a clarinet used this way. 

Many years ago a question on the game show "Family Feud" was, "Name a musical instrument that sounds scary." The No. 1 answer was organ. The piano, violin and drums also made the list. But certainly not the innocent, happy-go-lucky clarinet.

Yet in #8, damn, that thing is haunting AF. It begins at 8:05 into the fourth movement, conducted by Rostropovich. 

It starts out sounding sad, then at 8:55, it clearly depicts mourning the death of thousands; but then at 9:05 through to 10:02 it becomes chilling and haunting -- starting with just the same two notes repeated, then expanding into more notes. It reverts back to mourning, then at 10:58 it's haunting again.

Those of you who have this symphony know exactly what I mean. The accompanying instruments, of course, have their place in this scene of war aftermath.

However, I'm interested in hearing suggestions for other symphonies for which the clarinet is brilliantly out of character.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

There’s a moment in the calm central “trio” section of the Rondo-Burleske from Mahler’s 9th where the clarinet, quite unexpectedly, has a huge glissando up to the altissimo register in what sounds like a grotesque cry of pain. In the Klemperer recording (one of my favorite recordings of my favorite symphony) it sounds like a pig on the executioner’s chopping block - uncomfortably hilarious.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Haunting clarinet parts:

1. Rachmaninoff Symphony 2, third movement. The clarinet solo they all want to play. Heartbreakingly beautiful.
2. Balakirev Symphony 2, third movement. So exotic and wistfully sad.
3. Sibelius Symphony 1, opening. So atmospheric. Just the clarinet and timpani. Unforgettable.


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## Dick Johnson (Apr 14, 2020)

Not a symphony (sorry OP) but I'm partial to the haunting clarinet accompaniment to _E lucevan le stelle_ from Pucini's _Tosca_.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Great thread! The clarinet opening of Schubert's 8th (Unfinished) Symphony, 1st movement: a two-note falling motif over rustling minor-key strings, continuing with one of the most poignant themes I know. The harmony has a lot to do with it, of course. 

In Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, the pair of unison clarinets at the beginning of the 1st movement, and onwards, playing in the chalumeau (low) register, suggest a funeral procession. Strange, I always thought the chalumeau to be the clarinet's haunting register, but the above posts make it clear that the clarinet can be haunting in any register. And as I get older these two Schubert and Tchaikovsky themes seem to become more haunting.


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