# The ocarina in classical music



## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

I got this delightful little instrument at a local flea market yesterday:










It has a range of just over an octave, and it's fully chromatic - I could play a tone row on it! 
Mind you, its sound is rather high and shrill, so I can't really play much without driving my neighbour nuts.

But it set me to wondering about the ocarina in classical music. It turns out there is quite a bit on YouTube, e.g. a Vivaldi concerto played on ocarina:






If you ask me, the ocarina actually sounds sweeter and not as piercingly shrill as the sopranino recorders on which they usually play this.

And here's a movement from a concerto for ocarina:






I particularly like this concerto (mind you, it's a MIDI file, but I'd love to hear a "real" performance; they tell me there is one planned for later this year):






The ocarina doesn't seem to be standardized in any way, so I suppose it is difficult to write music for it. But perhaps we'll soon see them become as common as recorders.


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## quietfire (Mar 13, 2017)

I really want to get an ocarina now

And make beautiful tunes in a large field, hoping that someone will reply with another ocarina


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I've commissioned a Trio for Ocarina, Flexatone, and Eisenblech-Bogen.


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## jailhouse (Sep 2, 2016)

Ligeti used an Ocarina, I'm sure of it. I think it was in his piano concerto? Correct me if im wrong. I believe it's the second movement


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## Arent (Mar 27, 2017)

jailhouse said:


> Ligeti used an Ocarina, I'm sure of it. I think it was in his piano concerto? Correct me if im wrong. I believe it's the second movement


Violin concerto. 




Wonderful stuff...


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

quietfire said:


> I really want to get an ocarina now
> 
> And make beautiful tunes in a large field, hoping that someone will reply with another ocarina


It does seem to lend itself well to outdoor use...



Strange Magic said:


> I've commissioned a Trio for Ocarina, Flexatone, and Eisenblech-Bogen.


All that and you forget about the vibraslap?



jailhouse said:


> Ligeti used an Ocarina, I'm sure of it. I think it was in his piano concerto? Correct me if im wrong. I believe it's the second movement


Wouldn't know - I don't know Ligeti's work at all (except for the bit famously used in _Alien_, of course.


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## RRod (Sep 17, 2012)

There's an ocarina part in Leifs _Edda_, of course what aren't there parts for in that?


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

I knew P.D.Q Bach wrote something for Ocarina. From Wikipedia....

"P. D. Q. Bach produced a spoof "Sinfonia Concertante" utilizing lute, balalaika, double reed slide music stand, ocarina, left-handed sewer flute, and bagpipes."

Starts around 6.26.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

brianvds said:


> Wouldn't know - I don't know Ligeti's work at all (except for the bit famously used in _Alien_, of course.


Did Ligeti pop up in _Alien_? I know he was in _2001, A Space Odyssey_. _Alien_ had the excerpt from Howard Hanson's _Romantic Symphony_.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Manxfeeder said:


> Did Ligeti pop up in _Alien_? I know he was in _2001, A Space Odyssey_. _Alien_ had the excerpt from Howard Hanson's _Romantic Symphony_.


You are right - it was _2001_, not _Alien_. The latter did have, if I recall correctly, bits and pieces of ripped-off Khachaturian.


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