Jelte Althuis, bass clarinet
P.A. Locatelli – Introduzione Teatrale Op. 4 (1-3)

Jelte: “This music was on a CD which I already owned for years, before ever listening to it. It once was a birthday gift, but the name of the composer and of the composition itself somehow put me off and made the disc being captured in plastic for many years.

Only when a repertoire research made me come across the name Locatelli, I opened the box and started listening. The vividness burst out of my speakers and I immediately heard the Calefax version in my mind!

I remember my struggle with the original notes: the strings in the score compressed the sound and the double bass has the same notes as the celli, except for the lower octave of course. You don’t get the sound I wanted when you copy this formula for the reed quintet. Therefore in ‘my’ version the bass jumps from one octave to the other. Also the bass notes are played alternately by the Bassoon and the Bass Clarinet, sometimes in unison and sometimes in octaves. This was my way of translating the energy from strings to the sound of Calefax.”