Cheerful and virtuoso ragtimes

The German musician and composer Heinz Bethmann has arranged three ragtimes from the early years of the 20th century for clarinet and piano for this edition published by Uetz. The most famous one, 12^th Street Ragwas written by Euday Bowman (1886-1949), the descendant of a German immigrant family called Baumann, who lived in Texas. Bowman earned his living mainly as a pianist in bars and nightclubs. The 12^th Street Rag was by far his most successful composition and was taken up by many bands and musicians, including Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong.

The first part of the piece consists of a repeated 3-note motif with rhythmic shifts. In the second part, there are many leaps in the solo part, and the third part again consists of a 3-note motif, this time chromatically led. The piano plays a typical stride piano accompaniment, but here divided into left and right hand, as the melody is taken over by the clarinet.

For the other two pieces, Black and White Rag and Texas Steer Rag, Euday Bowman is also named as the composer in the clarinet part. However, these two titles were written by George Botsford (1874-1949), a contemporary of Bowman, as correctly stated in the piano part.

The Black and White Rag consists almost entirely of chord breaks of different triads in the melody. This either requires a firm command of the technique or otherwise offers a good opportunity to practise triads. The piano accompaniment, meanwhile, is characterized by amusing passages in the harmony changes.

Texas Steer combines chromatic leading and passing notes with leaps and syncopated rhythms in the melody, which also requires a certain dexterity and basic rhythmic confidence when playing the clarinet. The pieces are aimed at pupils who have left the beginner stage behind them and are in the mood for cheerful and virtuoso music.Euday Bowman: Three Ragtimes for Clarinet and Piano, arranged by Heinz Bethmann, BU 6244, € 15.00, Bruno Uetz Musikverlag, Halberstadt