TL;DR: Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto was commissioned by Benny Goodman, composed in 1947–48, and first heard on an NBC broadcast on November 6, 1950, with Goodman as soloist and Fritz Reiner conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra. It is scored for clarinet, strings, harp, and piano, lasts about 18 minutes, and is built as two movements joined by a solo cadenza: a slow, lyrical opening, then a fast, jazz-inflected finale that ends with a famous glissando. Playing it well depends on long, quiet lines in the first movement, rock-steady rhythm in the second, and a setup that stays clear and secure from soft high notes to punchy, syncopated low-register playing.
Alongside the Mozart concerto, the Copland Clarinet Concerto is one of the pieces clarinetists most dream of performing. It is a staple of college juries, competitions, and orchestral concerts, and its cadenza and finale are some of the most recognizable clarinet music of the twentieth century.
It is also a piece that asks for two very different players in one body: a singer with a pure, floating tone for the opening, and a rhythm-section-minded musician who can lock in with a slapped bass and a piano for the finale. This guide covers the concerto’s history, how each section works, how to practice it, which recordings and editions to know, and how to set up your mouthpiece, reed, and barrel for it.
Table of Contents
- Copland Clarinet Concerto at a glance
- Benny Goodman and the commission
- A section-by-section guide
- How to practice the Copland Clarinet Concerto
- The right setup for Copland: mouthpiece, reed, and barrel
- Recordings and editions to know
- Key Takeaways
- FAQ
- Find a setup that handles both halves of Copland
Copland Clarinet Concerto at a glance
These are the basic facts that program notes, teachers, and juries tend to assume you know.
| Detail | Copland Clarinet Concerto |
|---|---|
| Composer | Aaron Copland (1900–1990) |
| Composed | 1947–48, begun largely in Rio de Janeiro during a Latin American tour |
| Commissioned by | Benny Goodman, who is also the dedicatee |
| First performance | November 6, 1950, NBC radio broadcast: Goodman, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner |
| First public concert | November 28, 1950: Ralph McLane with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy |
| Accompaniment | Strings, harp, and piano (no winds, brass, or percussion) |
| Form | Two movements played without a break, linked by a solo cadenza |
| Tempo markings | I. Slowly and expressively; II. Rather fast |
| Length | About 18 minutes |
| Publisher | Boosey & Hawkes |
Benny Goodman and the commission
By the late 1940s, Benny Goodman was already the most famous clarinetist in the world as the “King of Swing,” and he was serious about classical music too. He had premiered Bartók’s Contrasts and commissioned other works for himself. Soon after Copland finished his Third Symphony in 1947, Goodman asked him for a concerto, paying a $2,000 fee in exchange for two years of exclusive performance rights.
Copland wrote much of the piece in Rio de Janeiro, where he was lecturing and conducting. He said the finale reflects an “unconscious fusion” of North and South American popular music, and a phrase from a Brazilian popular tune he heard there found its way into the secondary material of the second movement. If you are curious about the jazz tradition Goodman came from, our guide to jazz clarinetists worth knowing is a good starting point.
Goodman received a working version in 1948 but asked for changes. He found some passages, especially in the coda, too hard and asked for several to be simplified or moved lower. Copland revised the score. Some of the clarinet’s original cascading arpeggios were given to the piano, for example. Goodman then postponed the premiere several times, which is why the 1950 broadcast came nearly two years after the piece was finished. Choreographer Jerome Robbins soon used the concerto for his 1951 ballet The Pied Piper.
Pro Tip: Listen to Goodman’s own recordings before you decide how “jazzy” to make the finale. His playing is rhythmically strict and quite classical, and many teachers point out that the jazz character is already written into Copland’s rhythms. You do not need to add swing or extra inflections.
A section-by-section guide
The concerto runs without a break, but it falls into three clearly different sections. Each one tests a different part of your playing.
| Section | Character | Main challenges | What your setup must do |
|---|---|---|---|
| I. Slowly and expressively | Lyrical, spacious, A-B-A form over strings and harp | Long phrases, soft dynamics, clean slurs into the upper register, steady pitch | Easy soft response, a stable clarion and high register, no stuffiness at piano dynamics |
| Cadenza | Free, improvisatory solo that introduces the finale’s themes | Pacing, wide leaps, sudden register changes, building rhythm from rubato | Even tone across all registers, quick articulation response |
| II. Rather fast | Free rondo with jazz and Latin American rhythms, ending in C major with a glissando | Syncopation, ensemble with piano and bass, stamina, fast tonguing, the final smear | Clarity in loud low-register playing, crisp articulation, flexibility for the glissando |
The first movement
The opening is one of the most beautiful long-line melodies in the clarinet repertoire. The strings and harp give you a gentle, open texture, so every detail of your tone is exposed. The melody climbs gradually into the upper clarion and altissimo, and the goal is to make the high notes sound as relaxed and sweet as the low ones.
The hardest thing here is not technique. It is staying soft, in tune, and connected for minutes at a time. Players who pinch to keep high notes quiet usually go sharp and thin; players who relax too much can lose the top of the phrase. Our guide to altissimo register control covers the voicing that keeps high notes soft and centered.
The cadenza
Copland wrote the cadenza out in full, and he described it as a chance for the soloist to show their prowess. It acts as a bridge: it starts in the free, singing world of the first movement and gradually introduces the rhythmic fragments and Latin-flavored themes that drive the finale. A good cadenza performance tells that story, with space and freedom at the start and a growing sense of pulse by the end, so the second movement feels inevitable when it arrives.
The second movement
The finale is a free rondo full of syncopations, shifting accents, and quick exchanges with the orchestra. Since there is no percussion section, Copland created jazz effects with the instruments he had: slapped string basses, percussive harp, and a busy piano part. In practice, the bass and piano are your rhythm section, and the movement works best when you play it like chamber music.
It ends with an elaborate coda in C major and a final upward clarinet glissando, the “smear” Goodman’s audiences loved. If the glissando is new to you, our clarinet glissando guide explains the finger slide and voicing changes in detail.
How to practice the Copland Clarinet Concerto
Many players learn the flashy finale first. Build the first movement’s tone and line from day one as well, because that is what listeners remember.
- Start with long tones in the upper register. Spend a few minutes each day on soft, sustained notes from the throat tones up through the high register, with a tuner. This builds the control the opening needs.
- Sing the first movement’s phrases. Decide where each phrase peaks and where you will breathe before you play it. Mark breaths in your part.
- Practice slurs into the high register slowly. Keep the air moving and the voicing steady across large intervals. Record yourself to catch bumps in the slurs.
- Learn the finale with a metronome on the off-beats. Set the click on the “and” of each beat, or on beats two and four, so you feel the syncopations instead of counting them.
- Subdivide the tricky rhythms out loud. Speak or clap passages before playing them. Many rhythmic errors in this piece are counting errors, not finger errors.
- Keep the articulation light. Fast, short notes work best with a light tongue and steady air. Our article on clarinet articulation has exercises for speed and lightness.
- Rehearse with the piano reduction early. The interplay with the piano is the heart of the finale, so do not wait until the week of the performance to put it together.
- Build stamina with run-throughs. Once the sections are secure, play the whole piece regularly so the coda does not catch a tired embouchure.
If you are preparing the concerto for a jury or competition, pair this plan with our audition preparation guide.
Pro Tip: Practice the final glissando as a separate daily exercise, not just when you reach the end of a run-through. Players who only try it at the end of the piece, with tired lips, tend to tighten and lose it.
The right setup for Copland: mouthpiece, reed, and barrel
The Copland is a demanding test of a setup because it asks for two opposite things. The first movement needs a mouthpiece and reed that respond at very soft dynamics and stay stable in the high register. The finale needs clarity, quick articulation, and enough projection to come through a string section with piano.
Mouthpiece
There is no single correct mouthpiece for Copland, and fine performances are given on many different setups. Many classical players do well with a closed-to-medium tip opening, because it tends to make soft playing and pitch control easier, which helps most in the first movement. Players who want more flexibility for the glissando and more power in the finale sometimes prefer a medium or slightly more open tip with a softer reed. If you are not sure what those numbers mean, our tip opening guide explains how tip opening and facing length affect response.
Reed
Choose a reed you can trust to start a soft high note without hesitation. A reed that is too hard will make the first movement tiring and the high register stuffy; one that is too soft may close up in loud low passages of the finale and spread the sound. The right strength depends on your mouthpiece, so check our clarinet reed strength chart to match the two.
Barrel
Because the opening is so exposed, check your tuning carefully on the notes you will hold longest. If you consistently pull the barrel out a long way to play in tune, or the high register feels unstable, a different barrel length may help. Our guide to choosing a barrel length walks through how to test this.
Pro Tip: When comparing mouthpieces for this piece, play the same three excerpts on each one: the first entrance of the opening at your softest dynamic, a high passage from the first movement, and a loud, syncopated passage from the finale. The best choice is the one that does all three well, not the one that wins at only one.
Recordings and editions to know
Listening widely is one of the best ways to find your own interpretation. These recordings are widely studied:
| Recording | Why it is worth hearing |
|---|---|
| Benny Goodman, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Aaron Copland conducting (1963) | The dedicatee with the composer conducting; Copland considered it his best recording of the piece |
| Benny Goodman, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner (1950 broadcast) | A historical document of the original premiere broadcast |
| Stanley Drucker, New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein | A classic orchestral clarinetist’s reading with long-time New York Philharmonic principal Drucker |
| Richard Stoltzman, London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas | A warm, flexible modern interpretation |
| Martin Fröst (BIS) | Includes both the original and revised versions of the coda, so you can hear how Copland’s first ideas differed |
For more listening ideas, see our list of iconic clarinet recordings.
On editions: the concerto is published by Boosey & Hawkes. A newer edition, edited by Philip Rothman and Vivian Perlis and released in 2018, restores some of Copland’s original lines from the manuscript as ossia passages, so performers can choose between the composer’s first version and the version adjusted for Goodman. Ask your teacher which edition your jury or orchestra expects before you start marking your part.
Key Takeaways
| Topic | What to remember |
|---|---|
| Origins | Commissioned by Benny Goodman, composed 1947–48, premiered on NBC on November 6, 1950 |
| Structure | Slow lyrical movement, written-out cadenza, fast jazz-inflected finale, all without a break |
| Orchestra | Strings, harp, and piano only; bass and piano act as your rhythm section |
| Hardest skill | Soft, in-tune, connected high-register playing in the first movement |
| Finale approach | Strict rhythm, light articulation, chamber-music ensemble; the jazz is in the writing |
| Setup | Look for easy soft response and a stable high register, plus clarity in loud low passages |
| Recordings | Start with Goodman and Copland (1963), then compare modern players |
FAQ
How long is the Copland Clarinet Concerto?
About 18 minutes, according to the Copland estate and the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s program notes. Performances vary, especially in the first movement and cadenza.
Is the Copland Clarinet Concerto hard?
Yes. It is usually studied by advanced high school students, college players, and professionals. The finale’s rhythms and the high-register control in the first movement are the main challenges. Goodman himself asked Copland to simplify some passages before the premiere.
Why is there no percussion in the Copland Clarinet Concerto?
Copland scored it for strings, harp, and piano. To get jazz-style rhythmic effects without a percussion section, he used slapped string basses, percussive harp writing, and an active piano part.
Who premiered the Copland Clarinet Concerto?
Benny Goodman, who commissioned it, gave the first performance on an NBC radio broadcast on November 6, 1950, with Fritz Reiner conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The first public concert performance was given later that month by Ralph McLane with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy.
What mouthpiece is best for the Copland Clarinet Concerto?
There is no single best mouthpiece. Many classical players prefer a closed-to-medium tip opening for soft control and stable pitch, but the right choice depends on your embouchure, reeds, and clarinet. Test candidates on the soft opening, a high passage, and a loud passage from the finale, and choose the one that handles all three. Our guide to testing mouthpieces at home explains a fair way to compare them.
Find a setup that handles both halves of Copland
The Copland Clarinet Concerto quickly shows whether your setup can do both jobs: float a soft high note in the first movement and cut through the finale with clean, rhythmic articulation. If you are preparing it, comparing a few mouthpieces with the same excerpts is time well spent.
Gleichweit’s Test Boxes make that easy at home. The Closed-Tip Mouthpiece Test Box (1.01–1.20 mm) suits players looking for maximum center and control, the Medium-Tip Mouthpiece Test Box (1.17–1.24 mm) covers the balanced middle ground many classical players prefer, the Open-Tip Mouthpiece Test Box (1.27–1.40 mm) is for players who want more freedom and flexibility, and the Variety Mouthpiece Test Box (1.16–1.40 mm) is the place to start if you are not sure. You can try the mouthpieces for seven days for a $40 test fee, using the Copland excerpts in your own practice room.
If you already know what you like, popular starting points include the closed-tip B7-4 and the medium-tip B8-4. For pitch and focus in the exposed opening, the Gleichweit B3 barrel is worth trying.
Copland wrote this concerto for one of the great clarinet personalities of the century. Find the setup that lets yours come through.