Pierrot ensemble
A Pierrot ensemble is a musical ensemble comprising flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano. This ensemble is named after 20th-century composer Arnold Schoenberg’s seminal work Pierrot Lunaire, which includes the quintet of instruments above with a narrator (usually performed by a soprano).
History
The quintet of instruments used in Pierrot Lunaire has been used in the twentieth century by different groups, such as The Fires of London, who formed in 1965 as "The Pierrot Players" to perform Pierrot Lunaire, and continued to concertize with a varied classical and contemporary repertory. This group began to perform works arranged for these instruments and commission new works.
While standard chamber ensembles (such as string quartets or piano trios) continued to be extremely popular among 20th-century composers, the Pierrot ensemble represents an example of the many kinds of non-standard chamber ensembles that have been used in classical music since the beginning of the 20th century.
The number of compositions written for Pierrot Ensemble is limited by the inherent unbalance of the ensemble (two strings, plus two winds, plus piano). More frequent are works that introduce additional instruments, typically more strings, and especially percussion which obtains a small, and inexpensive, chamber ensemble with three families of instruments represented.
Doublings
Doublings are a standard compositional device used to extend an ensemble instrumental color. In Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, the flutist is asked to play piccolo, the clarinetist is asked to play bass clarinet. Other common doublings might include E♭ clarinet (as in Carter's Triple Duo), alto flute.
Notable Pierrot ensembles
- Da Capo Chamber Players
- Fires of London
- Standing Wave
- The New Music Players
- What Is Noise
- Ensemble Namu 나무앙상블 (Seoul, South Korea)
- Brightwork New Music
Works for Pierrot ensemble
- Milton Babbitt: Arie da Capo (1979)
- These are the Clouds about the fallen sun (2013)
- Caio Facó: Sopros do Estuário (2017)
- Jean-Louis Agobet: Eclisses (2008)
- Jorge Villavicencio Grossmann:
- Siray I (1995)
- Siray III (2018)
- Arnold Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire (1912) + voice (usually soprano)
- Gunther Schuller: Paradigm Exchanges (1991)
- Carolyn Yarnell: Lapis Lazuli
- Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Intrada (1983)
- Gérard Grisey: Taléa (1986)
- John Harbison:
- Die Kürze (1970)
- Chaconne (2001)
- Zhou Long: Dhyana (1989)
- Steven Mackey: Indigenous Instruments (1989)
- Michael Torke: Telephone Book (1995) {comprising Yellow Pages (1985), Blue Pages (1995), and White Pages (1995)}
- David Lang: Sweet Air (1999)
- Dorothy Hindman: Setting Century (1999)
- Fabien Levy: A propos (2008)
Works with alternative/additional instruments
- Mohammed Fairouz: Unwritten (2010) + soprano
- Jacob Druckman: Come Round (1992) + percussion
- Greg Caffrey: Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold (2018) + percussion
- Martin Bresnick: My Twentieth Century (2002) + viola
- Earle Brown: Tracking Pierrot (1992) + percussion
- Greg Caffrey:
- The Garden of Earthly Delights (2016) + percussion
- Three movements on the work of William Scott (2017) + percussion
- John Cage: Seven (1988) + viola
- Elliott Carter: Triple Duo (1983) + percussion
- Chen Yi: Sparkle (1992) + 2 percussionists, double bass
- Sebastian Currier: Static (2003); winner of the 2007 Grawemeyer Award
- Mario Davidovsky: Flashbacks (1995) + percussion
- Hanns Eisler:
- Palmström (1926) + soprano (without piano)
- 14 Arten den Regen zu beschreiben (1941) + viola
- Morton Feldman: For Frank O'Hara (1976) + percussion
- Stuart Greenbaum: Book of Departures (2007) + percussion
- Gérard Grisey: Vortex Temporum (1996) + viola
- Stephen Hartke: Meanwhile: Incidental Music to Imaginary Puppet Plays (2007) + viola (rather than violin) and percussion
- John Harbison: The Natural World (1987) + soprano
- Jennifer Higdon: Zaka (2003) + percussion
- Kamran Ince: Waves of Talya (1989) + percussion
- Fred Lerdahl: Time After Time (2000) + percussion
- Zhou Long:Five Elements (2002) + percussion; also exists in a version with Chinese instruments
- Steven Mackey: Micro-Concerto (1999) + percussion
- Steven Stucky: Ad Parnassum (1998) + percussion
- Donald Martino: Notturno (1973) + percussion; winner of the 1974 Pulitzer Prize
- Peter Maxwell Davies: Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969) + baritone and percussion
- Rytis Mazulis: Canon mensurabilis (2000) + viola
- Tristan Murail: Winter Fragments (2000) + electronic sounds
- Lior Navok
- Sextet (1998) + percussion
- Elegy to the Future (2001) + percussion
- Robert Paterson:
- Autumn Songs (2019) + mezzo-soprano and percussion
- Eating Variations (2006) + baritone and percussion (without piano)
- Hell's Kitchen (2014) + percussion
- Listen (2022) + choir and percussion
- Quintus (1996) + percussion (without flute)
- Sextet (1999) + percussion
- Spring Songs (2018) + tenor and percussion
- Summer Songs (2016) + soprano and percussion
- The Thin Ice of Your Fragile Mind (2004) + percussion
- Winter Songs (2008) + bass-baritone and percussion
- Juan Carlos Paz: Dedalus (1950)
- George Perle: Critical Moments 2 (2001) + percussion
- Mel Powell: Sextet + percussion
- Maurice Ravel: 3 Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé (1913) + 2nd flute, 2nd clarinet, and voice
- Steve Reich: Double Sextet (2007) can be performed either by Pierrot ensemble with tape or by 12 players; winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize
- Frederic Rzewski:
- Pocket Symphony (2000) + percussion
- Brussels Diary (2010)
- Laura Schwendinger:
- Laura Schwendinger: Artist's Muse (2017) + percussion
- Laura Schwendinger: Fable (1992) + percussion
- Laura Schwendinger: Mise-en-scene (2011) + percussion
- Laura Schwendinger: Songs of Heaven and Earth (1997) + percussion, harp and voice
- Salvatore Sciarrino: Lo Spazio inverso (1985) + celesta
- Michael Seltenreich: Sparks & Flares (2010) + percussion
- Ralph Shapey: Three for Six (1979) + percussion
- Igor Stravinsky: 3 Japanese Lyrics (1913) + 2nd flute doubling piccolo, 2nd clarinet, and voice
- William Susman:
- Twisted Figures (1987) + mallet percussion
- Camille (2010) with piano four-hands
- Joan Tower:
- Noon Dance (1982) + percussion
- Theo Verbey: Perplex (2004) + vibraphone
- Rolf Wallin: The Age of Wire and String (2005)
- Graham Waterhouse: Irish Phoenix (2017) + soprano
- John Woolrich In the Mirrors of Asleep (2007)
- Charles Wuorinen: New York Notes (1982) + 1 or 2 percussionists and electronic sounds
- Iannis Xenakis: Plektó (1993) + percussion