Mario Marques

The album UM CLARONE BRASILERO (A Brazilian Bass Clarinet) had its genesis in a conversation I had with professor Henri Bok in 2015 at the First Brazilian Meeting of Claronists. After a recital in which I was the only one to perform an unreleased piece, he advised and inspired me to continue working on further developing and promoting new music works for the bass clarinet. In that same year, I had the opportunity to play at a solo bass clarinet recital in Camerino/Italy, which emphasized the importance of having a repertoire that truly reflects my artistic ideals as a Brazilian musician.That was the beginning of a journey of creating a Brazilian bass clarinet repertoire alongside composers. I started contacting the composers I already knew and slowly started to approach those I didn’t already know personally. Producing this work with household names of Brazilian contemporary concert music, such as Villani-Côrtes, Ernst Mahle and Sergio Vasconcellos Correia; young but already established composers, such as André Mehmari and Hudson Nogueira; composers from the new generation, such as Fernando de Oliveira, Gian Correia and Wagner Ortiz; and, finally, acclaimed choro composers, such as Mauricio Carrilho and Pedro Paes, was an honor; I was increasingly fulfilled, as I got to see each composition, with the certainty of the relevance of this work for brazilian bass clarinet.The bass clarinet has gained a prominent place in avant-garde music since the middle of the 20th century, due to its sound possibilities, but this project seeks another place for the bass clarinet: the Brazilian music scenario. I dare to say that this album may be labeled as a part of what musicologist Gunther Schuller called the “third stream”, the music that is located in between classical european and popular musical traditions; in this case, brazilian popular music, in such a rich and compelling pairing.