Prelude, Fugue and Riffs is a "written-out" jazz-in-concert-hall composition composed by Leonard Bernstein for a jazz ensemble featuring solo clarinet.

The title points to the union of classical music and jazz: Prelude (first movement) and Fugue (second movement) – both baroque forms – are followed immediately without a pause by a series of "riffs" (third movement), which is a jazz term for a repeated and short melodic figure.

It features:

  • brass and rhythm in the first movement,
  • saxophones in the second movement, and
  • the entire ensemble plus solo clarinet in the third movement first with backing from the piano then by the entire ensemble.

Completed in 1949 for Woody Herman's big band as part of a series of commissioned works – that already included Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto – it was never performed by Herman, possibly because his orchestra had disbanded at that time.

Instead, it received its premiere on Bernstein's Omnibus television show, The World of Jazz on October 16, 1955. he is seen in the preserved 1955 video playing alto saxophone and then the clarinet solo passages. Some sources instead credit Benny Goodman, to whom the work was dedicated upon its publication.

Discography

Recordings by Leonard Bernstein

  • Benny Goodman. Benny Goodman Collector's Edition, CBS MK 42227
  • Peter Schmidl. Bernstein Conducts Bernstein, Deutsche Grammophon 447952-2 GLB, (1949), (p) 1992

Recording of big band version

  • Wolfgang Meyer. Homage to Benny Goodman, EMI Classics 7243 5 56652 2 5 (1998), (p) 1998

Recordings available on CD

  • Michael Collins. The Jazz Album, EMI CDC 7 47991 2
  • Harmen de Boer. Bernstein/Copland/Gershwin/Stravinsky, Chandos CHAN 9210 (1993), (p) 1993
  • Benny Goodman. Benny Goodman Collector's Edition, CBS MK 42227
  • Wolfgang Meyer. Homage to Benny Goodman, EMI Classics 7243 5 56652 2 5 (1998), (p) 1998
  • Peter Schmidl. Bernstein Conducts Bernstein, Deutsche Grammophon 447952-2 GLB, (1949), (p) 1992
  • Richard Stoltzman. Copland/Corigliano/Bernstein, RCA Victor Red Seal RD 87762 (1988), (p) 1988
  • John Bruce Yeh. Stravinsky/Bernstein/Gould/Babin/Shaw, Reference Recordings RR-55CD (1993), (p) 1993

References

  • Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, work details
  • Score, Boosey & Hawkes
  • Prelude, Fugue & Riffs, the newsletter of the Leonard Bernstein Office