Radiolab - Stochasticity clarinet piece?

December 5, 2011 7:38 PM

What's the name of the haunting clarinet piece at 00:21:25 and 00:43:21 of Radiolab - Stochasticity (.mp3)? If unnamed, who played it? Thanks!
posted by ivank to Media & Arts (2 answers total)

Best answer: Someone may come in here and totally prove me wrong, but here was my thought when I listened to it:

I don't recognize it from any solo clarinet piece I know. It's also a very simple little tune that has an echo type effect added to it. My guess is actually that Jad made the sample himself. It's a realistic enough sounding clarinet, but it's totally within the range of 'could have been produced using Logic Pro' or some such thing. Clarinet is typically an easily replicable sound on midi because it's usually played without vibrato and doesn't have the range of varying character some woodwinds have. You'll notice it doesn't sound very 'breathy,' the dynamic range is very small, there is no tonguing in the articulation, it's been manipulated (for the echo), so, considering that Jad is a composer and does a lot of the sound stuff for Radiolab himself, by dollar right now is on 'it's a little sample Jad came up with himself.'

I could be totally wrong, but that's my guess.
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:12 PM on December 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is probably completely off base, but for some reason it made me think of this part of the Nutcracker suite. Ignoring the fact that this part is played by the string section...
posted by costanza at 9:36 PM on December 5, 2011