Paul Jeanjean was the principal clarinetist of the Garde Républicaine Band and later of the MonteCarlo opera and was, obviously, a musician of the greatest sensitivity. His etudes are hightly developed concert works that can make for very impressive additions to recital programs.
Jeanjean provided wonderfully detailed directions for his etudes. Charles Neidich has, by and large, left what he has written and have only brought Jeanjean’s notation more into accord with modern conventions; e.g. that accidentals within a measure generally do not transpose octaves. This edition’s notes at the bottom of each page explain the various modern chords and scales (augmented chords, 9th chords, whole tone scales for instance) he used in each of his etudes. These, unfortunately, were eliminated in the previous English version.
The noteworthy feature of this edition is the recording, that can be accessed online, of Charles Neidich’s performance of the etudes. Rather than clutter Jeanjean’s already expressively notated scores with still more markings, the audio recording offers, as a window into the modern, yet romantic style of the etudes and as models of the kind of performance to which the student should aspire.
