Pre-Goodman Rag

Malcolm Arnold’s Clarinet Concerto No. 2, Op. 115, was dedicated to Benny Goodman, and first performed by him as part of the Red Rocks Music Festival with the Denver Symphony Orchestra conducted by Brian Priestman on 17 August 1974. The third movement, known affectionately as ‘The Pre-Goodman Rag’, is an outrageous ragtime parody with a hauntingly wistful middle section. The work has now been made more widely available in this transcription for wind band. (Grad 5)