Originally Posted by
Othesemo
Hm. I'm going to assume that you don't play piano (no offense). In the ballad thing, you've got the pianist playing a 12th (or an octave+a fifth). And this is while he's also playing with his right hand. Unless he's cyrano de bergerac, that's going to be quite physically impossible to play, I'm afraid, unless you've got a virtuoso (and 7'0") pianist. I can barely reach an 11th if I strain, and I play piano as a profession.
Next, you need to remember that having five clarinets playing outside of a full orchestra is a rarity. If you want chords that large in your melody, give them to the piano or guitar (or, pelor forbid, accordion). Meanwhile, just have the clarinet or saxophone or what-have-you play the non-chordal melody alongside the piano's chords (after all, that's why we're there).