Klarinet Archive - Posting 000018.txt from 1994/02

From: James Langdell <James.Langdell@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Telemann's Flute Fantasias
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 1994 19:13:18 -0500

A memorable musical moment involving these pieces:

Two years ago I participated in a performance at
Stanford University called John Cage's musicircus.
It involved a large and incredibly diverse range
of musicians and other performing groups doing work
in many different styles (from lute to power tools)
in every possible room, hallway, stairwell, and
outside area in the music building.

I was playing unaccompanied clarinet near the
inside door to the room where John Cage was
going to perform a spoken text work as part of
these proceedings. I decided to play an eclectic
mix of my favorite pieces on my instrument:
Bach cello suite arrangements, Scottish dance tunes,
the Wilson Osborne Rhapsody, Klezmer tunes, and some
Telemann flute fantasies.

As I was in the middle of one of the Telemann
pieces, John Cage walked towards the room
where he'd soon be starting his performance.
He stopped and listened to me playing Telemann
for about a minute, smiled, and went on into
his room to prepare for his part of the performance.

I was glad to have had the chance to supply a smile to
an artist whose writings I know have made a difference
in my life (and I've occasionally enjoyed Cage's music
for its actual sound as well as its concept). Glad
I had that chance before his death later that year.

Also nice to have the opinion reinforced for me that
playing Telemann's flute pieces on clarinet is *at least*
as valuable as leaving the field clear for silence.

--James Langdell jamesc@-----.com
Sun Microsystems Mountain View, Calif.