Klarinet Archive - Posting 000369.txt from 1994/02

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Garrett's comments about octave modifications in Mozart
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 1994 21:15:52 -0500

Garret, I understand what you said about the second movement because
you specified measure numbers 45-49. But when you began to describe
what you did in the first movement, you switched to rehearsal letters
in some edition that I cannot match. Please resend your comments
about the first movement modifications you made and indicate measure
numbers.

Regarding your remarks about the changes you made for the slow
movement, I think your suggestion about changing m. 45-49 so as not
to have any leaps greater than a third is quite correct. The melodic
line certainly has been broken up in order to perform the work on
a clarinet of traditional compass and the desire on your part to
reinstitute what you perceive as the original is certainly commendable.

But in fixing the voice leadings, you may have placed the clarinet in
a register that is not compatible with the orchestral accompaniment.
It is one thing to have the clarinet out of the octave that Mozart
intended for a few notes and quite another to have the clarinet out
of the intended octave for an extended period of time.

The orchestral accompaniment presumes that the soloist is playing
in a certain register. If that presumption is incorrect for an
extended period of time (as you give the impression it is), then
the problem you have solved may not be as great as the problem
you have introduced. That is to say, if Mozart had written that solo
line where you are playing it, then he almost certainly would have
altered the accompanying orchestral line to avoid clashing theoretic
errors (if indeed there are any) that would be anathmatic to music
of this epoch.

One cannot consider the solo part of the Mozart concerto (or, for that
matter any solo instrument of any concerto) as divorced from the
orchestral accompaniment which serves as an equal partner in the
dialogue.

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Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
(leeson@-----.edu)
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