Klarinet Archive - Posting 000421.txt from 1994/02

From: Daniel McLamb <MCLAMBD@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Mozart
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 1994 15:57:04 -0500

As Dan Leeson pointed out earlier, there are many who believe that the clarinet
concerto was played on a basset clarinet, which eliminated the problems
that modern Bb players have found in it (such as the descending runs which
suddenly have a huge leap to complete the runs). I listened to a presentation
in my clarinet rep class a few weeks ago that was originally broadcasted
several months (perhaps a year) ago on PBS. The presentation featured Eddie
Daniels, an international clarinet performer, who stated several interesting
ideas about the Mozart concerto. First, he stated that the piece was
originally written for Viola. (yea, the class had the same reaction) He
then stated that it was then modified for the basset clarinet (on which he
later gave a performance with several sections slightly altered). His
argument was that the performer for whom Mozart had written the piece was
very fond of the lower register of the horn, the basset clarinet itself
was much more popular in those days than the Bb model, and that the reason
the Concerto is now performed largely on the Bb is that the original
manuscript was lost and when it was rewritten, it was rewritten for the Bb
and not the basset clarinet. It has been a popular fad among many
clarinetists toplay the concerto on a basset clarinet in the past few
years; the performance Daniels gave following this interview certainly
seemed more logical than the Bb version, with all runs finishing their

motion (and not leaping disjunctly). [The basset clarinet, by the way,
goes down to low c, a major 3rd below the lowest note on the Bb clarinet, E).