Klarinet Archive - Posting 000335.txt from 1994/03

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Jay Winick's inquiry about the Gran Partitta
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 1994 19:41:22 -0500

Jay is playing the Gran Partitta and asks about the tradition of playing
the grace note of measure 2 of the allegro (and later parallel measures).
He points out that parallel passages are not always played the same way
as the original presentation.

If you have noticed that occurring Jay, you should consider locking your
performance into a single interpretation of that famous and complicated
grace note figure. The issue is whether it is played on the beat or
before the beat? Correct? Are we talking about the same place?

I can give you 6 reasons for playing on the beat and one reason for playing
it before the beat but that one reason is an absolute killer and beats the
other 6. It is not a matter of interpretation or choice or taste. It is
a matter of strict performance practice and what it is that Mozart wrote in
his autograph at that juncture; i.e., what he explicitly requests be done.

The bottom line is this. The two quarter notes following the grace note
have accents on them, stroke accents to be sure, but accents nevertheless.
Ron Monson mentioned these accents several weeks ago and here is such a case.
It is impossible to play the grace note on the beat and also accent the
first quarter note. Try it. It cannot be done. Instead of accenting the
quarter (as Mozart requests) you accent the grace note when you play it on
the beat. So it comes down not to a matter of interpretation or taste, but
examination of what the composer requested, though notation has changed
enough to complicate the problem.

Enjoy the work. It is a treasure of mankind. In the movie Amadeus,
Salieri has a soliloquy about the slow movement. It begins, "It started
simply enough. Basset horns and bassoons, like a rusty squeezbox..."

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

   
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