Klarinet Archive - Posting 000230.txt from 1994/05

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: A and B-flat bass clarinets - continued
Date: Thu, 12 May 1994 11:51:19 -0400

Roger, I never really made myself clear on the subject of why I got
an A bass and you have assumed that it was because of transpositional
needs. That is not the case. I have been transposing bass parts for
years and, though I don't enjoy it, I do it with sufficient facility that
did not require me to get an A bass.

I got the A bass because I am of the opinion that when a composer
requests a specific instrument, that is the instrument on which we
should play. I do Beethoven symphonies on C clarinet, I hardly
ever play on A clarinet when the B-flat is requested and vice-versa. It
was my 60th birthday and I decided to get something that I always wanted
to get, and it happened to be an A bass.

In summary, I believe that we do a disservice to composers when we
arbitrarily change their clear and unambiguous performance specifications
because it is inconvenient to us to do as they say. And worse,
conductors tolerate this by not insisting on specifically pitched clarinets.

Now, in the case of Mahler 4, I did make one exception. At the very end
of the work there is a solo for a bass in B-flat in, I think, 6 sharps.
It is a very brief solo. I played it on A because the instrument spoke
better in that particular range.

I also make an exception for Grofe's Grand Canyon suite where the terrible
solo in B major that has the bc fall down a flight of stairs with a tray
of dishes, is easily accomplished on an A bass in C major. But, except
for those two exceptions, I got the A bass because I think it sounds
differently than a B-flat bass, I think the composer thought so or else
he would not have written for it, and I try to accomodate the composer's
directions whenever possible.

As to your question about the Bayreuth b.c. parts, I think the Germans had
the A bass in far greater quantities than the French, English, or American
players had. And that is what I think the Germans had to play on.

Let me add the following apocryphyl story about playing B-flat music on
an A clarinet (or the other way round): Rufus Arey (spelling uncertain,
I am not near my reference books) was rehearsing the Stravinsky unaccompanied
pieces and Stravinsky was sitting in the room during the rehearsal. I
think those pieces call for 2 movements on B-flat and one on A (or something
like that). But why would Stravinsky have requested a specifically
pitched clarinet for an unaccompanied piece?? What difference does it
make what clarinet one performs the pieces on?

Anyway, Stravinksy interrupted Arey and chastised him for doing one of the
movements on the wrong instrument. His words, captured and placed into
an article by Arey, were "I wrote that piece for an A clarinet because that
is the sound I wanted. And I ask you to play it as I requested it."

(Did Stravinsky then call him a twit?? Who knows?)

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

   
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