Klarinet Archive - Posting 000113.txt from 1994/06

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Instrumentation for Noreen's performance of the Gran Partitta
Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 22:37:28 -0400

Noreen, there is a joke about blini that reminds me of your situation.

If you did not see Noreen's note, a group she is with is doing the Gran
Partitta with all kinds of substitutions: English horns for basset horns,
flutes for oboes, etc., etc. Here is the joke.

Two Russians were talking about blini (sometimes called blintzes - they
are Russian pancakes with fillings - very delicious). One Russian says,

"I hear that the Tzar has blini every day, sometimes twice a day"

The second Russian says, "I have never had blini. I wonder what they taste
like."

The first says, "I have a recipe. Why don't we try to make them and then
we shall know what they taste like."

The second agrees to the labor and the first gets the recipe. He reads:

"Take 1 cup of the finest heavy cream ..."

The second Russian says, "We have no cream. In in its place, I will use
water."

The first continues: "Three cups of the best flour ..."

"We don't have any flour," says the second. I shall use sawdust in its
place.

So they make the blini using all kinds of awful substitutions and they
both take a mouthful of their concoction at the same time.

Both spit; "Ptew!!," says the first. "I don't see what the Tsar sees
in blini. They are awful."

And that is exactly what is going to happen to you when you try the
Gran partitta with the strange combination of instruments that you will
be using: "Ptew!! I can't figure out how anyone could like this ugly
sounding piece."

Dan

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