Klarinet Archive - Posting 000033.txt from 1994/07

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: the issue of clarinet substitution
Date: Sat, 2 Jul 1994 09:06:34 -0400

Well, so far two interesting replies on the question of clarinet
substitution, and with interesting attitudes as well as perspectives.
The substance of both replies was to poo-poo the idea in the face
of the fact that we don't play 18th century pitch any longer, we
don't produce the same kind of sound as that epoch, etc., etc., etc.
In effect we do so many things differently today from the time that
the 18th century used C clarinets with such popularity, that the
entire question of clarinet substitution is both moot and irrelevant.

With earnest respect to my colleagues who so responded: not so, and
seriously not so.

I was also speaking of Strauss and Stravinsky. In fact, Strauss
used C clarinet as much as any composer of the 20th century. So
to ignore that issue in favor of focusing on the differences between
ourselves and the 18th century is simply to poo-poo the problem in
the hopes that maybe it will go away.

I spoke of a big problem covering two or more centuries (which
includes the clarinet music of the classic epoch, to be sure) and
I asked a very reasonable question: who is the authority on
what instrument we chose to use when performing that music?

This is not an original instrument question. This is not a performance
practice question as it applies to 18th century music. This is a
simple question of who knew better the character of the sound they
want to hear: the clarinet player in the orchestra or the composer
who wrote for that orchestra? And it is just as applicable to 20th
century music as anything else.

One thing I notice about my wonderful colleagues: when one poses a
question whose answer could diminish their authority of what and
how they do things, their reaction becomes unsympathetic. If the
domian over which we reign is threatened, the best way to handle
the matter is to change the question so that an unsympathetic answer
can address it.

Alternatively, perhaps some players feel the issue unimportant.
Often an unsympathetic answer is used as a response to a point that
the responder feels is unworthy of any other response. Perhaps I
see it differently. I think it to be a very important question and
I look foward to reading what is said on this subject.

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