Klarinet Archive - Posting 000171.txt from 1994/07

From: HardReed@-----.COM
Subj: Quality vs. color, Part II
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 1994 23:20:37 -0400

.....and:

Let me take this opportunity to comment on some of the examples,
however, that Joshua brought up. What DO we do with "Peter and
the Wolf" anyway? Of course, there are different moods to convey, those
moods and contrasts brought out with variances in our own individual sounds.
But let's give Prokofiev a little credit here, OK? Perhaps he writes a solo
in a certain register to elicit that certain special effect. That's the
genius in great composing, isn't it? Do we have to emphasize these
differences? Again, these differences are "built in" and the composer has
his/her own ideas as to what effect will come from it all. Let's go a bit
further with "Peter", shall we? I
have a part here at home written for B-flat clarinet, the part in the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra library is for A clarinet, yet the score at work called
for C clarinet! Quite a dilemma, eh? How would you play this piece? Well,
I wouldn't recommend playing it on C clarinet! The cat would never speak!
For that matter, unless you possess a B-flat clarinet with a low E-flat key,
you're going to play that cat theme on the A clarinet, right? Is the A
clarinet sound "wrong" here?.....or did
Prokofiev write for a certain "sound", a certain register, a certain
tessitura on the instrument? Think about that one, OK? How about when the
cat climbs up the tree (everybody's favorite solo)? Do you play it on the A
clarinet (like the excerpt book says) or on the B-flat? (or the C?). Do we
need to do our utmost to bring out the bright and strident (not to mention
panicked!) nature of the notes in this passage or do we trust the composer to
provide us with the brilliance in his composing? It's our job to play with
the most beautiful tonal
colors we possess, but it's the job of the composer to "tell" us where--and,
by and large, they seem to do a pretty good job of it, don't they? BTW, I
play this solo on the B-flat clarinet. For one thing, it's a whole hell of a
lot more secure to land on a high "F" on the B-flat than it is to land on a
high "F#" on the A! Is it more brilliant on the B-flat than it would be on
the A? Perhaps, but my decision as to what instrument I use here is based on
practical concerns--it just
happens to work out OK here!

OK, let's go on to Rimsky-Korsakov. Again, I think there is a difference in
what you regard as tone quality and what I call color. I've stated before
that many composers aren't--and weren't ignorant of the technical demands of
the instrument and would write accordingly for the A or B-flat (or C)
clarinets. Keeping this in mind, I tend to view the part I play as "1st
Clarinet" rather than "B-flat clarinet" or "A clarinet"...and
Rimsky-Korsakov, the man who wrote the book (literally!) on orchestration, is
a great example to illustrate this point.
Using "Capriccio espagnole" as a picture, observe some of the most brilliant
solos (tonally) in the orchestral repertoire. By your comments, Joshua, it
leads me to believe that the opening solos should be played on the B-flat
clarinet to further bring out that brightness and brilliance, right? Well, I
don't think so! Rimsky-Korsakov wrote those first page solos (and the
cadenza and last mov't. solo from "Scheherzade" ) for the A clarinet...Why?
Because of the KEY! I don't really believe that he has us change in the
third mov't. of "Capriccio espagnole" to B-flat to emphasize the brilliance
even more, but so it's playable in this new key! It's really that simple!

I think it's up to us as interpreters of a given composer's music to bring
out as much as we are able, and that includes the myriad of colors on our
tonal palette. I believe our basic tonal "quality" remains constant, that
building block or "point of departure" as I have described it, from where all
these colors emanate. This is our sound, our tonal identity. I don't
necessarily believe that the A and B-flat clarinets are to be employed as
"different" instruments, so to speak. We could talk about bright versus dark
and which instrument exhibit those tendencies forever. The fact of the
matter is that the majority of composers have always written for the
clarinetist with the technical demands of the key in mind. Of course, there
are plenty of exceptions to this, but take some time to go through the bulk
of the orchestral repertoire and see this for yourself. Most C clarinet
parts
don't seem to written so much for the color desired than for the key laid
down on the page (Richard Strauss excluded!).

While we should always do what we can to exploit the clarinet for it's many
beautiful effects, we needn't draw distinctions between the various keyed
clarinets: the manufacturers have done it for us already!

Let me pose a question for you, Joshua--and everyone else: You
mentioned the Poulenc Sonata for Two Clarinets, in which one
player is on A and the other in B-flat. What do you think was going through
the composer's head with this one. What would be his reaction to hear a
French player on the A clarinet part (a very bright French player!) and a
dark German sound on the B-flat?

Interesting, eh?

I'm sure I could ramble on forever on this subject, but it's late now and I
think I'll go to bed!

Larry Liberson
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
<Hard Reed@-----.com>

P.S....I didn't bother to proofread this--Please excuse!

   
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