Klarinet Archive - Posting 000144.txt from 1994/11

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Some advice on Prokovieff Sextet
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 1994 16:20:37 -0500

I was just asked to play the Prokovieff "Overture on Hebrew Themes." I
know the work well having first played it in the late 1940s after having
studied it with Dave Weber in NY.

I always played it like the Brahms quintet; i.e., serious music, dignified,
dull.

Now with the resurgence of Klezmer I want to rethink the piece. Is it a
Klezmer work? Should it swing or is it irrelevant to Klezmer performance?

I just don't know.

Furthermore, in a rehearsal with a group of Russian immigrants, and using
a Russian edition, the players denied that the title is "Overture on
Hebrew Themes." They assert that the Russian title is much more correctly
translated as "Overture on Yiddish Themes." I am not sure what that means
with respect to performance practice, but it is causing me to reflect on
what Prokovieff's intent was.

Furthermore, when the piece began to be popular in the 1040s (and Prokovieff
was still alive then), it was rumored that the two main melodies of the piece
(which are NOT folk songs, but simply sound that way) were creations of
Simeon Bellison who was then 1st clarinet with the NYP.

I'm open to all suggestions and that includes (1) leave it alone - it's
Brahms, (2) swing like the Klezmaniacs, etc.

About 10 years ago I decided to restudy the Mozart Quintet and I am glad
that I did. I had fallen into a bunch of very bad habits that arose
from not thinking about that wonderful piece, just playing it. I think
it is time to do the same for the Prokovieff.

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