Klarinet Archive - Posting 000099.txt from 1995/02

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Connie Josias' comments on Gershwin Rhapsody
Date: Fri, 3 Feb 1995 23:49:06 -0500

First class piece of reporting of the facts. A joy to read.

I want to add that the orchestral performance parts presents a problem
for the bass clarinetist, and I lay this problem at the feet of
Ferde Grofe.

There is no bass clarinet part, per se. There is only a tenor sax/
bass clarinet part and there are no directions as to when one should
play vs the other or if both instruments should play at the same time.
It is NOT a doubling where one is expected to play both parts. It is
some kind of a crazy part where the bass clarinet and tenor sax should
divide it up in a not very clear way.

There has developed a number of traditions about the part that one
needs to be aware of but which don't seem to be written down anywhere.
For example, immediately after the entrance of the solo piano, there
is a little solo that is generally played on the b.c. but it has become
traditional to play it down an octave. Don't ask me why.

I don't know how much of the rest of the orchestral parts are
problematic, but the b.c. part is strange. I play it with the same
sax players every two years or so, so we know what to do. But if I
am called in to play it with an orchestra with which I have not played
it before, one has to figure out the battle plan.

Has anyone else noticed this?

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