Klarinet Archive - Posting 000060.txt from 1995/03

From: Nichelle Crocker <NCROCKER@-----.EDU>
Subj: More on Weber 2nd
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 15:57:05 -0500

Thanks to those of you who responded to my question about Weber 2nd.
I have just a few things I wanted to add to your comments.

Neil Leupold commented that "the judging panel will be far less impressed
with speed than they will with good technical precision and evident
musicianship". I agree completely. That is always my goal in perfomance,
to be as prepared technically as possible in order to support my musical
goals. But the question is not so much *can* I play it faster as *should* I.

I was happy to see this comment from Roger Shilcock: "It is supposed to be a
"polacca", meaning a polonaise or its forerunner, and it loses this
character if played too fast." This is exactly the issue that I am worried
about. In this case, I find it much more difficult to bring across the
character of the polacca than to play the piece faster, say at 112 or more.

And still, nobody has mentioned any recording of the movement at 100. If
anyone knows of one, I would be very interested. I know that it is an awful
lot of fun to play the piece fast- real fireworks! But I'm still not convinced
that it ought to go faster. Comments?

Nichelle Crocker