Klarinet Archive - Posting 000138.txt from 1995/06

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: First things first
Date: Sat, 10 Jun 1995 12:55:13 -0400

Neil Leupold makes reference to comments about Stravinksy's reaction
to his unaccompanied pieces being played on a clarinet of different
pitch than that requested by the composer. The comments he mentions
are by Laura Bornhoeft and Larry Liberson.

We are all speculating about what Stravinsky said, and what he meant,
and what were the circumstances of his comments, etc.

So before the discussion wanders too far afield based on a premise that
is not necessarily correct, it is necessary to examine the incident in
greater detail.

The clarinetist who reported on the event was Augustin Duques who
spoke of it happening to him in an article from Clarinet - A Symphony
Quarterly, No. 17, Winter, 1954-1955. The article is entitled
"Use of the A and B Instruments." The specific nature of the rebuke
is not described, only that Stravinsky did rebuke him. We don't know
why Stravinsky did that. It is also possible to conclude that
Stravinsky did not realize that Duques was using the wrong clarinet on
the basis of his good ear, but simply by virtue of the fact that
Duques has only one clarinet on the stage with him and performed all
three pieces on one instrument.

The bottom line here is that the story is too imprecise to conclude
Stravinsky's real motivation, though I would love to be able to put
the story forward in support of my belief that he really was able to
hear a difference between the two instruments.

Two other stories are applicable here though I am now beyond this
incident.

The first was related to me by Herb Blayman who was playing in the
Utah Symphony under Abravanel at least 35 years ago. The work was
Schubert's C major symphony whose movements call for C clarinet for
movement 1, 3, and 4, and A clarinet for movement 2. Blayman reported
that Abravenel stopped the rehearsal and asked if he was playing on
an A clarinet in the 2nd movement. (It is interesting to note that
Abravenel did not say "Mr. Blayman, I ask you to change your instrument."
He asked "What instrument are you playing on." That's quite a difference.)

Blayman responded that he was transposing the movement onto
his B-flat clarinet and Abravanel asked that he follow the directions
of the composer. End of story. Seems to support the view that
a good ear can hear the difference.

But the second story turns it right around. After publishing an
article in the Clarinet that contained this story, I received a
letter from Hans Stalder who told me essentially the same story but
with a quite different ending.

Same piece of music, Schubert C major. Same problem, transposing the
2nd movement onto a B-flat clarinet. Same conductor reponse: "What
instrument are you using, Mr. Stalder?" Same request: "Would you mind
playing that on an A, please?"

But here the story changes. Stalder did not have his A with him!!
So he put down his B-flat, made some heavy duty body motions to simulate
the changeover of clarinet, picked up the B-flat instrument once again
and continued with the rehearsal.

The conductor said to him, "Ah! Do you hear how much better it sounds
now?"

Both of these stories are documented in an article to be found in Vol. 21
No. 1, (Nov/Dec 1993), The Clarinet, pp. 52-56.

The wind-up here is that nothing conclusive can be expressed as a
consequence of any public statements by Stravinsky or anyone else that
states with absolute certainty that the character of an A vs. a B-flat
is detectible.

I believe, however, that documentary evidence exists that establishes
that hypothesis with little doubt. But it does not depend on anything
as imprecise as opinion; i.e., for every person who believes that
a difference between instrument types can be detected, there is another
who believes with equal fervency that it cannot. And the difficulty
with such argumentation philosophies is that nothing ever gets resolved.

So we have to look at what composers did for internal evidence of their
intentions. I believe that such evidence was put forward in an article
to be found in the Nov./Dec. 1991 issue of The Clarinet. See, "Mozart and
the Clarinet in B-Natural" which carries the subtitle, "An Essay about
Clarinet Substitution in Music of the Classic and Early Romantic Periods."
The Clarinet.

In my case, it is preaching to the converted to suggest that one use
the composer's requested clarinet. I really don't care if it was
deliberate, a mistake, or goodness knows what. If the composer has
requested it, that is what I do, or at least try my very best to do.
I find that attempting to rationalize this behavior by something as
ephemeral as my opinion about how it sounds, is a never-ending descent
into confusion and ambiguity.

Bottom line: it is not my business to presume that I know better about
the music than the person who wrote it. If that person wants a clarinet
in X, I'll try and get one. I am hired to play the music as the composer
wrote it, hopefully with enough of a knowledge of performance practices
of that era that justify every action I take. And the instrument of
choice for the composer is part of that total package.

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