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Klarinet Archive - Posting 000009.txt from 1995/07

From: Donald Yungkurth <DYungkurth@-----.COM>
Subj: Why transpose unaccompanied works?
Date: Sun, 2 Jul 1995 06:25:20 -0400

I had suggested a set of three fantasias, Op. 38, by Friedrich Kuhlau as
works for unaccompanied clarinet. Tom Izzo wrote in response:

>You got me on this one! Why on earth would another
>transcription have to be written for an UNaccompanied >instrument. Us brass
players take & play unaccompanied >Violin, Clarinet, Trumpet, Cello solos as
is-we wouldn't
>even think of looking for a transcription.

>Just curious.

In the preface, the editor states, "The only alteration is transposition . .
. . . The new keys were selected to best balance, in my opinion, anyway, the
amount of time the music spends in the extreme upper and lower registers:
higher keys would be unpleasantly shrill and would not make use of the
clarinet's characteristic lower range, while lower keys would lose
brilliance".

I play flute as well as clarinet and have the flute version of one of the
three pieces. I agree with the editor that the transposition works better
for the clarinet, while the flute original would, technically, be playable on
clarinet. The transposition is only down a major third, but this eliminates
what would be a lot of high A's on the clarinet and makes use of high F as
the highest note. Not a bad decision, as I see it.