Klarinet Archive - Posting 000601.txt from 1995/12

From: Jacqueline G Eastwood <eastwooj@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Mendelssohn Concerto
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 1995 13:43:12 -0500

Hi, Dan,

Despair not -- I also have a copy of these pieces with basset horn parts
intact.

I also feel exactly as you do about substituting such lowly instruments
as the basson or cello for the magnificence of the basset horn. A pox on
those who would do it!!

They are lovely pieces, and I have played one of them as a clarinet duet
w/ piano. Yet I yearn for the original -- someday maybe you'll visit
Arizona once again.

Jacqueline Eastwood
University of Arizona/Arizona Opera Orchestra
eastwooj@-----.edu

On Thu, 21 Dec 1995, Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu wrote:

> There is a distinct problem with the Mendelssohn concertpieces for
> basset horn, clarinet, and piano. Unless something new has happened
> in the last year or so, none of the available editions include a basset
> horn part. I guess the presumption is that there are not enough
> basset horns out there to justify the inclusion of a performance part
> that is not going to be used.
>
> When I first purchased my set of parts, they were published by International
> and they included a basset horn part. Now, they do not. Sad.
>
> The two works are also arranged for orchestra and one of those two
> arrangements is by Mendelssohn himself. I think it is the first of the
> two.
>
> Both pieces were written for the father-son Baermann pair and I
> find them exceptional works that are audience pleasers. They fly
> and any basset hornist who is not prepared to play them at the drop
> of a hat is probably an evil person. Each one of the pair is
> about 12-15 minutes long, one movement, fast-slow-fast.
>
> Last year, I killed 7 clarinet players who performed them with bassoon,
> and 2 clarinet players who performed them with cello. Such performances
> will cease at once. Do I make myself clear?
>
> In case some of you did not notice an earlier response on this list
> and on this subject from Nick Shackelton, I want to mention to all that
> he is new to the list and we are indeed fortunate to have one who is
> certainly among the world's leading scholars on the history of the
> clarinet. You might be interested in reading his Grove's articles
> on clarinet. I have read and used a great deal of Nick's research
> for some time. His writings are a joy to read, so literate are they,
> and if my memory serves me correctly, there is a book to be published
> in the UK (perhaps even already published) with a whole series of
> articles on nothing but the clarinet (one by Tony Pay, also on this
> list) and Nick has made a contribution to that effort. It seems to
> me that the very best work of the last century on history of the
> clarinet has always come out of England.
>
> However, he is not nearly as good looking as I, so let's not go
> overboard here.
>
>
> ====================================
> Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
> (leeson@-----.edu)
> ====================================
>