Klarinet Archive - Posting 000368.txt from 1996/03

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: The Dan and Dan show, continued
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 15:37:31 -0500

Dan has the following paragraph in his posting of today:

"Is your hearing that select that you can tell if a player is on
B-flat or A clarinet? Sorry but mine isn't." [snip]

Dan, I am lucky if I can tell the difference between a clarinet and a
bagpipe. I do not do a work on the clarinet called for because I
can hear the difference. My ears have no influence on the decision
at all.

I simply go under the assumption that the composer knew what he
wanted better than I do, and unless there is some overwhelming reason
to contradict him or her, I will not do it. To me, that is the
essence of professionalism, to do what I am paid to do on the instrument
on which I was asked to do it. The palette of orchestral color is
impacted if I should chose aribtrarily to use clarinet x instead of
clarinet y because I find it easier or better or more sophisticated,
etc. It is the composer who choses that palette, not me and I am
certainly not being paid to change it. In fact, I pereive that
I am doing the composer a disservice to change it without his/her
permission, knowledge, and agreement. It does not matter if I can
or cannot hear that difference in the orchestral color. I am being paid
to execute, not to judge whether the composer's choice of clarinet meets
my standards of goodness, nobility, and righteousness.

Since it is unlikely that I will get that agreement from Brahms, Mozart,
Beethoven, etc., I do it their way, not my way, even if I prefer it
my way. My preferences have little to do with what the composer
said or did.

This entire matter is due to the fact that conductors don't insist on
specific instruments and we feel that we have the right to do whatever
we wish under the questionable assumption that "it sounds better that
way."

By whose standard? Who has agreed to that conclusion? When was the
vote taken?

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