Klarinet Archive - Posting 000681.txt from 1996/03

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: On performing transcriptions
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 1996 13:02:35 -0500

Views on the wisdom of making and/or performing transcriptions lead
one into a thicket from which there seems to be no exist.

It is OK to like them. It is OK to hate them. But sometimes the
reasons given to not perform them aren't reasons at all; they are
statements of personal preference whose truth goes no more than
1/4 inch beyond the person who gave the reason.

The most commonly used descriptor to put a transcription down is
that "it sounds better on a clarinet" as is often said about
the Brahms sonatas. But ask that same question of a violist and
you will get exactly the opposite answer, and in volumes that
drown out the opinions of clarinet players by their sheer number.

A transcription can be technically unsound but no matter how you
slice it, it is very difficult to verify the argument that "it
sounds better" on instrument x than on instrument y. That is
not a statement of fact but is a statement of personal preference
and needs to be identified as such.

If you ask a bassoonist what instrument should be used for the
bass voice of the Gran Partitta, s/he will say, "contrabassoon."
And if you ask why, the answer will be that "it sounds better
that way." That may be true. I can't judge. But could not
one suggest that a baritone sax should be used instead for
precisely the same reason; i.e., "it sounds better with a
baritone sax." And one can laugh at such a ridiculous comparison,
but it is not so dopey when you think about it.

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

   
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