Klarinet Archive - Posting 000168.txt from 1996/04

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Pre Barenreiter K. 622
Date: Sat, 6 Apr 1996 20:56:53 -0500

David Hattner makes reference to Kell's (and Marcellus') "pre-Barenreiter
recording" of K. 622, giving the impression that the publication of
that edition was a watershed in the history of the work. Not so, David.
The Barenreiter edition makes two significant changes of text for
the clarinet part, that's all. While it also makes certain suggestions
for the basset clarinet version of the work, the fact is that they were
a day late and a dollar short on that one. Such an edition had been
published almost 5 or 6 years earlier, with Barenreither's suggestions
adding nothing particularly dramatic or different from those already
published.

What they did do with their publication that no one else had done was
to include a copy of the basset horn autograph which is little more
than a sketch and quite incomplete. That was very helpful from
a scholarly point of view to be sure, but did little else.

The fact is that a number of Barenreiter editions made no contribution
at all to the complexities surrounding certain works. K. 622 was
such a case (as was K. 581, but not the Keggelstatt trio or the piano
quintet, K. 452 or the Gran Partitta all of which have major major
changes from the traditional versions).

As I indicated above, there are two textual changes in the Barenreiter
and a young man came over to coach the concerto with me before attending
a master class with Marcellus. I pointed out both changes to him and
told him that if he were unable to defend their presence, he should be
cautious about using them because he would be called on them.

He used them both, Marcellus called him on it, he was unable to defend
what he did, and Marcellus had him for lunch. When I heard the story,
I was surprised that Marcellus was not aware of these issues but I presumed
that his sight loss was preventing him from keeping up on the
issues of contemporary scholarship.

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