Klarinet Archive - Posting 000489.txt from 1996/04

From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: Schumann Fantasy Pieces--A or B-flat?
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 1996 09:22:41 -0400

At 3:40 AM 4/17/96, Fernando Silveira wrote:

>I have another point of view.
>I always have been playing it on A. But, in the day of one recital, my A
>clarinet has a problem and I had to play on Bb.
>In the time I felt more easy to play some passages, and, later, thinking
>about it, I felt if you have to play one recital that all of pieces have
>been played on Bb, you, maybe, have more instrument control, and, of course,
>plays easyly and beautiful.
>I think that piece were write for CLARINET, and have to be played on
>CLARINET; if it is A or Bb ... If you con play beautiful, no big deal.
>Fernando Silveira

Fernando,

Certainly, if your A clarinet was not working, or you did not own an A
clarinet, no one should fault you for playing it on Bb.

But as for whether you believe it is easier, or sounds better on the A
clarinet, that is not really relevant. Your opinion that it was written
for *any* clarinet is also not born out by *documentary fact*.

The composer wrote it very specifically for A clarinet, not for clarinet in
general. The A clarinet is a different instrument from Bb (in sound, in
size and in feel and responsiveness). In many ways it is more difficult to
play, because of its larger more unwieldy size and its different resistance
on various notes. But just because we find the instrument more difficult
to play, that is not a valid reason to ignore the composer's expressed
intent.

------------------
Jonathan Cohler
cohler@-----.net