Klarinet Archive - Posting 000228.txt from 1997/01

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: How much opinion vs. how much fact
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 16:28:48 -0500

Dave Blumberg of Pennsylvania responds to a question about the use
of clarinets in Brahms 3. He states: "The opening of the Brahms 3rd
is best played transposed on A clarinet" and he suggests that if one
trys this, then the person will like it.

I have no doubt that Dave believes what he wrote but I would think
that, on reflection, he might say it as "For me, the opening of the
Brahms 3rd is ..."

The issue is what does Brahms say and what do clarinet players feel
that they may do? Now we have been around this circle before but
it has been a long time and some of the newer members may not know
that there are views on this matter diametrically opposed to the
one expressed by Dave, me for one. So I'll give my view - which is
nothing more or less than my opinion - and then shut up:

Clarinetists (in general, all instrumentalists) have no
business making arbitrary substitution of one pitched
instrument for another, particularly in the face of an
explicit request on the part of a composer with an
unusually good ear, which is what Brahms is reported to
have. When arbitrary substitutions are made, the impact
on the sonic palette that the composer hears when s/he
composes is altered to some unknown degree. And if one
can substitute an A clarinet for some other pitched
instrument with impunity, why not a tenor saxophone for
a clarinet in B-flat, or an English horn for a basset
horn?

I am done. I'll shut up for the moment.

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