Klarinet Archive - Posting 000232.txt from 1997/01

From: "David C. Blumberg" <reedman@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: How much opinion vs. how much fact
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 22:07:35 -0500

Well Dan,
I guess all of us playing Brahms should be playing on a German System
Clarinet - As I can tell sonically which system is being used (and I can
too). I wrote what I was recommended to by A. Gigliotti. I then upon
hearing many, many, recordings which the player uses the A for the Mvt.,
agree that coming in for the first note on an A clarinet solo on a cold
horn is not a great idea.
I do agree that playing a piece in a different Key (tonality)is wrong- yes,
the composer did intend for the piece to be played in the key that it was
written in. I would not play the Mozart Concerto on Bb clarinet. Nor the
Nielson on Bb.
We should preserve the tonality that the piece was written in, if we can
verify that that is the case.
And Dan, I hope I don't sound disrespectful. I know you are one of the
great masters, and have been around a lot longer then me. I would much
rather read someting written by you then me, so I'm glad I got you to "come
out".

At 03:32 PM 1/18/97 EST, Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu wrote:
>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)
>====================================
>
>
David C. Blumberg
reedman@-----.com
Principal Clarinet Riverside Symphonia
Adjunct Woodwind Instructor Univ. of Penn,. Bryn Mawr College