Klarinet Archive - Posting 000394.txt from 1997/01

From: "Nichelle A. Crocker" <crockena@-----.EDU>
Subj: Stravinsky
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 1997 00:04:51 -0500

Gary Young says:

>So if William O. Smith says "A clarinet," we're crazy to use a Bb. But if
>Stravinsky says "A clarinet," the conclusion is not so clear. With
>Stravinsky, if we have a good reason to use a Bb, why not? We -- and he
>--don't always follow his mm markings, so why be slavish about his
>instrument specifications?

Read Stravinsky's Autobiography. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy on hand,
but there's a great quote about how interpretation on the part of performers
horrified him, and that he considered the performer an executant of the score.

(It's worth the trouble, since Stravinsky was a great writer in the
literary sense as well as in the musical sense.)

Nichelle Crocker
crockena@-----.edu