Klarinet Archive - Posting 000854.txt from 1997/02

From: Cadenza <Cadenza@-----.COM>
Subj: D. Niethamer comment on Dvorak9
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 1997 12:33:38 -0500

I agree that the 2nd flute player in Dvorak's orchestra must have had a
beautiful low register, those bits in the first movt. are some of the best
romantic flute solos in the orchestral literature.

Reading about this brings to mind another quirk of Dvorak's orchestration.
Its his use of the 2nd oboe when writing for a chorale of 1st clarinet on top,
2nd oboe as the alto part and two bassoons on the bottom. You will find this
in the slow movt. of the Cello concerto as well as the opening chorale of the
7th symphony. There are probably other works that I don't know.

Usually the oboe player is struggling to keep down and to blend as best as
s/he can. One conductor used a cor anglais to play that part. It was
actually pretty successful. I've never played it with a 2nd clar playing that
part but would think it would sound beautiful.

Any comments as to why Dvorak orchestrated this with an oboe playing an
obvious 2nd clarinet part?