Klarinet Archive - Posting 000890.txt from 1997/05

From: HardReed@-----.com
Subj: Freedom of Choice?
Date: Sat, 31 May 1997 10:12:43 -0400

Once again, we have had an interesting -- if not long-winded -- discussion
about instrument choice, etc...I believe it's all been said before, so I
won't join the fray, but I thought I'd provide a couple of examples that I
would just love for those of you who have a direct line to the composers to
comment on...

Ed Lacy said:

"If you play a Mahler symphony with a bass clarinet in Bb and one in A, how
many people can tell that, especially given that much of what you would be
playing would be in the context of a large orchestra and an often thick
texture? Can the conductor tell the difference? Can other clarinetists
tell the difference? Could Mahler himself tell the difference?"

and Dan Leeson said:

"Is this a democratic process? We ask how many people can tell the
difference between an A and B-flat bass clarinet and then chose
the instrument following the vote? There is only one person
involved in that decision: Mahler. Not you. Not me. Not the
audience. I figure that if Mahler, who had a pretty good ear,
tells me to play on a b.c. in A, then that is what I am going to
play on, if it is at all humanly or financially possible. I
recognize that almost everyone does it differently, but is that
correct? That is the central core of this discussion."

Hmmm...OK, here's my question: Are we to assume that Mahler (who is one of
my personal favorites to play) was a genius who knew exactly what sound he
wanted? Are we to assume that the man was a master of orchestration, a
composer who understood the chaaracteristics and scope of each voice for
which he composed?

Take Mahler's 3rd Symphony...the first clarinet part is completely a B-flat
clarinet part -- EXCEPT for six little notes in the first movement, which is
scored for clarinet in A. An interesting little fact is that one of those
very notes is a low E. Now, who here votes for Mahler having the first
clarinet player picking up the A clarinet because he suddenly desired a tonal
-- a sonic -- change? Actually, only Mahler knows...right?

Of course, this is the very same Gustav Mahler that wrote, in the first
movement of his 9th Symphony, a part for three B-flat clarinets in unison (no
less!) that descends to a written low E-flat! Now, why would he have done
that? Could he have sought that all important tonal color (as if the world
really notices it right here!), was he ignorant of the range of the clarinet
OR did all the clarinetists in his orchestra learn from experience from the
aforementioned 3rd Symphony and all run out and get B-flat clarinets that
went down to low E-flat?!?

Just curious...that's all.

Now...

Gary Young said:

"The question is: What evidence do we have that a certain composer selected
a certain clarinet for a certain composition because of the "sonic palette"
he or she wanted to create? As far as I can see, we never have such
evidence, unless the composer happened to say or write "I wanted the A
clarinet here for its distinctive sound," or at least, "Here I used the
distinctive sound of the A clarinet." As far as I know, Mozart, for
instance, never said such a thing -- if he had, surely Dan would know and
would have adduced this statement in support of his position."

and again, Dan Leeson said:

"Gary - I cannot believe what I read. You want evidence that a
certain composer selected a certain clarinet for a certain composition
because of the sonic palette?

"But you cannot ignore Stravinsky's motivation for writing those
works for UNACCOMPANIED clarinet and requesting a switch from one
instrument to another. There is no rational reason for doing this
if it does not have to do with instrumental sound."

whereas Gary answered:

"My point is precisely that we cannot make a blanket assumption that all
composers, or all the compsoers we love, selected the clarinets they did
because of their sonic qualities."

I believe that this is the same Stravinsky that wrote a low D (actually,
quite a few of them!) for the A clarinet in the 2nd/E-flat part to the "Song
of the Nightengale." By the time that one is finished monkeying with the
instrument in order to produce a low D, do you think that there is any "sonic
palette" left? Did Stravinsky seek a real clarinet sound or simply the pitch
desired? Or did he want the clarinet to sound as if it had a pair of
nine-year old argyle socks (with holes, of course) stuffed up the bottom?

Or maybe he just had no clue?

Really now...the only thing that is black and white -- is black and white.

Larry Liberson
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Hard Reed@-----.com