Klarinet Archive - Posting 000915.txt from 1997/05

From: fersilv@-----.net
Subj: Re: Use of different key clarinets
Date: Sat, 31 May 1997 16:56:17 -0400

That is a good discussion and I would like to tell you about the
situation in Brazil.
Until early 70's, ANY professional clarinet players in Brazil had A
clarinets. You can trust me... They always transpose the A clarinet parts
to play on Bb clarinet with low Eb. I have a record where the professor of
my professor plays Mozart Concerto on a transposed Bb clarinet... Can you
imagine it???
On that time several conductors like Kurt Mazur, Bernstein and Mazel
were here and none of them ask about play on A clarinet( scores like
Tchaikowsky 6th, Ravel's Daphinis et Clo@-----.
I belive that we, clarinet players, can fell diference betwen Bb and
A clarinets, but the conductor...(Maybe one that also play clarinet)

Regards

Fernando Silveira
Principal Clarinet - National Symphony - Brazil
Chamber Music Professor - Rio de Janeiro Federal University

At 15:14 31/05/97 -0500, you wrote:
>On Sat, 31 May 1997, Keith P Koons wrote:
>
>> To continue this discussion of the reasons composers chose to write for
>> different instruments, let us consider the French horn family. In the
>> days before valves, composers would write for different keyed horns
>> [....]
>> I suppose the use of different keyed trumpets would also be relevant.=20
>> Most of the trumpet players I have talked to seem to use the most
>> expedient keyed trumpet for orchestral parts, not necessarily the one
>> specified on the part.=20
>> [....]
>
>A similar circumstance would relate to the tuba. All tuba parts are
>written non-transposed, as if intended to be played on the tuba in C.
>However, most orchestral have more than one tuba available, and depending
>on the requirements of the task at hand, may choose to play on tuba in C,
>Bb, Eb, or F. I have never heard a conductor suggest to a tuba player
>which instrument they should play.
>
>The same generally is true for trumpets. Most of us have probably seen a
>trumpet player come to a rehearsal with a "suitcase" full of 3, 4 or more
>trumpets. The favored instrument for orchestral playing is the trumpet in
>C. However, a player might choose to use a Bb (not really very likely, as
>many of them feel that the Bb is a "band" and "jazz" instrument), a
>trumpet in D or Eb, or a piccolo trumpet in A or Bb, among several other
>possibilities. The choice of instrument is for the player to make, based
>not only on technical requirements, but also on the players desire to
>produce a particular tone quality.
>
>If the music in question was written in the Baroque, classical or early
>romantic period, and even extending quite late into the 19th century for
>many composers, the part would not necessarily be in the key of any of the
>instruments mentioned above. The player would be expected to make the
>necessary transposition for whatever instrument he/she has chosen to use.
>
>I know of a few exceptions to all this. One exists in the orchestra in
>which I play. Our conductor believes that the trumpet players should use
>rotary valve instruments in music of Mozart, Beethoven, and other
>composers from about the same period. The orchestra purchased a couple of
>these instruments, and I can report that most of our trumpet players dread
>to see music on the program for which they expect that the conductor is
>going to mention the dreaded term, "rotary valve." There are a couple of
>problems: one of these instruments is a trumpet in C, while the other is
>in Bb. This further complicates the intonation problems which the players
>are going to have anyway due to playing on instruments other than their
>own. Another rather curious thing to me is that none of the rest of us
>are expected to play on "period" instruments. Even if we did, the
>likelihood is that we would tend to do what our trumpet players do, and
>that is produce a tone quality which is much like the sound we have in our
>ears from years of playing on more modern instruments.
>
>Oh, yes, I forgot to mention - probably in part due to the fact that the
>players don't play regularly on these instruments, almost no one can tell
>which instrument they are using unless they turn around and look at the
>valves. Those of us in the woodwind section, who have to sit in the
>"direct line of fire" of the trumpet section, can usually tell the
>difference, because when playing on the supposedly less penetrating rotary
>valved instruments, the trumpets tend to sound even more "blatty" and
>piercing than on their regular ones. I'm pretty old, but I can report
>that I was not alive during the lifetime of either Mozart or Beethoven.
>However, my musical instincts, however accurate they may or may not be,
>tell me that these composers would not have expected or liked a tone such
>as many modern players produce on these instruments.
>
>Ed Lacy
>el2@-----.edu
>
>
>