Klarinet Archive - Posting 000388.txt from 1997/06

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Weber, Op. 74
Date: Sat, 21 Jun 1997 19:49:17 -0400

On Sat, 21 Jun 1997, Craig E. Countryman wrote:

> I am currently practicing Carl Maria von Weber's Second Concerto for
> Clarinet (in Eb Major -- I think), Op. 74 Mvt. 2: Romanze. Towards the
> end there is a section where the marking Recit. appears and the clarinet
> has several figures and pauses... also marked is ad lib. Is the a call
> for the player to improvise a cadenza or merely to ad lib as far as
> tempo is concerned?

No authoritative musicological information here, but I've never heard a
performance or recording where the recit. section of movement 2 was
improvised in terms of notes. Given Weber's penchant for opera, the
recit section is very likely meant to be an operatic recitative sim-
ulation, where the notes are played in the same type of conversational
give and take of tempo, but without altering the notes or adding to
them. However, I've heard quite a few recordings where the last two or
three bars of that movement were turned into a small cadenza immediately
prior to the descending 5th leap to the final held note. Jon Mannasse's
recording comes to mind, and his rendition is a delight to hear.

Neil