Klarinet Archive - Posting 000253.txt from 1997/10

From: DYungkurth@-----.com
Subj: K. 622 on Flute (was Re: clarinet works)
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 19:29:52 -0400

Dan Leeson has responded to the comments which follow, suggesting that the
Mozart Concerto could be played on a flute or horn.

> I am in total agreement Shelley. Mozart's Concerto seems as though it
> could be played on a flute, or horn, and is a little more generic when
> it comes to using the specific flavor the the clarinet.

Dan's comments follow:

>>If you were a hornist or a flutist you would not make this statement.
>>The tessitura of K. 622 is beyond that of either a flute or a horn.
>>It is also very unidiomatic for flute and the horn could not conceivably
>>execute 50% of it. It would be ludicrous for either instrument to attempt
the work.

It may well be ludicrous to do on flute, but James Galway has done it and put
the evidence in a recording. I believe he has changed the key to G. I'm not
sure why this was done, but it certainly doesn't help him to play some of the
arpeggios without "compressing" them (sort of forcing three octaves worth of
notes into two octaves!).

The flute playing is excellent (if you like Galway's style), but Mozart's
structure is severely distorted.

Don Yungkurth (DYungkurth@-----.com)