Klarinet Archive - Posting 000334.txt from 1997/10

From: James Sclater <Sclater@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: K. 622 -Reply
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 1997 10:10:00 -0400

Dan,
Your statement
"K. 622 not only does not work as a flute concerto, it is
inherent in its design that it cannot do so..."

seems a bit off the mark for me. First of all, I would ask if you had ever
heard K.622 done as a flute concerto? Your flat refusal to consider the
possibility that it might work in an arrangement seems, at the very least,
premature. While it seems that Mozart never did an arrangement for flute, it
seems reasonable to assert that a person of his creative genius could make it
work if he wanted to do so and were presented with the right incentives.

Your statements about "immutable laws" involving instrumental ranges deals
with elements to be dealt with in the creative process. With all due respect
to your other good ideas, you seem to be railing against something which
hasn't happened yet . A composer with the understanding possessed by Mozart
could make such an endeavor work. The idea that an arrangement wouldn't sound
like the clarinet version seems reasonable enough, but that's not the point.
There is a long history of successful arrangements by composers/arrangers who
really knew what they were doing. No reason this couldn't happen here.