Klarinet Archive - Posting 000838.txt from 1997/11

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: two is company, three's a pain in the ears
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 1997 17:54:57 -0500

At 06:02 AM 11/22/97 -0600, Roger Garrett wrote:
>
>On Fri, 21 Nov 1997, Edinger/Gilman wrote:
>> I greatly prefer listening
>> to orchestras (and playing in them too). And the worst part is, I think
>> it's the clarinets that make me so prejudiced. Fifteen clarinets is a
>> woefully inadequate substitute for a violin section. Groups of
>> clarinets just sound thin, strained, and usually at least have the
>> suggestion of being at least marginally out of tune. And I truly love
>> the clarinet. I just don't like more than about two at a time (except
>> in Mahler symphonies, where there are at least six of everything
>> anyway). Sorry.
>
>Nothing wrong with preferring a symphony orchestra because of the thinner
>woodwind texture and (I think) what inadequacies you hear in a 15 person
>clarinet section of a band. Consider that most 15 person clarinet
>sections play marginally out of tune because they play that way normally.
>I wonder if you enjoy the average community or high school
>orchestra over a fine unversity band? The strings in this kind of
>ensemble play more marginally out of tune than the professional orchestras
>we buy in cd and tape stores. Do you regularly listen to these kinds of
>orchestra on your stereo? Why do we have this impression of bands (other
>than personal experience in community or ok military bands)? Simply put,
>it is because there are not a lot of professional bands, and the ones we
>hear, are not made commercially available on cd or tape to the general
>public. Yes, they make cd's for publicity purposes, but the cd's are not
>available commercially. If we only hear or play in ensembles that are,
>comparably, much less talented than the professional orchestras we are
>comparing to, we are going to hear differences in tone, intonation, blend,
>balance, etc...

I think you have something here, Roger. Too often, local amateur bands are
compared against world-class professional symphony orchestra recordings.
Of course the orchestras sound better! Those who think bands are
inherently inferior should check out some Eastman Wind Ensemble recordings,
or the Cleveland Symphonic Winds recording of the Holst suites on Telarc.
I'll put those up against any orchestra recording any time!

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.