Klarinet Archive - Posting 000375.txt from 1998/04

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: On "off list" topics
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1998 12:02:44 -0400

Several weeks ago a clarinetist from the Christchurch orchestra made
a posting and I responded by asking if it were true that her orchestra
was the southernmost symphony in the world.

Well, it turned out that it was not. There is one some miles further
south in Dunedin, NZ and there are even one or two more towns in
the world even further south than that, though without any symphony
orchestras. I think one of them is at the tip of South America and
I don't remember where the other is.

In corresponding with one of the clarinetists of the Dunedin orchestra
he told me that they were performing the Gran Partitta in May, and the
idea of doing that sublime work at the site of the world's southernmost
symphony orchestra captured my imagination. I asked if the Barenreiter
edition was going to be used and was told it was.

I then asked if the infamous m. 111 in the fifth movement was going to
be omitted as was suggested by the current level of scholarship. To
this the response was, "That depends on the conductor."

Later, the conductor apparently became intrigued with the possibility
but wanted to see the arguments involved. So I sent a copy of the
paper from the 1991 Mozart Jahrbuch entitled, "The Gran Partitta's
Mystery Measure" authored by yours truly to Nicholas Braithwaite,
the conductor (and by FAX) and now he has agreed to do the work
as I suggested.

So in may, the southermost musical ensemble in the world is going
to play my favorite piece in the Barenreiter edition that I edited
in 1979 and in a way influenced by a scholarly paper I did in 1991.
After this, only the penguins at the south pole have an opportunity
to beat the record. My fee for all this was a request for an
autographed copy (autographed by the clarinet players) of the
program which I shall probably frame as evidence of a performance
of K. 361 below which none shall probably ever take place.

During the time that this subject of southermost orchestras was
on the board, one or two people came in with the usual, "Off
topic!!! Let's get back to clarinet playing."

But you see. Even an off-topic discussion can lead to very interesting
musical things!!

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Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
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