Klarinet Archive - Posting 000101.txt from 1998/07

From: pollyg@-----. Gulakowski)
Subj: Re: [kl] Mozart and the V word
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 1998 09:29:43 -0400

P: Kapow! Kapow! Knock it off!
Any clue how I want THAT to come across? Pretend I'm an eighteenth
century composer and dead -- since no recordings exist how can anyone
presume to know...?
Point is I could be joking, flaming, dead serious whatever. You presume
because of the media I'm using for the message, that I am sending a
particular message. No clews in this news. I'm all for what the solo
performer wants -- I call any performance SHARING! If everyone had the
same thing to share, how dull. ;^(

Paulette

On Sun, 05 Jul 1998 05:19:39 EDT "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu"
<leeson@-----.edu> writes:
>I believe this to be a thoughtful note with some very interesting
>elements to it, but one point is, in my opinion, rife with error.
>See below.
>
>> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.85
>> Subj: [kl] Mozart and the V word
>
>> OK, I've kept quiet about the VIBRATO thing for years, as I have
>always felt
>> that there is no one correct answer, but this gets into my field of
>> "expertise" - assuming I have one.
>>
>> There seems to be a common misapprehension that prior 1800 nobody
>used
>> vibrato. Some of the blame can be put on the success of the "early
>music"
>> movement in getting across the message that the heavy vibrato of
>latter
>> times was not used by pre-romantic instrumentalists. This does not
>mean that
>> vibrato was not used, it just was used differently. Through out the
>18th C.
>> it was considered an embellishment, just like a trill or turn. You
>used it
>> on selective notes, and in what they would have called "good taste"
>-
>> generally the longer notes in slow movements. At least that's the
>impression
>> one gets from the string and woodwind tutors of the time, such as
>the one by
>> Mozart's Pop (the early clarinet tutors that I have seen don't
>mention
>> vibrato pro or con). The key is not to use it on every note (i.e.
>somewhere
>> in between most modern string players and clarinetists).
>>
>> Finally, there is nothing wrong with playing a piece in a manner
>> inconsistent with the way it was performed at the original concerts,
>just as
>> long as you understand what you are doing, and are not pretending to
>be
>> playing it as composer x would have imagined it. In a non early
>music
>> performance, you should play the piece in the any manner that most
>allows
>> you to project the emotion you intend to the audience. No good 18th
>century
>> composer would disagree with you on that.
>
>There is a great deal wrong with playing a piece in a manner
>inconsistent with the way it was performed at the original concerts.
>In fact, if you execute in this fashion, you do not understand what
>you
>are doing.
>
>A piece of music is not a collection of notes that can be executed
>in any way that pleases the performer. A piece of music has
>historical context and cannot be divorced from that context. That
>context includes, but is not limited to, performance practices,
>interpretation of markings that are consistent with their definition
>at the time of the work's composition, and something called "style."
>To play a Mozart work in a Brahmsian style is to compliment neither
>the work nor the style. It's a gimmick, a show off element, but not
>intelligent music making.
>
>People who play a piece "in any manner that most allows you to project
>the emtotion you intend to the audience" generally have no idea what
>it is they are doing with an instrument in their hands. Their
>attitude
>is ego-driven and reverses the roles of composer and performer in
>terms
>of importance. What the performer thinks is not as important as what
>s/he knows. And the slightest knowledge of performance practice
>mandates
>that a performance divorced from the practices of the epoch in which
>the work was written is doomed to artistic and musical failure.
>
>To suggest that any 18th century composer would agree with such a
>questionable thesis signs your view with someone else's name? How
>do you know what an 18th century composer would agree to? It is
>generally the case that the less one knows about performance
>practices,
>the less the importance given to them.
>
>
>>
>> Steve Goldman
>> Glenview, IL
>>
>> sjgoldman@-----.com
>>
>> ---Original Message-----
>> From: Alexis [mailto:jisa@-----.com]
>> Sent: Sunday, July 05, 1998 12:06 AM
>> To: klarinet@-----.org
>> Subject: [kl] Beginners and Reeds, K. 622
>>
>> snip..
>>
>> Tristan wrote:
>> <<Also; dare I speak the evil, try a little bit of vibrato on the
>dolce
>> sections, see if you like the
>> sound there... >>
>> Not evil precisely, but is vibrato in a Mozart clarinet concerto
>really
>> appropriate? It seems a bit anachronistic to me.
>>
>> Alexis
>>
>>
>>
>>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> For additional commands, e-mail: klarinet-help@-----.org
>> For other problems, e-mail: klarinet-owner@-----.org
>>
>=======================================
>Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
>Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
>leeson@-----.edu
>=======================================
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>For additional commands, e-mail: klarinet-help@-----.org
>For other problems, e-mail: klarinet-owner@-----.org
>
>

You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]

---------------------------------------------------------------------
For additional commands, e-mail: klarinet-help@-----.org
For other problems, e-mail: klarinet-owner@-----.org