Klarinet Archive - Posting 000757.txt from 1998/07

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] About the Mozart concerto on B-flat clarinet
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 11:41:07 -0400

Agree and disagree.

If a high school student wants to learn this concerto (without the silly
exercise of transposing it a half-step, which would probably ruin them for
years), but does not have an A clarinet yet--they should learn it. Yea,
even perform it at contest if they wish--although I have posted that I think
it's a bad idea for that. They can get an A later, and have a start.

Sure, the tonality is wrong. The fact that it's not a basset clarinet is
also "wrong"--but I don't have a basset, and I'm going to play it anyway.

As to the naked part, you CERTAINLY wouldn't want to see ME playing the
Mozart concerto (or anything else, for that matter) in the buff. There are
probably other clarinetists, though, that I wouldn't mind . . .

kjf

-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu]
Subject: [kl] About the Mozart concerto on B-flat clarinet

Someone took exception to someone's view (maybe mine) that playing the
Mozart concerto on a B-flat clarinet was not necessarily the best thing
to do for the work. And the reaction was that pitch standards have
changed so much that it doesn't really matter that much.

I don't have the note in front of me so forgive me if I have not
gotten the essence correctly.

I think that such an attitude is class A doo doo.

A work of music is not a collection of notes. It is a collection of
specific notes in a context, one of whose elements, at least for music
of the 18th century, is the key of the piece. Another is the instrument
on which the work is executed. Another is one's demeanor while playing
it. Executing the Mozart concerto naked and while standing on one's
head would alter the context of the work substantially.

Such a work is the sum of its constituent parts and, if one should
remove one of those parts (such as substituting a flute for a clarinet),
then the context of the work changes. I think that should matter to
clarinet players and it saddens me to hear people suggest that these
elements are not important.

I can't do much about it but express that sadness, so I do so now.

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

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