Klarinet Archive - Posting 000914.txt from 1998/07

From: Edinger/Gilman <wde1@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Mozart and the right clarinet
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 01:13:52 -0400

On the point of pitch changing over the years: speaking from a less
than authoritative position, it is my impression that the point of using
an A clarinet for K622 is to achieve the right timbre rather than the
right pitch. After all, a note played on the Bb is not really the same
sound when played a half-step up on the A - it's more than just pitch,
which seems to be changing as the centuries go by (those centuries just
seem to go by faster and faster all the time, don't they?). Similarly,
you can play the same pitch on a bass as on a soprano, but they still
sound different. Sure, there may be as much variation between
performers and instruments as there is between Bbs and As, but in
general, the instruments do sound with different timbres, and that, not
absolute pitch, is what I understand to be the point behind using an A
clarinet when it's called for and not a Bb playing a half-step down. Is
this reasonable? Or am I talking through my hat?

Bill Edinger

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