Klarinet Archive - Posting 000922.txt from 1998/07

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mozart and the right clarinet
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 04:26:26 -0400

As it was written for basset clarinet, it seems not to be quite relevant
to talk about the timbre of a standard modern A clarinet.
rjs

On Thu, 23 Jul 1998, Edinger/Gilman wrote:

> Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 22:13:52 -0700
> From: Edinger/Gilman <wde1@-----.com>
> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
> To: Klarinet list <klarinet@-----.org>
> Subject: [kl] Mozart and the right clarinet
>
> 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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