Klarinet Archive - Posting 000931.txt from 1998/07

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mozart and the right clarinet
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 08:10:36 -0400

At 10:13 PM 7/23/98 -0700, Bill Edinger wrote:
>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?
>
You make my point. I agree that the differences between performers and
instruments are GREATER than the differences between A and Bb clarinets,
rendering the argument that only the A is appropriate moot. The timbral
differences are minimal since the two clarinets are so nearly alike in size
and pitch, and you are playing each instrument in it's own written key, so
relatively stuffy notes like throat Bb occur at the exact same points in
the piece, etc. To play K622 on a Bb but transposing to match the
accompaniment for clarinet in A would cause inconsistencies in this area,
not to mention make the piece much more difficult to play. This would be a
much worse idea, although still likely to be unnoticed by all but a very
few golden-eared types.

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

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