Klarinet Archive - Posting 000482.txt from 1998/10

From: HatNYC62@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Re: klarinet Digest 11 Oct 1998 19:59:16 -0000 Issue 588
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 18:57:02 -0400

>>>Perhaps there is a subtlety to the word "timbre" that I do not fully
comprehend, but if the timbre of the two clarinets is sufficiently different
for David to hear it (possible on one note), than how can he then say that
players sound the same no matter on what system they play.

And in any event, this is a subjective statement that is easy to say and very
difficult to establish as truth. It has the same basic truth qualities as
suggesting that Beethoven is a better composer than Brahms. You may hear
amateurs say that but no one can suggest that a subjective opinion of quality
has any substance to it. It is as is one said that asparagus is a better
vegetable than broccoli, or that the Pacific is a finer ocean than the
Atlantic. <<<

Not really, no one is suggesting one system is better than the other. I was
saying I could hear a difference and could identify it. Similarly, if you were
to play me a work I didn't know and tell me it was by either Beethoven or
Brahms, I could probably tell you which it was 9 out of 10 times. I submit I
could do the same with French/German clarinet recordings, provided that the
passages were sufficiently exposed and properly recorded. For instance, I
probably could not consistantly do it with Beethoven's 5th symphony. With
Rachmaninoff's 2nd symphony or Capriccio Espanol, however, I could do it
almost every time.

It isn't necessarily the sound ITSELF that gives it away. Often it is
listening for certain finger combinations that give it away to anyone who
knows the differences in fingerings between the two systems.

David Hattner, NYC

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