Klarinet Archive - Posting 000833.txt from 1998/10
From: mgustav <mgustav@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Three Pieces
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 19:32:46 -0400
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I would like to add my comments to this thread about the Three Pieces.
As far as dynamics are concerned, I find they control the overall form of
the whole work. The first piece is to be played sempre p, with a bit of
indicated cresc. at the end. The second piece is basically mf ( with a few
ups and downs). The third piece, we can only assume begins mf, and is
followed by three gradual crescendi to bring the piece to a close on ff. The
form of the whole piece is "louder and faster," but elegantly.
The registeral question is the most important and is really a question of
organizing timbres. We're discussing a composer who composed also at this
period of time, Le Sacre, Petrushka, Symphony of Winds and L'histoire. One
important aspect in all these works is the imaginative use of registration
in all of the winds: tuba in the high register, bassoon in the high
register, flutes in the bottom register and clarinets and horns all over the
place because of their inherent contrasting registers. Why not with 3
pieces? When I play this piece I attempt to subtly change timbre to imitate
the different instruments that I think Stravinsky was thinking about for
various figures throughout the three pieces. For example, in the first line
of the music there are three phrases. The first and third phrases are the
same instrument/timbre but the second is something else. I imagine the
first and third phrases as a clarinet in its low register (!) and the second
phrase as a flute. Or in the second piece, after the double bar, the first
and third figures I would like to hear as an english horn and the second,
fourth and fifth figures as an alto flute. One can go through the entire
work this way and orchestrate the subtle timbre shifts that are needed to
color the figures.
Mark
Tony Pay wrote:
> On Tue, 13 Oct 1998 12:51:00 -0400 (EDT), hschen@-----.edu said:
>
> > > On Thu, 08 Oct 1998 22:27:27 +0100, Tony@-----.uk said:
> > >
> > > > Just a few things to think about:
> > > >
> > > > Stravinsky said they were 'snapshots' of improvisations.
> > > >
> > > > Why is the loudest dynamic in the second piece, mf?
> > > >
> > > > 'How many people' are there in each of the movements? Are there
> > > > *any*?
> > > >
> > > > Following on from this last, what high-level analogy might there
> > > > be between these three pieces and the three movements of the
> > > > Schumann Fantasiestucke?-)
>
> > I saw nobody contribute their thought on these interesting issues.
> > Perhaps Tony would like to talk a little bit more about it? The three
> > pieces is one of my favorites.
> >
> > Hsuan-Yi Chen
>
> A related discussion is one about 'register'.
>
> I once heard a talented young woman clarinettist, in a competition that
> I was adjudicating, play a piece of music called, 'The Willow Tree'.
> I said afterwards to her that if that was the way she played 'The
> Willow Tree', I'd be interested to hear her play 'My Passionate Affair'.
>
> This sort of thing is deeply misunderstood by some otherwise talented,
> and indeed famous performers. Heinz Holliger springs to mind.
>
> How would *you* play the musical equivalent of, "Would you like to have
> a cup of coffee with me?"
>
> You could say that a way of thinking about possible registers is to
> group them under the headings 'personal' and 'narrative'. (I don't have
> a developed taxonomy -- perhaps there is some terminology in studies of
> literature.) How does that sit with the two pieces 'The Willow Tree'
> and 'My Passionate Affair'? How about the Stravinsky, or the Schumann?
>
> By the way, surely someone can do better with the 'mf' question than
> what's been suggested so far!
>
> Tony
> --
> _________ Tony Pay
> |ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
> | |ay Oxford OX2 6RE
> tel/fax 01865 553339
>
> ... 90% of being smart is knowing what you're dumb at.
>
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