Klarinet Archive - Posting 000874.txt from 1998/10

From: mgustav <mgustav@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Three Pieces
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 09:29:34 -0400

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

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