Klarinet Archive - Posting 001338.txt from 1999/03

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] mistakes
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 10:50:25 -0500

On Fri, 26 Mar 1999 09:36:17 -0500, mgustav@-----.com said:

> Since you mentioned the "Trio Clarone", I would like to know if you
> are familiar with their Breitkoepf edition of Mendelssohn's op.113. I
> get the idea from the preface of the score that they did research on
> the piece but is this edition correct. There are many editorial
> corrections in the parts. I'm asking because I'm performing the
> orchestra version next year.

No, Mark, I'm afraid I know nothing about this -- but perhaps I will
later, and perhaps someone else does.

I don't want to be too hard on the "Trio Clarone"; I just want to be
hard on the notion of 'personalised' editions. Alamiro is another
thing, of course.

The thing with the Mozart, or most classical music is, you can't make
the style clear *by changing the notation*. You rather have to explain
the meaning of the existing notation. Now, looked at through modern
eyes, the existing notation looks pretty thin on the ground, so I
suppose, to earn their money, the Trio Clarone felt they had to write
*something*.

Someone played me recently, I think, a Wanhal sonata. The student had
all sorts of crescendos and diminuendos pencilled into the part, and
when I asked her who had written them, it turned out to have been done
"yesterday, by Mr. X" (another tutor on the course). And I could see
why: namely, to put some surface interest into what she was playing.

But that sort of surface interest *isn't interesting*. What was rather
required was a deeper understanding of the phrase structure, related to
the accompaniment. Then, with some notion of the sorts of things she
was trying to convey, natural variations of emphasis and articulation
would begin to be present in her playing.

I haven't time to go into this any deeper, but I think it does relate to
the other thread running at the moment, about whether we're required to
do something *different* when we perform pieces.

I'd say that we have to try to discover for ourselves what *the piece*
wants from us, in order to speak itself clearly. When we discover that,
our own ideas are naturally present, but not emphasised in an unpleasant
way.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN family artist: www.gmn.com
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