Klarinet Archive - Posting 000723.txt from 1999/12

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Re: Modern Difficult Music
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 10:17:31 -0500

Rien Stein wrote
>...I might advice you "Run" for B-flat clarinet and piano by
>Gerard Beljon. It is a work that you really will enjoy, I think, in
>studying. It is not an easy one, but even I managed to prepare it for a very
>local contest, where I played (world premiere) it with Gerard listening -
>and disapproving, as my interpretation was quite different from what he had
>imagined. (Of course I am too nervous to play in front of an audience,
>despite all good tips as to stage fright on this list...>

Bill Hausmann wrote,
>>You can't play in front of an audience, but you can play a piece in front
of it's COMPOSER?!? That takes more guts than I can imagine! So what if you
butcher Mozart -- he's DEAD! :-) >>

If forced at gunpoint to play for an audience, I'd choose a living composer
over Mozart any day. Play music written by a living composer and only one
person can authoritatively dispute the composer's intention and your
interpretation of it -- and that person kvells with gratitude that anybody
agreed to perform the piece at all. (If the performance turns out
disastrous, you can blame the composer for writing something unplaybale, and
who's to say otherwise except the one person who "can't get no respect?") In
fact, if you announce the composer's non-deceased status in the program, half
the audience (half the potential critics!) will flee the hall before you even
start playing! But if you play Mozart, every-damn-body's got an opinion.
Besides, who needs some busy little white-wigged, ghostly de-composer
splitting reeds and sproinging springs in the middle of the night...?
;-)

Happy Winter Solstice!
Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Flea market blithering #3:
To find the best tools at the best price, look for the dealer who's missing a
finger.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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