Klarinet Archive - Posting 000699.txt from 2000/06

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Tony Wakefield on K. 622 in Australia
Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000 19:16:13 -0400

Tony, I congratulate you for your energy and effort in wanting to do
Mozart's clarinet concerto in Alice Springs any way you can. I don't
care if you do it with an accompaniment of a saxophone quartet.

However, the question you asked of Alf, is a peculiar perspective. You
say:

"Would you allow me to ask you what is the difference between the
concerto, that is the <solo> part, being accompanied by an orchestra, a
wind band, (there has been an arr. in the publishers catalogues for
years), an electronic reproduction, A piano reduction, (which I dare say
has been used several times for performance in addition to rehearsal) or
a string quartet."

Are you seriously suggesting that all that is necessary for satisfactory
reproduction of what Mozart wrote are simply the pitches of the work
played on any combination of instruments at hand? That's what a literal
interpretation of you question to Alf says. "What is the difference
..." is what you wrote.

I could document 50 things that are specifically different, not the
least of which is that the performance of any work should be a
representation of what was in the composer's head at the time of its
creation, and you are going to miss that by a country mile. That does
not mean that what you are going to do is bad, or that you should not do
it, or that an evil spell will descend on Alice Springs. Far from it.
I'm glad you are doing the work any way you can. It is a step in the
right direction.

But do not think that there is no difference in the work as you will do
it and as it was created to be heard. If that statement were correct,
one could do K. 622 on trombone. "And what difference does it make...?"

Or as someone suggested (in a way that repulsed you), why not do it on
an E-flat clarinet. One could of course, and if nothing else is
available, that's OK with me, but don't think that there is no
difference here.

The orchestra for K. 622 requires a flute. You don't need it, of
course. There are no big flute solos. But leave it out and it makes a
difference.

If you have no string basses in Alice Springs, you could use a baritone
sax. That's OK with me. But doing so will make a difference.

Any deviation from the original makes a difference. Whether or not we
are prepared to live with that difference is that matter under
discussion, not that such differences are of no consequence.
--
***************************
** Dan Leeson **
** leeson0@-----.net **
***************************

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