Klarinet Archive - Posting 000703.txt from 2000/06

From: Keith <100012.1302@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] klarinet Digest 18 Jun 2000 20:15:00 -0000 Issue 2334
Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000 19:56:07 -0400

<K622 arrangement?>

>John and Tony, who can be serious about such a project. Here, people hav=
e
spent half a lifetime researching, arguing, thinking, trying-out and
experimenting trying to restore this piece. It's an ongoing discussion
about
small things like, if this note should be played an octave lower or that
note should have one sharp or not. Than this comes up, hey, let's get the=

ax
out and demolish the piece and see what happens. It shows such a lack of
respect for this master-piece and the people who have put down thousands =
of
hours of research that you should be ashamed. It's like cutting Mona-Lisa=

out of the picture for the background didn't go with the wallpaper. There=

are other pieces to commit rape to that are less fragile than the Mozart
concerto. Just get the hands off the concerto and play the quintet K.581
since you have that instrument setup available
<

This would be like arranging a Mozart opera for wind octet, wouldn't it? =

But Mozart definitely arranged excerpts from operas by Soler, Sarti =

and himself for wind ensemble - they appear in the final act of Don =

Giovanni. It is not certain, but quite possible, that the arrangement of =

Entfuhrung for wind ensemble is by Mozart. And anyway, we don't =

have the autograph, so all we are raping is an inaccurate copy <grin>.

Sure, for preference I'd prefer to hear the full version played by a =

professional, with all the benefit of scholarship. But as Dan reminds =

us, we don't know what notes were written anyway! An arrangement for =

"small orchestra" (I'd use the bass as well as the cello, and start from =

the orchestral score cutting down rather than the piano score and =

rearranging) is a way for people to play and hear this live when =

otherwise they couldn't. This strikes me more like looking at a =

photograph of the Mona Lisa if you can't afford to get to the Louvre. =

Doing it this way by a professional soloist/orchestra in a major =

centre would of course be silly, but I think we can get too precious =

and iconic about even Mozart. =

That said, I'd personally prefer to do something equally good =

that was originally written for the available forces, and I think the =

Quintet is a better piece anyway <ducking fast>.

Keith Bowen

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