Klarinet Archive - Posting 000167.txt from 2000/09

From: Mitch Bassman <mbassman@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Legal alterations [was Re: [kl] ClarFest CD's]
Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2000 15:29:58 -0400

At 06:12 PM 09/04/2000 -0700, William Wright wrote:
>Legally (which is
>not the same as art or historical accuracy), how much latitude do you
>have before the composer is legally entitled to prosecute because you
>misrepresented his or her composition to the public?

Notwithstanding the ensuing discussing of cuts in Broadway musicals (and
I've experienced some unbelievable cuts in the middle of instrument
changes), I'd like to offer an anecdote about a legal threat to an
alteration made in a concert by a major symphony orchestra.

About a year and a half ago, the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington,
DC, USA) offered a three-day series of concerts billed as a "Percussion
Festival." Hosted by Leonard Slatkin and the NSO, it featured (in addition
to a lot of work by the NSO's percussion section) such guest artists as
Evelyn Glennie and Nexus. I attended all three concerts and thoroughly
enjoyed myself. As a closer one night (as a light ending to an otherwise
more serious concert), Slatkin offered Ravel's "Bolero" with Glennie
playing the snare drum solo in the soloist position next to the conductor.

Before he cued the soloist (for the opening, which, by the way, was almost
imperceptible), Slatkin took a microphone and explained that the number had
almost been cut from the evening's performance at the last minute. It seems
that the NSO had just received a telephone call from Ravel's estate in
France. They had been notified (I believe by the NSO's own publicity) that
the work was scheduled to be performed with some alteration, and they were
not going to permit it. Some quick explanation and justification by Leonard
Slatkin evidently convinced the attorney's of Ravel's estate to allow the
concert to proceed as planned.

The alteration? You are all aware that Ravel's "orchestration exercise"
calls for a single snare drum soloist until near the end when a second
snare drum enters in unison with the first. Instead of a single second drum
entering, Slatkin had arranged for the four percussionists of the Nexus
quartet to lead in a large contingent of young drummers with field drums,
marching in from the rear of the Concert Hall and from the wings of the
stage at that point, all paying the snare drum part in a very powerful
unison. The effect was ... well, thunderous. And it was permitted!

Oh, and just to return to a clarinet list theme, although percussion
instruments were featured at the festival, my hero that particular night
was NSO E-flat clarinetist William R. Wright (presumably, the William
Wright quoted at the top of this posting is not the same person). In
"Bolero" he performed triple duty. He played the E-flat clarinet solo as
well as I've ever heard it played; then he put his eefer on its peg,
strapped on his tenor sax and blew that solo beautifully; with barely a
breath and with the tenor still handing from his strap, he then picked up
his soprano sax and nailed that solo.

I've heard Bolero played by many orchestras, but I've never before or since
witnessed those three solos being played by the same person in the same
performance. After the concert I made the point of going backstage to
congratulate him on a fine performance.

Mitch Bassman
Burke, Virginia, USA

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