Klarinet Archive - Posting 000999.txt from 2000/10

From: "Steve Hartman" <sdh902@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Steve Hartman and the D Clarinet
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2000 17:19:12 -0400

Dan Leeson wrote: "Steve, can I take it that the reason you have always
played the Stravinsky violin concerto on the E-flat clarinet is that you do
not have a D clarinet?"

I've been playing the Stravinsky Violin Concerto for about 13 seasons at the
NYC Ballet. I learned the part on E-flat. A couple of years ago, I aquired
a D clarinet from the estate of a friend of a friend. If I had had a "D"
when I learned the part, I probably would have transposed it because it is
rather awkward on the E-flat.

>"Do you think he had a reason for doing this or was it a case of him
chosing a D clarinet for no purpose
whatsoever?"

I believe that Stravinsky probably thought that it was impractical to score
the part for Clarinet in D, because the instrument is rare.

>>"And lastly, do you think that the sound character of a D clarinet is so
close to that of an E-flat clarinet that the action you have taken makes no
difference to the orchestral sound palette?"

Frankly, my D and E-flat sound much more different from one another than my
B-flat and A. It may be because they were made 30 years apart or it may be
because there really is a bigger difference in sound. I don't know, but I
think Richard Strauss knew what he was looking for.

I have played the D clarinet in both "Til Eulenspiegel" and "Der
Rosenkavalier" and I really think that it is "right."

Steve Hartman

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