Klarinet Archive - Posting 000015.txt from 2000/12

From: "Karl Krelove" <kkrelove@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Mahler 4
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 07:28:57 -0500

> From: Michael Bryant [mailto:michael@-----.uk]
> Sent: Friday, December 01, 2000 4:06 AM
>
> How many clarinet players is Mahler 4
> commonly allowed in performance
> to bring the stress level within tolerable limits?
> Or is three enough? A while back, I played the
> third part in rehearsal at very short notice
> (no time to see or ever doctor the part)
> and quite frankly, it is a mess, needing many
> instrument changes and/or transpositions.
> I can see it coming up again on my agenda.
> It seems reasonable to split each of the second
> and third parts between two players or is that
> being over cautious?
>
> 1st Bb/A
> 2nd Eb/Bb/A
> 3rd C/Bb/A/Bb bass/A bass
>
> MB
>

I'm certain I'm not alone on the list in having played these parts (all
three at one time or another). Depending on whom you ask, you either need to
do some transposing or have multiple instruments with mouthpieces already
mounted, because several of the changes are too quick to trust changing a
mouthpiece from one instrument to the other. It will be during those changes
that the ligature will come loose, and the entrance on the new clarinet will
be left to everyone's imagination. But once you settle on how to manage the
changes themselves the parts are very playable as they are. I'm not sure how
you envision splitting them, but you could end up with 6 players, three of
whom have nothing to do for very long stretches of time.

You can do some preparing if you're willing to invest a few dollars in
buying your own parts. Then you can do your own "doctoring" without waiting
for the orchestra to issue theirs.

Karl Krelove

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