Klarinet Archive - Posting 000026.txt from 2000/12

From: GrabnerWG@-----.com
Subj: RE: [kl] Mahler 4
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 13:16:30 -0500

> 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>>

I am sorry if this comes across sounding haughty, but I feel strongly about this. If a clarinetist is not at ease in transposition (C parts on Bb or A, A parts on Bb) they should not be doing orchestral playing.

For a bass clarinet player it is also a requirement to read bass clef fluently, as well as to transpose the A bass parts which appear all over the literature.

In Mahler's 4th you need your three mainstay clarinets: Bb, A, and bass. A purist would argue that you should have a C clarinet. C clarinets are becoming more and more acceptable, even required in the major symphonies, but the practice has been to play these parts on the Bb, or the A.

I studied with John Mohler, at University of Michigan. He could transpose anything, at the drop of a hat. His system, taught to him by Ralph McLane, was to use various clefs, and then change key signatures.

For example, the middle movement of the Beethoven Violin Concerto asks for C clarinet, while movements 1 and 3 use the A completely.

John Mohler's solution was to play the middle movement on the A, making it unnecessary to pick up a cold horn, and play the part reading it in bass clef and changing the key signature. (In this case from G major to Bb major).

I did exactly that, in a recent performance with violinist Rachel Barton. Worked beautifully. Thank you, John Mohler!!!!

These are the tricks of the trade you need to know, in order to become successful.

Walter Grabner
www.clarinetxpress.com

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