Klarinet Archive - Posting 000030.txt from 2000/12

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mahler 4
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 13:35:58 -0500

Walter, I sugggest that the "tricks of the trade you need to know in
order to become successful" may not be in the best interest of the music
that you are playing. You take the position that there are no
consequences to arbitrarily substituting one clarinet type when the
composer requests another, and I would offer the view that such
consequences are not necessarily unimportant.

You almost come around to that position when you agree that the C
clarinet is becoming more common. But then you do not address the
consequences of the playing the middle movement of the Beethoven violin
concerto on an A clarinet when a C is explicitly requested. I offer the
view that those consequences may have a significant effect on the aural
character of what is being presented and, in any case, it is not what
the composer requested.

It's a complicated subject, to be sure, and one that is not entirely
free of emotion, but I felt that I did not want your suggestion to go
unchallenged. We might not agree on the subject, and I respect your
right to have your own views on these things, but for anyone on the list
who thinks that your point is universally accepted by all clarinetists
should understand that there is at least one who thinks it to be a
perspective that diminishes the music at the expense of ease to the
clarinetist.

Dan Leeson

GrabnerWG@-----.com wrote:
>
> > 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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--
***************************
** Dan Leeson **
** leeson0@-----.net **
***************************

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