Klarinet Archive - Posting 000084.txt from 2000/12

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mahler 4
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 03:48:23 -0500

However - given what is known about cut=off frequencies of classical period C
clarinets, quite possibly a modern A sounds more like what Beethoven
would have expected than a modern C.
Roger S.

In message <3A27EF8E.F5A4D01D@-----.org writes:
> 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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>

--
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