Klarinet Archive - Posting 000303.txt from 2001/04

From: rgarrett@-----.edu
Subj: Re: [kl] On the matter of editing and other things
Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2001 10:08:21 -0400

Dan Leeson wrote a very thoughtful, powerful, and provocative posting
regarding editing and decisions. I always enjoy and learn from his postings.

In terms of editing - of course a responsibility to make decisions based on
accuracy and preservation exists.

My opinion differs very little from what Dan has written. But while the
general context of his comments are important - many do not apply to the
example I gave of the Adagio and Polonaise for Keyed Bugle and Ostinato by
B.H. Crusell. We know the circumstances which caused Crusell to choose the
instruments he did, and we know his writing for the clarinet and other
orchestral instruments from that time period. Therefore, when a decision
is made - be it approved or disapproved by someone else with strong beliefs
in another direction - that does not preclude the "rightness" or
"wrongness" of a decision made differently. We are different people with
different objectives - both musically and educationally - and those
decisions, we hope, are not made just for the sake of "doing whatever [we]
want."

In the case of the Crusell - I didn't do whatever I wanted - I edited for
reasons that I felt were legitimate and compelling.

As far as what others do - Bellison, Leeson, etc........... others on the
list will have to determine for themselves if they were damaged somehow by
playing a Bellison edition of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto. I don't think
you have to act as lemmings and follow only the advice and powerful
feelings of another person. Let it influence you and let it shape your
thinking - but don't let it rule everything you do in terms of playing and
expressing! Hopefully, his statements will shape your thoughts next time
you have the opportunity to play the notes that Mozart passed on to all of
us - and it will make the experience and even more powerful one for
you. But if you don't use the advice - don't feel guilty - believe in the
reasons for which you play what you play and the way you play it. And keep
striving for the truth always.

Best wishes,
Roger Garrett

Roger Garrett
Clarinet Professor
Director, Symphonic Winds
Illinois Wesleyan University
School of Music
Bloomington, IL 61702-2900
Phone: (309) 556-3268
Fax: (309) 556-3121

"A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes
another's."
Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825)

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