Klarinet Archive - Posting 000880.txt from 2001/10

From: Virginia Anderson <assembly1@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Speculation (Bassett Soliloquies)
Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2001 18:12:03 -0500

on 28/10/01 9:15 pm, Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay) wrote:

> Of course, it does occur to me that you could write to Bassett at:
>
> 1618 Harbal Drive
> Ann Arbor, MI 48105
>
> ....which is the address he gives on his web page for "Commissions and
> performance questions"; but of course, if you do that, you risk getting
> an answer 'that you might not want'.
>
> I hesitate to write that quite so directly, because I almost always
> argue on the other side, namely that of following the composer's wishes;
> but the alternative point of view needs to be represented from time to
> time.
>
> What does Virginia think?

I think you're right. Not having played this, I have no performance history
to relay. Composers who work in extended techniques and notations (i.e.,
anything out of common practice) should state exactly what they mean in a
foreword to their pieces. They don't always (naughty things!), so one has
to figure out something from one's own experience or chase this information
up. There's always the chance that the composer may not get the answer
'that he/she wants', either.

I go with the composer's wishes as well, but perhaps in the spirit of
game-playing mentioned by the pianist John Tilbury in 1969:

"I think composition is a serious occupation and the onus is on the
performer to show the composer some of the implications and consequences of
what he has written, even if from time to time it may make him (the composer
of course) look ridiculous. What he writes and what you read are two
different things." [in Michael Nyman, _Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond
(New York: Schirmer Music Books, 1974), p. 16]

So Nichelle/Pandora, open that box - it's to your benefit, whatever the
answer.

Cheers,

Virginia
--
Virginia Anderson
Leicester, UK
<vanderson@-----.uk>
Experimental Music Catalogue: <http://www.experimentalmusic.co.uk>
...experimental music since 1969....

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