Klarinet Archive - Posting 000664.txt from 2002/04

From: "Forest E. Aten Jr." <forest_aten@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mozart Concerto Competition
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 18:12:36 -0400

Dan,

Points well taken...but....
In the past 30 years I've listened to many of the greatest orchestral
players, world over, perform the Mozart Concerto..... most with their
home-base orchestra and not one of these (ones I've had the opportunity to
listen to) fine artists performed the Concerto on a basset clarinet. As a
matter of fact, many of these same clarinet players have recorded the
Concerto with their home orchestras....on the standard A clarinet. I've also
had opportunity to hear live performances of guest artists perform the
Concerto on both modern basset clarinets and period instruments, these
artists mainly being recitalists performing with orchestra.
Who's the proper judge for a contest such as this? Should the judging panel
be limited exclusively to Mozart experts? Is there only one "right" way to
perform music from this period in history? Is it really that difficult to
understand proper performance techniques for the few ornaments in the
Concerto....or, the other simple rules of the road, considered "critical"
for performance of the work?
If these Italian musicians are so clueless about Mozart and his
music.....would it really matter if a contestant showed up with the standard
A clarinet or the basset clarinet? Do all players of Germanic (that may be
politically incorrect, sorry if so) origin, perform/record the Mozart
Concerto on the basset clarinet?

Just a few questions.

Also....the stated objective of the Competition can be found:
http://www.mozartitalia.org/uk/obiettivi/obiettivi.html
It seems that the sponsors have a very academic mission running concurrently
with the contest. Dan, it seems that the Italians are trying to learn and
encourage others to learn about Mozart's music. You should work on an
invitation as a guest speaker at this event!

Regards,

F. Aten

----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel Leeson" <leeson0@-----.net>
Subject: Re: [kl] Mozart Concerto Competition

> I thank Mark for having posted this most interesting web page about an
> Italian organization having a contest in which players of wind
> instruments will compete in determining who plays the Mozart wind
> concerti best.
>
> I want to limit my comments to the clarinet concerto portion of the
> competition. What I say may or may not be true for the clarinet (though
> I believe it to be), but I have no way of knowing if it is true or not
> for the other wind instruments.
>
> I have a basic problem with this specific competition, and a suggestion
> for anyone with the courage to enter it.
>
> My problem has to do with the judges. Since the competition is going to
> take place in Italy, I have to assume that the judges will be
> predominantly from the repertoire of Italian players. While there may
> be a German, an Austrian, a Frenchman, or an American or two, my guess
> is that the decision will be made predominantly by Italian clarinetists.
>
> And having said that, let me indicate why this particular national mix
> is troublesome. I offer the hypothesis that there are few Italian
> clarinet players now alive who have been able to make any contribution
> to the 18th century school of clarinet playing, either from the
> viewpoint of performance practice issues, or their interest in the use
> of the basset clarinet. They are unlikely to have read the literature
> on the performance of 18th century Viennese clarinet music either
> because it does not interest them or they cannot read the languages
> effectively. There is almost no Italian literature dealing with these
> critical issues and their views on the subject can be characterized as
> medieval.
>
> I do not suggest that Italian clarinetists are poor players. On the
> contrary. Their mechanical skills are legendary, but not in this arena.
> The playing of clarinet repertoire from ca. 1750 to ca. 1800 is almost
> devoid of Italian clarinetists making a significant contribution to
> issues of performance practice or the use of the basset clarinet.
> Therefore, there is a serious question if the Italian judges can measure
> candidates with anything approaching objectivity and a contemporary
> understanding of how they should be judging this contest.
>
> The days when a fine technician could get up and play K. 622 flawlessly
> and win a competition on that basis alone are over! Any player who does
> not know how to handle important performance practice issues of K. 622
> (for example, what is supposed to be done in an eingang; for example,
> the matter of improvisation; for example, the use of the basset notes;
> for example, the style issues associated with grace notes; for example,
> trills, mordents, apporgiature, etc.) is no longer really going to be a
> candidate for such a contest. It is not only how well you play, but how
> much you know about how to play this kind of music.
>
> Any player who goes to that contest without a basset clarinet is doing a
> very foolish thing, and it will simply show that they are not on top of
> how to play that work. If some player in Ohio performs the work with
> his local symphony and does so with a traditional clarinet, he or she
> cannot be faulted. But if that same player shows up at an international
> competition with the same attitude, then he or she shows something
> entirely different, namely that he or she does not know what is
> happening.
>
> For an international competition of this magnitude, you have to show a
> lot more than fast hands and a beautiful melifluous tone. You have to
> buy a basset clarinet and learn how to play it. Failure to do so, and,
> in my opinion, you are out of the contest.
>
> About 20 or 25 years ago, just such a contest was held in Strassbourg, I
> think. Great players showed up, some of them being in the forefront of
> clarinet playing in America and the world today. And one of the judges
> (whose name I will not give because he was such an idiot) rejected the
> three best ones because, as he said, "They don't really know how to play
> Mozart." What I think he meant was that only he knew how to play
> Mozart. Quelle schmuck!
>
> Well if an attendee gets an idiot like that today, s/he might survive if
> the judging contains a lot of people who know something. But if all the
> judges are from the orchestras of Italy that I have heard, 18th century
> style issues will go right over their heads like they were not part of
> the 20th century.
>
> Dan
>
>
> Mark Charette wrote:
> >
> > FYI:
> >
> > http://www.mozartitalia.org/uk/news/concorso_internazionale01.html
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> --
> ***************************
> ** Dan Leeson **
> ** leeson0@-----.net **
> ***************************
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>

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