Klarinet Archive - Posting 000629.txt from 2002/09

From: "Joseph Wakeling" <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Berio Sequenza
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2002 09:48:07 -0400

Tony Pay wrote:

> An ex-student of mine once phoned me up and said
> that he was playing the Berio Sequenza in a concert.
> He was concerned about the multiphonics in the latter
> part of the piece, which are actually unobtainable as
> written on a normal clarinet without the low Eb key.

Well... Can I turn the discussion round and ask how you play the piece,
please, Tony? :-) Do you have a full-Boehm instrument you can use or have
you found another solution?

I actually have two different recordings by the French clarinettist Alain
Damiens, one on the French Accord label (a collection of clarinet solos) and
one on Deutsche Grammophon's 20-21 series of contemporary music. On the
first he plays the multiphonics as written, on the second he uses
substitutions with the same pitches but different registers. I have to say
I don't think this works as well musically. I have no idea whether on the
first recording he used a full-Boehm instrument or found some other way of
producing the correct pitches.

*However*, before judging too harshly the substitutions, it should be noted
that the second recording is on DG's full set of the Sequenzas, which were
presumably recorded under the composer's watchful gaze. ;-)

The ironic thing is that some of the other aspects of the second performance
are much more precise as regards the written material - particularly as
regards tempo (the first recording is about 2 minutes longer than the
second, which hits Berio's specified 13 minutes pretty much on the nose).

Personally, though, I find the first recording is better almost *because* it
is less strict - because it seems to capture better the semi-improvisatory
atmosphere that Berio seems to be aiming at with the piece. But this is
just my personal taste. ;-)

-- Joe

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