Klarinet Archive - Posting 000116.txt from 2002/10
From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] Bartok Contrasts - To Bb or Not to Bb
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 2002 08:31:25 -0400
On Wed, 2 Oct 2002 21:41:04 EDT, MVinquist@-----.com said:
> Several years ago, I heard Franklin Cohen (principal in Cleveland) do
> the Contrasts. He walked out carrying one instrument, and I said to
> myself, "That's an A clarinet. Where's his Bb?" He then played the
> entire piece on the A clarinet, without a fluff and making it sound
> easy. I was there, watching his fingers, and I still didn't believe
> it. He was probably born on Mars, because no mortal could do that.
>
> Ken Shaw
OK, Ken, I had a look, pretending I was practising -- well, I suppose I
was, in a way -- and I'm prepared to debunk this story (or at least the
'Man from Mars' interpretation;-) as well as suggest a possible reason
of how it came to happen. I might be completely wrong, of course. And
doubtless Frank Cohen is a 'Man from Mars' for other reasons.
First of all, my suggested explanation: the switch *back* to Bb after
the 13/8 is too fast for comfort. (The switch to A clarinet is too
fast, too, but (a) there is a pause bar there, whereas on the switch
back it's only a comma; and (b) the piano octaves work very well played
quite dreamily, so you have a bit more time.)
So, it's natural to consider whether you could *delay* switching back
to the Bb. (You can't delay switching to the A, because there's nowhere
in the 13/8 where you have time to do it.)
And, you immediately see that you *can* delay switching back to the Bb,
because the violin cadenza is coming up. Investigating what that
entails, you find to your delight that you avoid the tricky ABD#BD#BAB
repetition at the piu' mosso! Nothing else is harder on the bigger
clarinet; the top Ab becomes an A, but that's no problem.
So now, you begin to wonder, what else might be easier on the A?
I'd say that some of it looks trickier, but actually, almost all of it
yields. The opening I find easier (!), switching between the side and
the first finger F# (play just the *first* of each group of 4
semiquavers on the side, left hand D#, all other F#s first finger).
Bar 290 gets more tricky, but not excessively so.
Of course it is all a bit difficult to *transpose*, but if you find
that, there's not much of it to write out.
So, the only bit I found that's really horrible is bar 248-255. In the
end I found a fake for that, too. It's a bit extreme, but worth trying.
There's a lot of noise going on at that point.
The problem is that any 'simple' fingering for top D# is too flat, even
with the noise:-) So you have to find alternatives for all of C, C#, D#
and E that 'fit together'. My idea is:
Thumb but no speaker key throughout, LH low E key throughout,
C#: Throat Ab, oxx/xxx
C: Same, but without the throat Ab
C#: Again, as above
D#: Throat Ab, oxx/oxo or oxx/oox, whichever is the better
E: Throat Ab, oxx/ooo
Perhaps someone else has a better idea. None of the notes is perfectly
in tune, but with a bit of practice I started to get quite good. (Of
course it's probably quite instrument dependent too.)
What do you think?
And, Stacy-Michelle, what's the news on whether your part is all in A?
*None* of this, of course, is an argument for not playing what Bartok
wrote;-)
Tony
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