Klarinet Archive - Posting 000094.txt from 2003/04

From: Ed Wojtowicz <ewoj@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Clarinet sound
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 00:30:31 -0400

Yeah, but since it has been asserted here before that materials don't
matter, German clarinets despite the difference in dimensions, have no
difference in timbre (or so I've been told) etc, etc, I figure that the
difference from A to Bb is minimal. Hey, what is a half step among friends?

;-)

Ed

> From: Dan Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
> Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2003 14:27:00 -0800
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [kl] Clarinet sound
>
> Ed, thank you for your response, but it is clear to me that we have no
> basis of communication if, as your note indicates, you consider only the
> pitch of a note as the required element in performance. In effect, the
> character and register of the needed sound appears to hold no importance
> to you.
>
> I heard a performance of a Mahler symphony done without E-flat clarinets
> because the management did not want to pay the extra money. The results
> were that all of the pitches were heard on B-flat clarinets -- many in
> the wrong register -- but none of the instrumenal character was
> retained. The performance was awful at those moments when the needed
> clarinet was not used.
>
> What you propose is fundamentally unmusical.
>
> Dan

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