Klarinet Archive - Posting 001239.txt from 2003/04

From: "Joseph Wakeling" <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Stravinsky 3 pieces (& "sombrer le son")
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2003 05:51:16 -0400

Hi Tony,

I did a search yesterday evening and found the post you cite below,
http://www.woodwind.org/Databases/Logs/1999/07/000178.txt

Anyway, this seems to make sense. Actually I dug out a recording of it made
in the mid-80's by Alain Damiens, the Ensemble Intercontemporain soloist,
and compared the last movement to my (Nicholas Hare revised) copy of the
Stravinsky; he "corrected" bar 10 as you suggest, but left the other parts
alone (so, a slur on the last *3* notes of bar 23, and staccato throughout
bar 44, and of course a B natural in bar 19).

In all other respects I didn't notice any textual differences, so I presume
that (B flat in bar 19 aside) the Nicholas Hare edition is actually on the
money...?-)

I have to say I'm not convinced either way about bar 23. I quite like the
"feel" of the long legato phrase from bar 23 to 25, with the 3-semiquaver
slurred phrase being a repeat of that found in bar 22. Same with bar 44. I
think one could probably make arguments either way, no?

*But* while I was looking at this I noticed something that really *didn't*
make sense to me, which is the staccato dot on the first quaver of bar 2.
Throughout the movement quavers are used as *long* notes (sole exception:
quaver in bar 13, but here it makes more sense because there is a breath &
phrase break here) and the basic rhythmic motifs "Daaa-dat-dat" or
"Daaa-da-ya" seem to be consistent throughout. I can't quite settle the
idea of a *short* note at this point in the piece. It occurred to me that
what might be wanted was the effect of two tied semiquavers with the
staccato on the second. Any thoughts?

-- Joe

PS. One little thing---I recall back in the dark days of the dark tone
debate, someone referred to Stravinsky's "sombrer le son" as an instruction
to darken the tone. At the time that surprised me because I had always
instinctively taken it as an instruction to have a sudden dip in volume and
intensity, with the following crescendo bringing us back. But I realised I
had never actually checked.

Anyway, I *did* check, and while "sombre" does indeed mean "dark", the
*verb* "sombrer" does *not* mean "darken", it means "sink". A good
translation of Stravinsky's phrase I guess would then be, "Lower the sound
suddenly"...?

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