Klarinet Archive - Posting 000351.txt from 2003/07
From: Bear Woodson <bearwoodson@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Missing the Point
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 01:13:00 -0400
> > Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2003 18:37:15 -0700
> > From: Bear Woodson <bearwoodson@-----.net>
> >=20
> > People ask me why I make my newer, 4-
> > movement Accompanied Sonatas so long.
> > Because I want to make the 2nd Movement
> > about 5 to 7 minutes long, to be usable as a
> > Konzertst=FCck with Strings, and thereby make
> > the rest of the sonata of comparable length.
> Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2003 23:47:48 -0700 (PDT)
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> From: CBA <clarinet10001@-----.com>
>=20
> Bear, =20
> With all due respect . . . I think you spend too
> much time thinking of HOW LONG the pieces
> you write are, and HOW MANY FUGUES are
> in them. . . . Guinness Book of Records we
> aren't.=20
Hmmm? From where I stand you have
precisely missed the point. My goal is to write
music of Good Compositional (Intellectual)
Quality AND Lyricism, for Each Major Instru-
ment of the Orchestra. My likes for women
and music are much the same: there needs to
be a healthy balance of beauty and brains; too
much of just the one without the other is
disappointing for me.
My goal in writing this Sonata for Clarinet
and Piano was:=20
1) to answer the COMPLAINT by too many
Clarinetists, who said it took them a large
number of works, just to fill up a One-Hour
Classical Recital; and
2) to answer the COMPLAINT by too many
Clarinetists, that the IQ of too much woodwind
literature was lacking! Even when a work was
well written in a Lyrical Style, there was little
or no counterpoint.
I gave you guys a Treatise on Counterpoint
in the tradition of "Art of Fugue" by Bach. If
you find that offensive, I'm sorry, but I've already
had a few scholars tell me that this Sonata WILL
be a Milestone of Counterpoint for centuries to
come. It contains a Chaconne, various Canons
and Fugues, Two Quadruple Directional Stretto
Fugues, a Triple Fugue, and then the Triple
Fugue appears in Retrograde. How can all of
this NOT be important and exceptional in
history?=20
I was well trained as a composer 30 years
ago, got out of music for many years, and have
only been composing heavily for the last 9
years, all in my 40's, which is too old to enter
the famous Composition Competitions. To get
noticed, I write many works with the Rarest,
and Hardest Kinds of Counterpoint. Suffice it
to say, Counterpoint IS my gig. I know that
most people are bored or threatened by high
IQ music. I won't apologize for that, because
most music bores me for being too obvious
and downright obvious (with the same old
Tonal Chord Progressions that have been in
daily use for 600 years).
If you don't like fugal music, oh well. I just
hope there are kinds of music that do fulfill
you, and bring you joy. Everyone should have
at least one kind of music, to fulfill their heart.
I like music that is both brainy and lyrical. I'm
sorry if my choices offend you.
Try this, Mr. Abraham: listen to the CD that
you have of my Flute Sonata. There is very
little counterpoint in that work, because my
goal was to write something as lyrical as the
Poulenc Flute Sonata, but in more modern
harmony. (Pssst! There IS ONE Fugato in
there, but most people don't find it easily
because they say it is so lyrical. Maybe you
can find it.)=20
Meanwhile, I can't find the answers to my
questions about Modern Clarinet Sonatas at
your www.woodwind.org website. It's a clutter
of information, and works for JUST One
Clarinet with One Piano, are hard to find on
those pages. I still need help researching this
information. These were not rhetorical ques-
tions. I'm actually trying to learn more about
the existing literature for clarinet.
Bear=20
=20
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