Klarinet Archive - Posting 000027.txt from 2004/03

From: Dan Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] While on tour ...
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 15:49:02 -0500

Forest, Keith, and I had occasion to speak to a class of what we thought
were all clarinetists but which, in fact, turned out to have about 6 or
7 other instrumentalists present. One young lady, a trumpet player
judging from her question, asked if Mozart ever wrote a trumpet
concerto, which is a fine question. He did, but it's lost so now she
knows more than she before, and any day that you can have that happen is
a good day.

But the shocker, for me, was when someone asked a question about Keith's
basset clarinet (not basset horn). The question was something like,
"How important is it to play the Mozart concerto on the basset clarinet?"

It was the audience's response that Forest, Keith, and I gave to this
question that was a shocker to me. I'm sure that the party who asked
the question already had formed in his head what our answer was going to
be. He asked the question simply to get confirmation of what he assumed
the situation should be with the basset clareint and K. 622.

It was when I said, "The world is changing, and every clarinet player
has to accomodate that change. The performance of K. 622 on a
traditional A clarinet simply will not do any longer."

Where there was a gasp from the audience and a shocked look on the face
of the party who asked the question. And I said, to nail it down
further, that should I asked to review a performance of K. 622 excecuted
on something other than a basset clarinet, there is no way that the
party so performing would get very much of a complimentary review, no
matter how intelligently it was played.

I did not have time to state that players should be considering the need
to have a pair of basset clarinets (in B-flat and A) as their regular
orchestral instruments.

It was an interesting moment.
--
Dan Leeson
leeson0@-----.net

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