Klarinet Archive - Posting 000016.txt from 2004/05

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Eb part in Symphonie Fantastique
Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 23:11:54 -0400

David, as you are well aware, no one could possible agree with
you more on this issue than I. But there is a great danger in
saying that "it sounds better that way," as justification for
doing it that way. That is because another person can say with
equal assurance, "No. I think it sounds better my way." And such
discussions have no hope of resolution because what you wind up
arguing about is who has the better taste.

The proper arguement is much more simple: "the composer called
for that clarinet." That is something that cannot be argued
against. It is a fact. Now, an opponent can say in response,
"Sure but what does he know?" And when that happens, the opponent
doesn't have an argument with you but with Berlioz or Beethoven
or Mozart or whoever. And s/he is not going to win that
argument, only make an ass out of himself by suggesting that s/he
knows more than the composer.

In my opinion, it is a losing argument ever to say that something
should be played a certain way because it will sound better when
played that way. It may appear to be a telling argument, but it
has no substance.

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: RichChPlay@-----.com]
Sent: Saturday, May 01, 2004 7:49 PM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: RE: [kl] Eb part in Symphonie Fantastique

on 4/28/04 2:34 PM, Benjamin Maas wrote:

>This is something that has always annoyed me... Conductors that
bring in a
>separate person to play that E-flat part. The E-flat is
contained in the
>principal part. The last movement of the piece is for E-flat,
the first 4
>are for different clarinets- A, B-flat and C. The second part
is just A,
>B-flat and C.
>
In most professional orchestras, the Eb player is a contracted
position,
so they play all the Eb parts. That means in Symphonie
Fantastique that
the principal player plays the first four movements, and the
contracted
Eb player plays the last movement from that part. In orchestras
like
Richmond, where the position is 2nd/Eb, it simply means that the
two
players switch parts for the last movement.

>FWIW, this is the perfect piece to make sure that you have a C
clarinet as
>well... The tonal difference of that instrument was chosen for
>orchestrational reasons, not just key signatures (like in
earlier classical
>era music). When you hear the solo in the 4th movement played
on C or the
>blend of the E-flat and C in the last movement, it makes a HUGE
difference
>in the sound of the section. Berlioz was a smart person
orchestrationally
>when he wrote this piece.

Amen. The solo at the end of the 4th movement has a lot more of
the right
character on C clarinet than it does if you transpose it to Bb
clarinet.
On Bb, those two highest notes (C# & D) have entirely the wrong
color for
the solo, and are much better on C clarinet.

David

David Niethamer
dnietham@-----.edu
http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/

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