Klarinet Archive - Posting 000038.txt from 2004/05

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: RE: [kl] Eb part in Symphonie Fantastique
Date: Mon, 3 May 2004 04:10:23 -0400


But Berlioz couldn't know what clarinets would sound like in 2004
anyway. This seems to be a pointless controversy - or not really one at
all.
Roger S.

In message <FJEKIMDEOJFJPBKBMDOPGEMPCCAA.dnleeson@-----.org writes:
> 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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--
You know what the Englishman’s idea of compromise is?
He says, Some people say there is a God.
Some people say there is no God. The truth probably lies
somewhere between these two statements. -- W. B. Yeats

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