Klarinet Archive - Posting 000049.txt from 2004/05

From: Tony Pay <tony.p@-----.org>
Subj: RE: [kl] Eb part in Symphonie Fantastique
Date: Mon, 3 May 2004 14:04:03 -0400

In message <13450-40946C35-1498@-----.net>
ormondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya) wrote:

> Dan=A0Leeson wrote:
>=20
> > The proper argument is much more simple: "the composer called for tha=
t
> > clarinet [in C]." 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 w=
ith
> > you but with Berlioz or Beethoven or Mozart or whoever. And s/he is n=
ot
> > going to win that argument, only make an ass out of himself by sugges=
ting
> > that s/he knows more than the composer.
>=20
> Dan, I'm not a performer of any substance, and therefore my opinion doe=
sn't
> carry much weight. I certainly don't want to be blasted as a "dilettant=
e"
> again. But don't you think that occasionally a musician must give prior=
ity
> to his/her own feelings despite what the composer asked for?
>=20
> I can't help remembering a comment that Tony Pay made a few days ago in=

> reply to Joseph Wakeling:
>=20
> Joseph wrote:
>=20
> > However I'm willing to be persuaded that this is me just thinking I "=
know
> > better than the composer what he wanted". ;-)
>=20
> Tony replied:
>=20
> > That's too generous of you. What you have to say in this particular c=
ase
> > is that even if he really wanted what's printed, he was *wrong*. Ain'=
t no
> > rules in this game, Joe.

That was about something quite different from whether you should play on =
one
clarinet rather than another. It was to do with which of two tempos, one=

twice as fast as the other, one should choose in the Bernstein Clarinet
Sonata. And clearly in that case, what appears in the score is a mistake=
.

> But don't you think that occasionally a musician must give priority to
> his/her own feelings despite what the composer asked for?

I really don't think of the matter in this way. It's not to do with my
*feelings* -- except in the trivial sense that you might say, I always do=

what I feel I should do. That's, if you like, a definition of 'feelings'=

that doesn't do any work.

What it's to do with is *what makes sense*. That goes beyond feelings, a=
nd
is a product of the effort of learning as much as possible, in as many
dimensions as possible, about the situation.

I think I share the musical aspect of this notion of 'making sense' with
Bernstein, with Joe, and with most other practising musicians.

And this particular case is so extreme that, if it turned out that Bernst=
ein
actually wanted what appears in the score, the most plausible explanation=

would be that he had gone mad between writing the piece and expressing th=
is
want. =20

Tony
--=20
_________ Tony Pay =20
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd tony.p@-----.org
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE http://classicalplus.gmn.com/artist=
s
tel/fax 01865 553339
=20
... I entered this message just to use this tagline.

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