Klarinet Archive - Posting 000370.txt from 2004/08

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] K. 581 performance practice
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 22:10:46 -0400

Andy, those repeats have an important purpose. Without an
understanding of that purpose and the ability to do what is
needed in the repeats, the work may well be too repetitive. But
that is not the fault of the work, it is the fault of the
players.

In the case of the third movement, there are a ton of repeats,
what with two trios, each having a da capo. What is supposed to
be happening in all those repeats is that the solo players (it is
not a solo work for clarinet but rather for equal participants)
are expected to improvise the second (and third, fourth, fifth,
and sixth) time round. There is the issue that even the Minuet
itself with its repeats is repeated for both da capos.

Now if none of the players has the imagination to create
intelligent (and not overdone) improvisations, then maybe you
should consider doing the Weber quintet which requires much less
imagination than 581).

The repeat in the first movement has the same function. The
repeats in the finale serve a different purpose. There, each
section is quite short and deserve a second time round. But
improvisations are very much invited in SOME of the variations,
certainly not the 16th note variation. It is already decorated.
But the Adagio variation will be infinitely improved if you can
do something in the repeats of the section.

Music of the 18th centurty was built to allow the solo players to
be part of the creative process, and that role is accomplished
with improvisatory passages.

Only one thing to be careful of: if someone knows you are
improvising, that too too much.

It always amazes me that players of the 20th century don't know
very much about what 18th century players did, and nowhere is
this more true than in the use of repeats.

Did you really think that those repeats were there for looks????

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Andy Raibeck [mailto:klari_1@-----.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 6:48 PM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: [kl] K. 581 performance practice

My quintet group is preparing the Mozart clarinet quintet for an
upcoming
performance, and one of the areas of controversy I am dealing
with is whether
to repeat or not repeat.

A couple of members of the group feel that the piece is too long,
and wish to
eliminate some of the repeats:

- Don't repeat the first section of the first movement. This is
the section
from the beginning through 15 measures after letter C (I don't
know how
consistent rehearsal letters are between editions, but I am using
the Schirmer
edition).

(Loosely related question: there is a left repeat sign immedately
following the
repeated first section, starting at 16 measures after letter C;
but there is no
matching right repeat sign. I imagine that this means you play to
the end, then
repeat, though I've never heard a performance that does this. Is
this a repeat
that, by some common convention, is rarely if ever played?)

- (Not a repeat issue) Eliminate the first two thirds of the
second movement,
and start from the point where the opening melody is restated
(letter D). This
I've refused to do; we are playing the whole movement.

- Eliminate all repeats in the third movement. Thus far we've
compromised, and
are currently playing all repeats with the following exceptions:
The two
repeated sections that comprise Trio I, and the second repeated
section in Trio
II (from letter C through the end of the trio, before the da
capo).

- Eliminate all repeats in the fourth movement. For now, though,
we are playing
all repeats.

The rationale for those proposing the cuts are that the music is
too
repetitive, and the audience might grow bored with it. Yes, it is
long (most
performances I've heard clock in at more than half an hour), but
it is a
beautiful piece of music that I think the audience will enjoy.

What is "acceptable" in the performance of this piece regarding
the elimination
of repeats? This is my first outing on this piece, so I have no
personal
experience to draw from. The audience will be general (i.e.
assume most of the
audience will, at most, have had a casual brush with classical
music).

I should note that one recording I have, Gervase de Peyer's,
eliminates some
repeats.

Regards,

Andy

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