Klarinet Archive - Posting 000395.txt from 2004/08

From: "Benjamin Maas" <benmaas@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Copland concerto and "swinging"
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 13:50:29 -0400


> -----Original Message-----
> From: tony-w@-----.uk]=20
>
>=20
> I believe it may have been pretty naff (irresponsible) of all American
> clarinettists` not to have asked Mr Copland himself what *he*=20
> had in mind
> for performance.
> Tony W.
>=20
>

2 of my former teachers had the opportunity to work on the piece with
Copland himself- Peter Hadcock and Mitchell Lurie. Unfortunately I =
never
had the opportunity to study it with Hadcock as he died 6 weeks into my
freshman year at Eastman. There was a great photo on the studio wall of
Copland looking over Hadcocks shoulder in front of the orchestra... The
story was Hadcock was performing the concerto at Tanglewood and he was
correcting Copland on some finer point of the concerto.

Anyways, in my studies with Lurie however, I did study the Copland. (As
Mitchell said in one lesson- "Ah Aaron... He just loved coming over and
having my wife's chocolate chip cookies") Anyways, Mitchell told me =
that
Aaron was not a composer that liked having his works "interpreted" by
performers. What he wrote on the page is what he wanted performed. He
liked the performance on the simpler end of things and while he didn't
specifically want the section swung, the extent that most clarinetists
perform it in the swing style was not something he like. There are =
things
one can do with emphasis that give it a bit of a jazzy lilt without it =
being
really straight, but it isn't swung in the traditional style. Knowing =
what
Mitchell told me, I have to think that what Benny Goodman played was as =
much
of a result of what Copland wanted him to play as what he thought was
appropriate.

--Ben

Benjamin Maas
Freelance Clarinetist and Recording Engineer
Los Angeles, CA
http://www.fifthcircle.com

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