Klarinet Archive - Posting 000514.txt from 2004/09

From: Joseph Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] A little Monday morning present for all
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 11:38:25 -0400

dnleeson wrote:

> Sabine Meyer hasn't a leg to stand on if she concludes that the
> clarinet part really needs a basset horn.

According to Clarence' post, it's the viola that it being substituted
with basset horn. Same principle applies of course! ;-)

> I don't care if she wants to play it on a tenor sax, but she is going
> to have to do a lot of explaining to convince anyone who knows their
> stuff that Mozart wanted a basset horn in that piece. After all, he
> was writing for the basset horn in music as ar back at Abduction from
> Harem, so one cannot argue that he did not have a basset horn when he
> came to 498. But then again, Meyer plays 361 with a contrabassoon,
> which is wickedly wrong, contraindicated, and just plain obstinate.
> I'm sure she will play it beautifully no matter what instrument is
> chosen, but she insults the intelligence of every clarinetist by these
> arbitrary substitutions that have no basis in historical validity.

Surely it comes down to the question of your reasoning behind doing it.
At the end of the day I don't think there's anything wrong with
performing alternative arrangements of composers' works *if* you can
make something musically interesting out of it. After all, the texts
don't get burned. It's only insulting to our intelligence if you try
pretending that your choice reflects something other than your personal
interpretation ("It's what Mozart would have wanted," etc.).

Of course, the rest of us are not obliged to listen. ;-)

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