Klarinet Archive - Posting 000213.txt from 2005/01

From: Joseph Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] RE: Rhapsody in Blue Gliss
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 09:46:38 -0500

> If one (not me, that's for sure) is playing the glissando are you not
> playing EVERY tone from start to finish? A continuous run thru the
> frequencies (at least in principle)? Even those in between C and C#,
> for example. And every other "normal" discrete pair of notes?

Who cares? It's what it *sounds* like that is important.

Just on a point of pedantry, historically "glissando" meant a diatonic
run, while "portamento" was used for a continuous slide between notes.
A "glissando" was therefore what one hears if one slides up and down the
strings of a harp, or the keys of a piano, while "portamento" was the
effect you get on string instruments from sliding a finger up and down a
string. However, the modern usage has tended to be to use "glissando"
as a catch-all term which *often* means a slide (possibly because in the
case of diatonic or other types of run, composers will usually these
days write out in full the pitches they want).

Gershwin writes out in full a diatonic run in the Rhapsody, as you might
expect given that he was originally writing for two pianos (the band and
orchestral arrangements are by Ferde Grofé). The slide came in in the
rehearsal as has already been mentioned. Incidentally if you listen to
the early recording of it (with Gershwin at the piano, I think), the
clarinettist sounds *much* more "wacky" than any modern performance I
can think of. Great fun.

-- Joe

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