Klarinet Archive - Posting 000478.txt from 2005/01

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] up or down?
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 09:04:44 -0500

Measure 14: the manuscript says nothing about the trill on the A.
With the key signature as given one would have to play a B-flat
but I did not think this was a successful as B-natural. So the
option of going to the B-natural was given. Personally I prefer
it, but as you say, B-flat also works. If I had indicated the
natural accidental change in normal parentheses, that would have
stated unequivocally that the manuscript explicity intended that,
and it does not. Thus the notation given in the parts is an
editorial option. (The other alternative was to indicate the
natural symbol is a much smaller type so as to show that it was
editorial, but it got so tiny that it was barely visible, which
is why the brakets were used.)

As for the third movement, measure 40, the manuscript shows a C.
While this would not be acceptable if a harmonic clash occurred,
the voice leadings of the other 7 instruments (every one of which
changes pitch from the last note of the previous measure) make
the D unlikely. But I do not "know" what Mozart had in mind. I
only know what he wrote.

For the fourth movement, m. 147, fourth note of the bassoon one
16th note passage, the manuscript says G, as I have it. But even
if the manuscript were something else, I still might have
considered the G as Mozart's intentions. Look not at that note,
but at the complete measures 146 and 147 as a whole. For m. 146,
the bassoon (on notes 2, 4, 6, and 8) has a G. This pattern
continues into m. 147 (for the 10th and 12th notes of the
sequence). It is hard to believe that he would have changed the
pattern for the last note of the sequence, particularly since the
next and final note of the passage is an octave presentation of
the same G.

I am confident that other editors could well have seen it another
way. But when it comes to me challenging the wisdom of what
Mozart wrote, it is going to take a great deal more than my
opinion to reject Mozart's EXPLICIT directive as erroneous. The
purpose of an editor is to keep his/her opinions to an absolute
minimum. It's just too easy to say, "Well, what Mozart REALLY
meant is ..."

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: colin.touchin@-----.com
[mailto:colin.touchin@-----.com]
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2005 1:51 AM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: [kl] up or down?

Hello all, my teacher was Graham Turner, bass clarinettist in the
Halle Orchestra, Manchester for over 25 years. I recall he told
me in
the mid-60's that he'd seen some players in the 50's on the
continent
still playing with reed on top - in particular in Italy; he also
expressed
awe at those players (in Germany) using string ligatures working
as
fast as those of us using metal.

When I was 20 I was playing on a four-day orchestral course - the
last day coincided with a trip to the dentist, who took out three
of my
wisdom teeth in the morning. In the afternoon I played the
rehearsal
and the evening concert with only some numb jaw and a tongue
fishing for those odd holes in the gums: never crossed my mind as
a
callow youth that such consecutive activities weren't
recommended!

And some questions for Dan about Mozart Serenade in C minor
K388: 1) in the first clarinet part of the first movement, bar
14, there's
a trill on middle A - I've heard it played as A to B natural and
elsewhere as A to Bb. The authoritative score and parts you have
produced lovingly for Baerenreiter (pity they didn't get it
perfectly
right [I,151, Bn 1 must be C not Eb] - not your fault!) gives
bracketed
natural alteration, as the key-signature would dictate Bb; yet
harmonically both have something going for them - what's the
history
on this one, and is either acceptable?

2) III, 40, Clt 1, C or D? - another supposedly authentic edition
(Camden Music) disagrees with Baerenreiter: I have a slight
preference for Camden's D, but the logic of the paired clarinets
reaching their notes from the previous falling pattern might
override
the harmonic selection - yet, the root Eb chord produced with the
1st
clarinet playing C is weaker than the 1st inversion C minor,
which
seems better to prepare for the diminished 7th on the next beat.
It is
a crucial change as the 1st clarinet alone plays this degree of
the
scale, there being lots of Eb and G from the other 7 instruments.

3) IV, 147, Bn 1 4th 16th is different in the two editions - I
prefer the
D in Camden, but the G in Baerenreiter is equally feasible.
Might
this be left player discretion?! How dangerous could that be ...
? :-)

Best wishes, Colin Touchin.

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