Klarinet Archive - Posting 000008.txt from 2005/03

From: Joseph Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Expectations for professionals
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2005 10:24:31 -0500

Vann Joe Turner wrote:

> Tony, if I'd written the gobbledegook that you did for the Cambridge
> Companion, I'd be ashamed.

That gobbledegook taught me more about articulation than anything I've
ever come across.

> And we won't make mention of the inadvertant grace notes you played on
> the Basset with the BBC. Undoubtedly, your performance would have been
> better on the A.

We obviously weren't listening to the same performance. I was there
live in concert and it was a remarkable experience. And incidentally
the supposed faults you cite can have nothing to do with the fact that a
basset clarinet was being used.

When it comes to "mistakes" in performance, I have a recording of
Sviatoslav Richter playing the Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition that
has wrong notes in it from the word go. It's still the most amazing
performance I've ever heard of that work, and I suspect that if Richter
had taken the path of playing everything note-perfect rather than taking
risks with his performance and allowing errors to creep in, it would not
have been half the performance it was.

You appear not to understand things like that, which is, I suspect, a
good part of the reason why you can't do what Tony can do.

> Even though I've learned from both of you, I expect more of
> professionals than you two display.

You appear not to be reading the same posts that I am. What comes
across to me most strongly is how deeply Dan and Tony care about music.
Notice that it's possible for me to disagree with some of what they say,
and argue strongly against it (and receive forceful arguments in
return), and still appreciate this.

What I get from Dan and Tony is an endless stream of interesting ideas
and suggestions. I don't "expect" this of them; it's very generous of
them to do this. I've also, on occasion, been pulled up short when I
said something stupid---and I've learned things because of this. On
other occasions I've been criticized about things where on reflection I
still felt I was right---and I've learned things from this too.

On the other hand I've never seen Dan or Tony, or many other people on
this list, engage in the sort of inane sneering that came across in your
post. I *have* seen them strongly criticize comments that they felt
were inappropriate, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Vann Joe Turner, would you care to say something *useful* instead?

-- Joe

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