Klarinet Archive - Posting 000619.txt from 2005/03
From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Mozart Question - Dan Leeson?
Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 16:55:11 -0500
I have, of course, never played the g minor symphony in the
version without clarinets though I have been at many performances
where it was played and I loafed.
Understand that he did not just add clarinets. He rewrote the
entire symphony to take advantage of their presence. There are
two completely different manuscripts for that single symphony,
one with oboes, the other with clarinets and they are two quite
different compositions; i.e., that clarinet just don't play what
the oboes used to play. The version with clarinets has both
clarinets AND oboes and the instruments in the clarinet version
often banter with one another.
I don't have statistics to know which one is played more often,
though I suspect the clarinet version is way in the lead. I have
always found it very rare to hear the oboe version but maybe I
travel in the wrong circles.
And you have to start looking at good edition and stop thinking
about Kalmus as a source of valuable information. The only thing
that Kalmus has the advantage on over all other editions is the
price. That's not surprising because they take old edition that
have gone out of print and simply use them thus saving engraving
costs. But the editions they use are crap.
Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Don Yungkurth [mailto:chalumeau@-----.net]
Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2005 1:01 PM
To: Klarinet
Subject: [kl] Mozart Question - Dan Leeson?
I've always been a bit surprised by how seldom Mozart used
clarinets in
his orchestral works, considering what he wrote for Stadler. He
supposedly said, "if only I had clarinets", in desperation,
perhaps in a
letter to his father?
My guess is that he might well have used them more often if they
(the
instruments and satisfactory players) were available. His
symphony no.
39 is the only one I've ever played, so I looked up on the Kalmus
web
site to see how many of his symphonies actually called for
clarinets.
They list only nos. 31, 35, 39 and 40, as well no. 3, but that is
only
"attributed".
Orchestras I've played with have done no. 40, K. 550, a number of
times,
but never in a version with clarinets. One reference I have
states
that, "Mozart revised K. 550, adding clarinets to the score".
Which version is generally played, with or without clarinets?
Is anything known of his reasons for the revision with clarinets?
Among his concertos, at least as available from Kalmus, only the
piano
concertos nos. 22, 23 and 24 and the 3rd horn concerto use
clarinets.
Any thoughts on how symphony 40 is usually played?
Don Yungkurth
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