Klarinet Archive - Posting 000209.txt from 2005/06

From: Richard Sankovich <sanko@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] K388
Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2005 17:53:40 -0400

This thread goes back to February of this year. I was recently asked by
Loren Glickman to post his reponse to some references about him made by
Dan Leeson. :

First, Dan's post:

> From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
> Subj: RE: [kl] K388
> Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2005 22:32:18 -0500
>
> I owe a great deal to this work. In the late 1960s I was hired
> to play 2nd clarinet with what was the Lincoln Center Chamber
> players but for a concert in Washington. Charlie Russo was
> playing first clarinet and I have no idea why they hired me,
> considering who they could have gotten.
>
> The c minor was one of the works and I had played it many times.
> But at that particular time, I was editing the material based on
> the manuscript so I knew exactly what Mozart wrote and where. We
> had a rehearsal in New York and the next day was the concert.
> The rehearsal went well and we were playing the Breitkopf &
> Hartel edition of 1875. In the middle of the first movement we
> came to a passage in which the 2nd clarinet has an extended
> alberti bass eighth note figure while the oboe and clarinet have
> a sustained melodic line. Knowing that the manuscript had that
> passage all tongued for 2nd clarinet, I ignored the B&H edition
> which had the notes all slurred.
>
> After 8 measures, the contracter, Loren Glickman, called a halt
> and very politely said, "clarinet, don't tongue that passage." I
> should have shut up. A rehearsal is not the time for a
> musicological discussion. But what I said was, "OK, but the
> manuscript in Mozart's hand has the passage tongued."
>
> Glickman, who was playing bassoon with major orchestras when I
> was wearing short pants said, "That doesn't matter. It sounds
> better slurred."
>
> End of discussion. We did it the way he wanted it played. There
> was no fuss.
>
> But it really bothered me. How does Loren Glickman decide what
> sounds better or worse? Was that his standard for concluding how
> to play something; i.e., how he liked it? And by what mechanism
> did he come to that conclusion? As magnificent a player as he
> was, where did he come off blithely contradicting what Mozart
> wrote?
>
> It was at that time that I began to realize how empty opinions
> based on taste were. It was Glickman who made me into a radical.
> I never again after that time accepted such statements at face
> value. I tried not to create a scene and did what I was told,
> but whenever someone said, "It sounds better that way," my dander
> would get up. And it was years later when at a performance of
> 361, Glickman wanted to use a contrabassoon because, he said, "It
> sounds better," I said, "Why Loren? I don't think it sounds
> better at all."
>
> I was not hired again. Little lessons in life in the NY music
> scene. Don't debate the contractor.
>
> Dan Leeson

Here is Loren Glickman's response:

A former colleague passed on to me the recent article that appeared on
your website with reference to Mozart K388, written by a certain Daniel
Leeson. Since the article eveolved into a diatribe against me
personally, and a wish to accord praiseworthy accolades to himself, I
believe the piece begs for an answer and the correction of a few
mis-statements made by the writer:
1. To begin with, I have no recollection of ever having played chamber
music with Mr. Leeson, nor does Charles Russo, who Leeson says played
first clarinet in the performance of K388.
2. Mr. Leeson claims the performing group was the Lincoln Center Chamber
Music Society. This is just not true! Gervaise dePeyer was our great
clarinetist and neither Mr. Russo nor Mr. Leeson ever performed with
that ensemble.
3. Leeson blithely asserts that I was the "contractor" for this event.
I contract orchestras, not chamber music concerts.
4. Leeson, the musicologist, contends that performers must never alter
the articulations indicated by the composer. I suggest he listen to
five versions of any one Mozart violin concerto, and compare the
articulations, one to the other. Possibly, if Mr. Leeson had played the
passage in question in a more musical fashion, the discussion never
would have ensured. Chamber music performers often suggest solutions to
each other in rehearsal. The last thing we would ever do, is go on
stage knowing that a perticular passage would be unmusical.
5. Mr. Leeson pontificates, "How does Loren Glickman decide what sounds
better or worse?" Because Loren Glickman had a career of 50 years as
soloist and chamber music artist, and assuredly had many occasions to
rely on his good ears and good musical taste.
6. And with reference to K361, Leeson again upbraids me for using a
contra-bassoon instead of a string bass. This work is most often done
with a contra-bassoon because it blends better with the other winds than
a bass. It is quite possible that there was not a good
contra-bassoonist available when Mr. Mozart wrote the work. Since I am
probably a good deal older than Mr. Leeson, I will promise to discuss
these "terrible decisions" of mine with Mozart when I see him next.
7. Leeson's conclusion re his releationship with me, "Don't debate with
the contractor," as the reason he was not hired again. Think again, Mr.
Leeson. There might be a better reason.
8. One final word, Mr. Leeson: There are certain axioms of protocol most
musical artists abide by. Primary is the one about not being insulting
or condescending about one's colleagues, and certainly not in a public
statement!

Thank you for your indulgence.

Loren Glickman

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