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Klarinet Archive - Posting 000026.txt from 2005/08
From: Adam Michlin <amichlin@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Low C Bass Clarinets
Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 13:16:33 -0400
The topic of conversation goes back to my curiosity as to what degree it
was acceptable, in the days before it was a job requirement for a
professional bass clarinetist to own an instrument to low C, for a player
with a low Eb instrument to either not play those notes or to play such
notes 8va. As to whether or not Jimmy Abato would have given thought to the
matter, he tells me he borrowed a bass clarinet to low C when it was
required. I see no reason to dispute his statement and would point out that
his statement contradicts the idea that players of his generation found
such things to be unimportant. It doesn't prove or disprove anything, but I
do not know how such things could be proven, as the courts say, beyond a
reasonable doubt.
Answering my own question, it appears such substitutions were not blindly
accepted in the NYC professional world even as early as the 1940s (I just
looked up Jimmy's performance of Shostakovich 7 with the Philharmonic,
October 14, 1942). I am afraid I cannot see where I stated or implied
anything regarding low C bass clarinets being in an age of darkness or
ignorance ca. 1955. Clearly, it was an expected instrument in 1942.
Perhaps I should have noted that as bass clarinetist with the Met, Jimmy
would have likely faced relatively few performances requiring a low C bass
clarinet (Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, and Puccini not being big proponents of
the low C bass clarinet!) throughout his later career. It is also likely
that if his full time employment had instead been with a symphony orchestra
he would have been required to purchase a C low instrument around the same
time Dan purchased his. I did not ask Jimmy this, but it seems like a safe
assumption that he could not justify a low C instrument for his studio
work, either.
I was very careful not to make any assumptions or implications about other
countries. I do, however, wonder what kind of bass clarinet was used in
the (at the time) rag tag Leningrad Radio Orchestra which performed
Shostakovich's 7th Symphony during the war, but that we may never know
since such information is merely a small bit of trivia surrounded by a
large amount of historical controversy. Unless this information is common
knowledge and I just am not aware of it, in which case I am all ears.
One train of thought in my mind goes that there may have been a prevalence
of low C bass clarinets in the USSR during the times of Prokokiev and
Shostakovich (as to why, I cannot guess), but there's also the issue of
both composers continuing to expand on what essentially amounted to a post
romantic foundation. Such an extension of romanticism seems to me to be
inclined to promote extended range instruments. Which came first, the
chicken or the egg?
But now I'm just grasping at straws.
And speaking of straws, as a (perhaps unwanted!) disciple of Dan Leeson, I
have to say I do not understand what Dan means when he says the extension
to low C adds "character" to the sound. "Character", to me, is even more
vague than "dark" or "bright". Clarification would be greatly appreciated.
The list has been too quiet lately, anyway.
-Adam
At 11:27 AM 8/4/2005, dnleeson wrote:
>I get the impression from this note that Adam considers the use
>of the low C bass clarinet from ca. 1955 to be an age of darkness
>and ignorance, that few had the instrument, and that the
>oppontunity to use its extreme low tones was rare.
>
>If I have correctly stated what I believe to be the essence of
>Adam's ideas, I think his perspective to be excessive. I bought
>my first low C bass in Paris in 1962. I found it advantageous to
>have one, even at that early age, for two reasons. One was the
>literature and even by that time the were significant works in
>the repertoire that called for the notes, and the other was that
>the added wood that gave the instrument its low note capability
>also added character to the sound of the instrument even when the
>low notes were not played.
>
>Adam cites Jimmy Abato's views on how things were. Jimmy is and
>has been one of the finest players that I ever had the privilege
>to work with. When he was in the section, the intoration was
>like a laster beam. He performances were things of wonder and I
>don't remember him ever missing a note, though I don't want to
>give the impression that I played with him constantly for years
>and years.
>
>Having said all of that about Jimmie, I want to distinguish his
>extraordinary musicianship and facility on his instruments from
>his knowledge of music history and appreciation (or lack of it)
>for musicological subtlties. Those were not aspects on which he
>was well-equipped to comment. Bottom line is that his comments,
>as given by Adam, must be tempered by his lack of a broad general
>knowledge of what was happening in the clarinet world in general.
>I suspect that if a low C was in a part that Jimmie was playing,
>he would not have given the matter of playing it an octave higher
>a second thought. Things like that were not important to him.
>
>Dan Leeson
>DNLeeson@-----.net
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Adam Michlin [mailto:amichlin@-----.com]
>Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2005 7:49 AM
>To: klarinet@-----.org
>Subject: [kl] Low C Bass Clarinets
>
>
>Dear List,
>
>I had a chance to discuss low C bass clarinets with Jimmy Abato
>and wanted
>to share his input. Playing with the NY Philharmonic in the 40s,
>he only
>had need of a bass clarinet to low C once, for Shostakovich 7.
>Playing with
>the Met until the late 90s, he can only recall having to use a
>bass
>clarinet to low C once, but he isn't entirely sure. He has never
>owned a
>low C bass clarinet and in both cases can remember borrowing an
>instrument
>for the performance. He tells me this was not at all uncommon
>among the
>circle of players he knew.
>
>It seems that most (Northern American) players in the early
>second half of
>the twentieth century played on low Eb bass clarinets and
>borrowed low C
>bass clarinets when necessary. My tentative conclusion is that it
>was not
>acceptable to ignore notes below Eb on bass clarinet parts, but
>most
>players could not justify the cost of or, perhaps, hassles
>associated with
>owning early model low C bass clarinets.
>
>FWIW,
>
> -Adam
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