Klarinet Archive - Posting 000409.txt from 2005/08

From: X-MailScanner-tom.henson@-----.com
Subj: RE: [kl] Brahms 4th Symphony - 3rd Movement
Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 13:28:01 -0400

Well I wasn't going to make too much on this point, but it may be a
valid example of some discussion that has taken place on this list just
recently about how knowledgeable the composer was to an instruments
actual range and if they ever made this mistake. But Dan is correct in
that only the manuscript would bear this out.

In the mean-time, I just got off the phone with Gary Van Cott and could
kick myself for not ordering his CD rom library for clarinet before now.
I would have had the full part to look at right away and not had to
worry about excerpts. Gary, being the true gentleman that he is will
rush this to me so I will have it by tomorrow.

A big public thank you to you Gary!

Now getting back to the issue of transposition, I completely agree that
this is a valuable skill and I have had to do this in the past. I guess
after not having to do this for about 25 years I am not very confident
in my ability being so rusty. I guess when one wants to play orchestral
music that this should be expected.=20

I also wonder how many editors in the past would take a manuscript that
was written in a single key, say the key of C, and then transpose the
individual parts out for the available instrumentation of the day as
indicated by the composer. Kind of like what a book editor would do in
cleaning up the grammar and punctuation in an manuscript. I have a
feeling that some composers did compose in only a single key to make
their lives easier, albeit lazy. I can just hear a composition teacher
saying, "No composer worth their salt would ever compose in a single
key".

Tom Henson

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