Klarinet Archive - Posting 000004.txt from 2006/03

From: Joseph Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Comparative performance styles of Schumann's Fantasiestucke
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2006 14:08:35 -0500

David Blumberg wrote:
> I just listened to the Kell recording and he absolutely played the 1st
> mvt on Bb - I'm sure about that. It was obvious in the 1st 2 measures.
> I don't have the 2nd as I didn't get it from ITUNES but you would
> figure that he played all on the same Clarinet.

Sure, I'm not trying to say that it's not possible to make a good
judgement. What I'm getting at here is that I'm not sure a personal
judgement by ear, good or not, is really going to stand up on an
academic paper. ;-)

To mention using the Bb as a possible performance variant, of course, is
completely right, but if one wants to talk about actual examples I'd
suggest that it's unwise unless decent backup evidence can be found,
e.g. a player known to have played only on full-Boehm Bb's.

The reason I'm being fussy is, well, for example, a while back someone
posted to the list about a compilation CD he made for students with
various contrasting performance styles. He gave students notes about
what to look out for in each track. One of the tracks was a Thea King
performance and the students were advised, 'Note the sound character of
the "wide bore" English clarinet.' Only, as Tony P. was able to
confirm, the actual instrument used on the recording was an R13.

Personal judgements by ears alone can be... unreliable. ;-)

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