Klarinet Archive - Posting 000121.txt from 2006/07

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] "The Magic Flute"
Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2006 09:53:07 -0400

The question that was posted is being overanswered.

I posted a note about Magic Flute which I had seen in Santa Fe. I also
included the names of all the clarinet players for this summer season of
2006. There was six or seven names.

A young poster then asked why there were so many clarinet players. She said
something like, "Why are more than 2 necessary?" It was clear that she was
inexperienced and it was not an unreasonable question for a high-schooler.

No one asked about the disposition of the clarinetists for Magic Flute,
though I am grateful that Steve correctly described the specifics of the
Magic Flute clarinet/basset horn demands. In his case, he cites that the
practice of switching from clarinet to basset horn is the usual habit for
the NY City Opera. It appears not to be the case for the Santa Fe opera
because the clarinet players did not switch. Instead, two additional
players busied themselves with the basset horns both at the end of act I and
the beginning of act II.

The young poster who started all this was not interested in the disposition
of players for the Magic Flute, but rather why the Santa Fe opera lists six
or seven names in the roster for clarinet players.

Now on to new things: last night's performance was Salome, the Richard
Strauss spectacular of 1903 or thereabouts. Considering the fact that the
music is now 100 or more years old, it is still a remarkable composition,
full of complexities, orchestrational effects, and technical demands that
are quite arresting. I never played Salome, but I think it calls for four
or five clarinetists who execute on A and B-flat for the first pair of
players, an E-flat, and a bass. Unlike Elektra, it has no basset horns (a
pair are needed for Elektra, which I have played) and the clarinettists
switch from B-flat to A, also unlike Elektra where two players play B-flat
and two additional player play on A.

It's still quite a piece of music.

Dan Leeson

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Hartman [mailto:sdh902@-----.net]
Sent: Sunday, July 23, 2006 7:18 AM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: [kl] "The Magic Flute"

"The Magic Flute" has two clarinets, both of which switch to bassett horn at
the end of Act I, if memory serves me correctly, and for the Masonic music
at the beginning of Act II.

Steve Hartman
New York City Opera

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