Klarinet Archive - Posting 000108.txt from 2007/03

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Les violins du Roy - For Simon Aldrich
Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2007 20:19:34 -0500

To Simon Aldrich,

Simon, I had an opportunity to hear a pre-release of a disk in
which the Violins du Roy played the Mozart Requiem with a first
class chorus, Labadie conducting. While the performance was
stupendous, the orchestra used not basset horns but clarinets. A
very lovely woman played second clarinet, and a particularly fine
male player played first.

Questions: who were these players and are they regulars with
Violins du Roy?

Why in God's green earth did they play clarinets? The orchestra
uses baroque bows, 18th century trumpets (with contemporary
pitch). So why would they use clarinets. The performance of the
work was negatively influenced by the clarinets, not in their
performances but in the character of sound produced..

I can think of only two reasons: (1) Labadie requested it, (2) no
one in Montreal has basset horns.

I sent a rather critical note to Labadie because I had a tiny
role in the performance. I assisted by providing historical
background, and suggested the filming of the Castly Stuppach in
the city of Stuppach, which was owned by the man who commissioned
the work. Needless to say I was very unhappy with the clarinet
decision.

Please don't feel that I am asking for confidences. I'm not. I
just want to know who those fine players were, and why they
executed on instruments explicitly uncalled for by the composer.

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Simon Aldrich [mailto:simonaldrich@-----.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 4:53 PM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: [kl] Hole in bell to sharpen long B?

Hello all

My C clarinet has good pitch overall but is conspicuously flat on
the
long B and C (and the low E and F).
I hope this problem can be addressed by shortening the bell or
enlarging the resonance hole already in the bell (24mm from the
top
of the bell).
My C clarinet's bell is 92 mm (which does not seem overly long
since
my Eb clarinet's bell is 76mm and my D clarinet's bell is 81mm).

Firstly, does anyone have any experience enlarging a resonance
hole
in the bell to raise the pitch of the nearby notes (long B and
C)?
Secondly does anyone have any experience with the more invasive
notion of shortening the bell to raise those notes?

Thanks in advance.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
-------
---
Simon Aldrich

Clarinet Faculty - McGill University
Principal Clarinet - Orchestre Metropolitain de Montreal
Principal Clarinet - Orchestre de l'Opera de Montreal
Clarinet - Nouvel Ensemble Moderne
Buffet-Crampon Artist/Clinician

-----------------------------------------------------------------
-

--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.7/713 - Release Date:
3/7/2007 9:24 AM

--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.7/713 - Release Date:
3/7/2007 9:24 AM

------------------------------------------------------------------