Klarinet Archive - Posting 000318.txt from 2008/01

From: kurtheisig@-----.net
Subj: RE: [kl] Mendelssohn and C clarinets
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:49:05 -0500

Danny,

I own 2 fine C's. One an Amellotte, and the other a 1975 Buffet. Whenever C clarinet is called for I bring both and offer to let the other player use the Buffet, which is less cranky, though lacking that lyric sound of the Amelotte. Usually the player will refuse to try it, for any of a variety of reasons. None of them are logical, since he refuses BEFORE trying the instrument.

When you are coming down, let me know ahead of time and I will bring them to the shop for you to see. Also, much of the band library is from the 1800's and calls for both Bb and C clarinets in many of the arrangements. Since the ones that call for C clarinet seldom have oboe, one assumes it was because of the lack of oboe players in town and company bands in those days? Rocky Rojas has played my C on some of them in concert and the sound is NICE in band!

Kurt

-----Original Message-----
>From: Daniel Leeson <dnleeson@-----.net>
>Sent: Jan 28, 2008 12:01 PM
>To: klarinet@-----.org
>Subject: RE: [kl] Mendelssohn and C clarinets
>
>I thank Mike for giving his experience with C clarinets, which I believe to
>be absolutely accurate. About 15 years ago, I played basset horn in a
>performance of Richard Strauss' "Happy Workshop." The piece calls for 5
>clarinet players, 2 of whom play B-flat clarinet, 1 who plays C clarinet,
>plus basset horn and bass clarinet (separate players). Wonderful piece.
>
>At the first rehearsal (to which I had brought my C clarinet knowing that an
>opportunity was likely to arise), the fine first player of the St. Louis
>Symphony played the C clarinet part on a B-flat clarinet transposing it. At
>the first break, I asked him if he would like to play the part on my C, and
>he was very hesitant saying that he had never found one that played well,
>and he didn't like them, etc.
>
>Still I suggested that he might try it, and perhaps to get me off his back,
>he agreed. Except at rehearsals, I never saw the C clarinet for several
>days. He had so fallen in love with the instrument's timbre, and the sound
>of the Strauss was so much improved by the instrument, that he would not
>give the instrument back to me until after the gig was over. We played that
>at the Summer Music program in Santa Barbara, so there was a lot of going to
>the beach. He even played my C on the beach. (I'd like to say that girls
>came around to frolic to the sound of C clarinet, but it didn't happen.)
>
>Two years later we played the other Strauss work called, "The Invalid's
>Workshop," a much more difficult work using A clarinets and an A bass. I
>still played basset horn. But the players changed, and the person who had
>the C clarinet part wouldn't hear of playing it on a C. And no amount of
>discussion caused him/her (I forget which) to chage the mind. The piece
>suffered badly because the wind voicings just didn't work.
>
>There was a lesson in there and even though I no longer play,I have not
>forgotten it to this day.
>
>Dan Leeson
>dnleeson@-----.net
>SKYPE: dnleeson
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Mike Vaccaro [mailto:mike@-----.com]
>Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 11:04 AM
>To: klarinet@-----.org
>Subject: Re: [kl] Mendelssohn and C clarinets
>
>
>I have transposed C clarinet parts many times. Having the advantage of
>owning a C clarinet with a good mouthpiece I can tell you when the whole
>section is playing on a C clarinet for a written C clarinet part it is quite
>a unique sound. I must believe that some composers actually wanted that
>sound. I have recorded the Caprice for C Clarinet and can say that the sound
>is worth the work of maintaining another instrument.
>
>Mike Vaccaro
>www.MikeVaccaro.Com
>www.VaccaroandStevensWoodwinds.Com
>www.MamdMMouthpieces.Com
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Daniel Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
>To: <klarinet@-----.org>
>Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 9:38 AM
>Subject: RE: [kl] Mendelssohn and C clarinets
>
>
>> That depends on both the publisher and the date of the publication. C
>> clarinets were in common use all the way through the last half of the 19th
>> century and into the 20th. I don't know when publishers started
>> transposing
>> clarinet parts for the convenience of those who could not transpose, but I
>> suspect it is a 20th century practice, say from the 1930's. But that is a
>> guess.
>>
>> Dan Leeson
>> dnleeson@-----.net
>> SKYPE: dnleeson
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Joseph H. Fasel [mailto:jhf@-----.gov]
>> Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 8:30 AM
>> To: klarinet@-----.org
>> Subject: RE: [kl] Mendelssohn and C clarinets
>>
>>
>> Hi Dan,
>>
>> That occurred to me (that the printed parts don't necessarily reflect
>> the composer's intent), but I would say that the presence of any C-
>> clarinet movements at all argues against that.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> --Joe
>>
>>
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