Klarinet Archive - Posting 000087.txt from 2008/10

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Karl Leister K.622
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2008 11:22:57 -0400

I think that Tony's comment that Leister's edition of K. 622 would only be
"another redundant attempt at transcribing a performer's personal
preferences" means something like the following:

An editor's job is to state what the composer meant in his or her
occasionally ambiguous or unclear notation. And to do that, the editor needs
to have the source material for the work in question.

In the case of 622, that is impossible. So what is done instead is to
prepare an edition in the way that the editor likes to play the piece. And
such editions are, in my opinion, not worth buying. It doesn't matter how
fine the player, he or she has nothing but opinion to offer about the
ambiguities in the composition. It takes no training at all to hold an
opinion.

When at 16 I studied with Dave Weber, his coaching on how to play K. 622 was
mostly preceded by the words, "I like to do it this way..." It took me many
years to understand, that that approach to editing or playing a work was not
useful, and was, in fact, destructive.

Some, I don't remember who, wrote a book on how to play K. 622 and did so by
interviewing five world-class players and then writing down their thoughts
about how they liked to play K. 622. It resolved nothing, and was in no way
helpful in resolving the K. 622 problem, all of whose elements can be
wrapped up by recognizing that there is no autograph available and,
therefore, no way to know what Mozart might have meant.

Dan Leeson
dnleeson@-----.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2008 6:09 AM
Subject: [kl] Karl Leister K.622

> Tony Pay wrote,
>>As I suspected. Another redundant attempt at transcribing a
>>performer's personal preferences.
>>
>>And, in Keith Koon's case, another redundant attempt to make such
>>an attempt meaningful.
>
> Tony, could you please elaborate on that comment? There's not enough
> context for me to understand it, although I assume it's in response to the
> messages from Gary Van Cott, who asked:
>>> Is anyone familiar with an edition of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto
>>> edited by Karl Leister? A customer asked about it today. It isn't
>>> listed in Keith Koons article from 1998.
>
> and David Kumpf, who replied.
>>>>Gary, see the article by Keith in the June 2008 issue of The
>>>>Clarinet (pp 34-35, vol 35 no 3). There is an edition published
>>>>by Edizioni Musicali Euphonia, Pisogne Italy.
>>>> www.edizionieufonia.it This one is edited by Leister.
>
> Thanx,
> Lelia Loban
> Obama for President!
> http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/Lelia_Loban
>
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>

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