Klarinet Archive - Posting 000082.txt from 2008/12

From: Simon Aldrich <simonaldrich@-----.ca>
Subj: [kl] Bass/contrabassoon in gran Partitta
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:37:48 -0500

Up until the last time I did the gran Partitta, I had always played
with a group that used a bass *or* a contrabassoon.
The last time I performed it (in my orchestra's indoor summer series
last year) we used bass *and* contrabassoon.
The result was a sound combination so beautiful and transporting I
would never have guessed a single instrument's sound could be so
enriched by the addition of one instrument playing the same line.
It must have something to do with that fact that they are unlike bass
instruments. I have never heard a treble instrument's sound enhanced
to the same degree by adding another treble instrument to the same line.
The bass/contrabassoon combination produced an unbelievably rich,
downy, gossamer pillow on which the rest of us floated.
After experiencing the gran Partitta this way, I fear it will be hard
to go back to doing it the kosher way (with a single bass or
contrabassoon).

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Simon Aldrich

Clarinet Faculty - McGill University
Principal Clarinet - Orchestre Metropolitain de Montreal
Principal Clarinet - Orchestre de l'Opera de Montreal
Artistic Director - Jeffery Summer Concerts
Clarinet - Nouvel Ensemble Moderne

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