Klarinet Archive - Posting 000099.txt from 2008/12

From: Nancy Buckman <eefer@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Gran Partitta: Alto versus Basset
Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2008 22:38:05 -0500

Tom,=0D
=0D
If you want to play K. 361 blowing through the sewer pipes, it would probab=
ly sound =0D
absolutely lovely. In fact, after listening to you play just about every k=
ind of =0D
music possible on a clarinet, and the "Dustbuster", and have it come out =
=0D
entrancingly beautiful, you could probably fart through a kazoo and do a wo=
nderful =0D
job. But that is where I draw the line. "YOU" are not the everyday amateu=
r =0D
musician.=0D
=0D
I have loved K. 361 ever since the first time I heard it about 35 years ago=
, just a =0D
dozen or so years after the "Marlboro" recording of which Bear speaks. At =
that =0D
time I wanted so badly to play it with four Bb clarinets. I hadn't even he=
ard of a =0D
basset horn back then. My orchestra was in its infancy and so was I, as fa=
r as =0D
good performance practice was concerned. After we performed it and I heard=
the =0D
recording, I wanted to crawl under the carpet. The notes were right, but t=
he =0D
interpretation and timbres were REALLY wrong.=0D
=0D
Sitting with you and Keith last spring and playing K. 361 was one of the mo=
st =0D
marvelous musical experiences of my life. I know there were things that co=
uld have =0D
been done much better, but just the experience of sitting among the sound w=
aves =0D
that Mozart intended made the hair on my neck stand up. THAT is a very pec=
uliar =0D
feeling and I have only experienced it a couple of times....once when playi=
ng =0D
Wagner's "Lohengrin", and again when I played Beethoven's Symphony #6.=0D
=0D
There is some "museum music" which begs to stay in the museum. And since w=
e have =0D
modern insrtuments that are so much easier to play and make it sound just a=
s lovely =0D
as originally intended, people who want to perform it on inferior instrume=
nts =0D
should be prepared for words and comments of discontent from those who work=
so hard =0D
to perform it as it was intended.=0D
=0D
I have no gripe with trying new things, especially from musicians with the =
=0D
education and skills to put the new things in the correct perspective. Bea=
r is a =0D
highly qualified and skilled "composer". He writes the most wonderful musi=
c and I =0D
enjoy playing and performing his music. He is not, however, a highly quali=
fied and =0D
skilled wind or string musician. So when he wants to take something by Moz=
art, of =0D
all composers, and have the average everyday amateur musician ruin it with =
the =0D
abominable alto clarinets of today, I object strongly. And I am sorry, but=
a bass =0D
clarinet does no justice to a basset horn part, EXCEPT possibly in your han=
ds or =0D
someone else's.....someone who has spent many years learning to play a bass=
and =0D
control it. I would have to hear it though, to decide whether I might agre=
e that =0D
it was acceptable.=0D
=0D
Over the course of the last year and a half, I have listened to just about =
every =0D
basset horn recording out there. I have spent countless hours trying instr=
uments =0D
from here in the Baltimore/D.C> area to New york and Boston, and then again=
in =0D
vancouver, B.C. IMHO, there are no two bassets that compare, as a pair, as=
those =0D
two that Keith and I played on....not for sound quality and/or ease of play=
. While =0D
I love my Leblanc (which could be considered an excellent alto clarinet in =
F, given =0D
its bore dimensions), I would give my eye teeth to have one of Steve Fox's =
=0D
bassets. The day I bought my Leblanc, the price went up from four figures =
to well =0D
over the basement five figures. I feel lucky to have bought the thing when=
I did.=0D
Messing with Mozart, most especially K. 361, is like messing with Mother Na=
ture, =0D
and we all know what happens when you mess with her!=0D
=0D
Most respectfuly,=0D
=0D
Nancy=0D
=0D
P.S. When are you going to finish recording the "Rose Etudes"?=0D
=0D
Nancy Buckman=0D
Orchestra AACC=0D
Opera AACC=0D
Baltimore Flute Choir=0D
Early Music Society of Northern MD=0D
eefer@-----.com=0D
=0D
=0D

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