Klarinet Archive - Posting 000064.txt from 2009/02

From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.org>
Subj: Re: [kl] Brahms quintet
Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:22:15 -0500

At 5:53 PM +0000 2/3/09, Tony Pay wrote:
>This is an ill-considered, parochial judgement. Actually, F# minor and D
>major on the Ottensteiner instrument that M=FChlfeld used involve 'simpler'
>fingerings, in the sense of your 'obvious' physics, than do F minor and Db
>major.
>
>That's a consequence of the fact that the top C# and throat F# are fingered
>using just the thumb +/- speaker key, and the clarion F# using just RH1 (pl=
us
>LH, of course).

=46irst, their are many fingerings (even on the=20
Ottensteiner) for the specific notes you mention=20
as there are for any fifth harmonic notes. So you=20
have no way of knowing which ones he used.

Second, if the issue is not simpler fingering as=20
you seem to be saying, then it must be something=20
other than fingering. (Certainly, the fingering=20
is pretty simple either way.)

Your guess that it might be that M=FChlfeld's=20
B-flat clarinet was somehow more powerful than=20
his A is probably not correct. His instruments=20
were both made by Ottensteiner, and I would be=20
willing to bet that they have very similar cutoff=20
frequency curves. That would mean that they have=20
very similar "brightness". Certainly, the=20
A-clarinet, with the larger, longer bore, would=20
produce more sound energy. So the A is likely the=20
more "powerful" of the two.

I think it is much more likely that the=20
sound/intonation/resonance of the F minor stuff=20
was better than the F# minor stuff (whatever=20
fingerings he used).

Third, it is obviously true that on any modern=20
day clarinet that F Minor is both slightly easier=20
to finger and has better=20
sound/intonation/resonance, and the instrument IS=20
brighter (the cutoff frequency curves of modern=20
day B-flats is noticeably higher than that for A=20
clarinets).

Therefore, whether the reason was that he wanted=20
a brighter sound (your supposition in your post=20
from 2000), or that he wanted a better=20
sound/intonation/resonance, the conclusion is the=20
same: it should be played on B-flat as I said.

M=FChlfeld played it on B-flat with Brahms obvious=20
knowledge and obvious approval. We are in=20
agreement that it was probably not because the=20
fingering was easier (it may have been slightly=20
harder or easier, but not very decisive).

I say it was the sound/intonation/resonance. You=20
say it was the brightness. Or in inverted Cole=20
Porter, "You say po-tah-to, I say po-tay-to."

Best,
Jonathan
--
Jonathan Cohler
Artistic & General Director
International Woodwind Festival
http://iwwf.org/
cohler@-----.org

------------------------------------------------------------------
The 2009 Woodwind.Org Donation Drive is going on right now - see
https://secure.donax-us.com/donation/ for more information.
------------------------------------------------------------------