Klarinet Archive - Posting 000123.txt from 2009/02

From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.org>
Subj: Re: [kl] Brahms quintet
Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:58:14 -0500

On Feb 5, Tony Pay wrote:
> > Are you seriously suggesting he changed clarinets to switch reeds as th=
=3D
>e
>> primary motivating factor in switching to the B-flat????????
>
>Yes.

I must say, I was stunned by this response. It=20
took me awhile to absorb the absurdity of it.

=46irst, if this was your point, then you are a=20
master of circumlocution. Why didn't you simply=20
say so, instead of using so many varied and=20
ambiguous terms?

Second, I find this theory highly unlikely for=20
the following obvious and very significant reason:

At m81 of the second movement, the B-flat=20
clarinet and reed would have been sitting unused=20
for a minimum of 20 minutes at this point! The=20
first movement is 12:30 and we are 7:30 into the=20
second. There are only four slow beats of rest.

It's not like changing reeds between movements or=20
pieces, where one would have time to try the=20
reed, possibily readjust it or re-wet it. When a=20
reed has been sitting unplayed for 20 minutes on=20
a mouthpiece (or even 7:30 if you assume he=20
stopped between movements to prep and play his=20
new reed--which would be very annoying in=20
performance), I most certainly would not want to=20
have to immediately play a difficult passage, and=20
I am willing to bet that most other clarinetists=20
(including M=FChlfeld) would agree.

=46urthermore, the odds that it will have that=20
exact sonic quality that you describe, in in your=20
circumlocution, after sitting unused for 20=20
minutes (or 7:30), are virtually nil.

This is a dubious argument at best.

--Jonathan

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

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