Klarinet Archive - Posting 000159.txt from 2009/02

From: Tom McKay <tjmckay@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] Bernstein sonata again
Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2009 10:07:09 -0500

A note and a question concerning the first movement of the Bernstein Sonata.
(I didn't see anything on these issues in the archived discussions.)

In the Boosey and Hawkes edition (2001), there is a wrong note in the
clarinet part in the bar before rehearsal letter D. The note should be a
clarinet E, not a D, and it is the end of a long note held from the previous
bar. (Three recordings I listened to all got it right --- i.e., played it as
in the score, not the B&H clarinet part.)

Question: At L there is a recapitulation of the opening theme. Since there
is no new tempo marking, the tempo here is half-note = 108, though the theme
was half-note = 88 the first time. This seems right to me, especially since
there is a Meno mosso, half-note = 100, later. The idea seems to be to play
the themes in the same order but to have the tempos descend instead of
ascend. (Ending at tempo 88 with a theme originally introduced at tempo
104.) But one interpreter (Yo-Yo Ma) slows it down to the original tempo
(88) at L (or something close to that). Is there any basis for this in any
edition or in any recording that might reflect Bernstein's thought?

Tom

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