Klarinet Archive - Posting 000236.txt from 2009/02

From: Michael Whight <michaelwhight@-----.uk>
Subj: RE: [kl] Brahms quintet
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:43:09 -0500

Of course if everyone in an ensemble has such definite ideas about what you=
=3D
should do then you just get chaos. The more I play they less I feel sure a=
=3D
bout,the more I want to discover and the more I want to include others. In =
=3D
general I think it is a bad idea in rehearsal to use the words I, you or he=
=3D
/she especially in conjunction with the words 'should' or any negative beca=
=3D
use it does not encourage participation or an organic exploration but rathe=
=3D
r imposes ego on the musical process.

When talking about the word 'should' in this discussion I take it to be att=
=3D
ached to ideas not concrete things such as notes...perhaps we don=3DC2=3DB4=
t ne=3D
ed to be that pedantic?

As a matter of interest, what is playing in tune? There certainly is no abs=
=3D
olute for this. Rhythm? Again many variables. Or do you mean Meter? Good so=
=3D
und is a matter of taste and as Tony pointed out it is a fluid process of m=
=3D
any sounds, not just one, that makes a player seem to have a good sound. Th=
=3D
e notes that a composer writes are open to interpretation within the stylis=
=3D
tic boundaries of the piece so plenty of variance there. Practicing is a di=
=3D
fferent matter and sadly I have never won an audition in my life.

I can only say that my experience of working with composers is that the pro=
=3D
cess can be flexible.=3D20

We haven=3DC2=3DB4t even touched on the subject of acoustics. I have taken =
part=3D
in hilarious performances of Beethoven where the director has insisted on =
=3D
the 'correct' metronome speeds ( fast ) in a bathroom acoustic. I think any=
=3D
sane musician would be adaptive. In short,IMHO there is no 'one way or the=
=3D
highway' in music.

Michael Whight

--- On Wed, 11/2/09, Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.org> wrote:
From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.org>
Subject: RE: [kl] Brahms quintet
To: klarinet@-----.org
Date: Wednesday, 11 February, 2009, 9:07 PM

At 10:08 PM +0000 2/10/09, Michael Wnight wrote:
> Jonathan...there is no such thing as should in music...only infinite
possibilities

Nonsense. Classical musical, especially, is filled with shoulds from start=
=3D
to
finish. If you want to excel in classical music,

You should play in tune.
You should play in rhythm.
You should play together (ensemble).
You should play with a good sound.
You should play what the composer wrote.
You should practice to get better.
You should take lots of auditions if you want to win some.

The fact that playing classical music is an art form doesn't mean that
there isn't a huge objective basis for developing that art to high level.

> and anyone who has worked with great composers will know that they are
very pragmatic and open to variance.

Wrong. Some are/were, some (most, in fact) emphatically are/were not. And i=
=3D
t
our ethical duty to (i.e. we SHOULD) attempt to find out, to the best of ou=
=3D
r
ability, what it is the composer wanted in performing their works.

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

--- On Wed, 11/2/09, Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.org> wrote:

> From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.org>
> Subject: RE: [kl] Brahms quintet
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Date: Wednesday, 11 February, 2009, 9:26 PM
> At 10:31 PM +0000 2/10/09, Matthew Lloyd wrote:
> > Did you ever explain why it was obvious Brahms
> approved?
> >=20
> > And was it a scientific explanation?
> >=20
> > Matthew
> >=20
>=20
> No science here. Just history, logic and some common
> sense...
>=20
> Brahms worked closely with Muhlfeld for the last 7 years of
> his life, performing with him on many occasions and
> attending his performances and rehearsals on many others.=20
> The Quintet was premiered on a concert with the Trio in
> which Brahms played the piano part.
>=20
> The private premiere took place on November 24, 1891 at the
> Court of Meiningen (where Muhlfeld was the Court Music
> Director and principal clarinetist of the orchestra) with
> Muhlfeld, Joachim, Robert Hausmann (cellist of the Joachim
> quartet) and two other players from the Court orchestra.
> Brahms played the Trio with Muhlfeld and Hausmann on this
> same concert. Shortly after, on December 10 (in an open
> dress rehearsal) and again on December 12, Muhlfeld repeated
> the performances of both works, but this time with the full
> Joachim Quartet on their concert series at the Berlin
> Singakademie.
>=20
> Brahms was enamored of Muhlfeld's playing and OBVIOUSLY
> directly involved in all the rehearsals and all the concerts
> where the work was initially performed. He was so close to
> Muhlfeld that he actually gave the manuscripts for the two
> Sonatas along with the performing rights fees to Muhlfeld as
> a gift.
>=20
> He wrote to Clara Schumann at the end of July 1891:
>=20
> "You cannot imagine what a clarinetist this Muhlfeld
> of Meiningen is. He is the best wind player I have ever
> known. Admittedly, for various reasons, this art has
> declined generally very much. The wind players in the
> orchestra in Vienna and some other locations are solid and
> very good, but in their solo playing one takes no real
> pleasure."
>=20
> After the open dress rehearsal of the Trio and Quintet on
> December 10, 1891, he wrote to his friend and music critic
> Eduard Hanslick:
>=20
> "Joachim has relinquished the virginity of his Quartet
> to my newest works. Hitherto, he has zealously protected the
> virgin sanctum, but now, despite my protestations to the
> contrary, he insists that I penetrate it with clarinet and
> piano, with trio and quintet. It will happen on the 12th of
> December with the Meiningen clarinetist. Tell Mandyczewski
> (or let him read) that the quintet 'Adagio con
> sordini' was played as often and long as the clarinetist
> could endure"
>=20
> Brahms extremely close association with Muhlfeld from the
> works' births until his death, coupled with his constant
> and effusive praise for Muhlfeld's playing in general
> and his interpretation of Brahms work in particular, lead
> one to the likely conclusion that Brahms "obviously
> approved" of the clarinet switch in the Adagio--which
> one SHOULD do. :-)
>=20
> Best,
> -- Jonathan Cohler
> Artistic & General Director
> International Woodwind Festival
> http://iwwf.org/
> cohler@-----.org
>=20
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> The 2009 Woodwind.Org Donation Drive is going on right now
> - see
> https://secure.donax-us.com/donation/ for more information.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> klarinet-digest-unsubscribe@-----.org if you get the
> digest.

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