Klarinet Archive - Posting 000032.txt from 2009/09

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mozart Bassethorn trios - key?
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:44:14 -0400

That the trios spoken of have most of the movements in the written key of C
is not surprising. In theory, clarinets were restricted to the written keys
of C and F. In a series of lessons that Mozart gave to an English pupil,
Thomas Atwood, he explicitly stated this to be case and wrote his directions
to Atwood in English.

Sarah Elbaz' comments about playing the trios on three clarinets, one of
which is a basset clarinet, are quite correct. However, the restriction
that the three instruments be pitched in A -- with the third being a basset
clarinet -- is too severe. According to the Groves Dictionary's essay on
clarinets, Stadler is said to have owned three basset instruments in C,
B-flat, and A.

Today, one can request a contemporary basset clarinet in B-flat from, for
example, Steve Fox in Canada. And for anyone who will be required to play
the aria, "Parto, Parto" from the opera Titus, the instrument called for is
definitely a basset clarinet in B-flat.

What this says is that the performance of the trios on three B-flat
clarinets is equally satisfactory. It would even work on three C
instruments, if one had a basset clarinet in C. That A instruments can be
used is also true, but I don't find any particular advantage in using them.
The different tonal character of A clarinets does not, in my opinion, add
any benefit, and that's because I don't think that the A instruments are
softer or darker than B-flat instruments. Different, yes. But soft and
dark is in the ear of the listener.

Dan Leeson
dnleeson@-----.net

.
----- Original Message -----
From: "sarah elbaz" <sarah@-----.com>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 12, 2009 8:02 AM
Subject: Re: [kl] Mozart Bassethorn trios - key?

>
>
>
> >
>> > In all the versions I've seen, most of the movements are in the
>> written key of
>> > C (except of course the bassoon part in the 2 clarinet & bassoon
>> version).
>> > The reconstructions for 3 basset horns, by Trio di Clarone and others
>> can be
>> > played by 3 basset horns, if you have them; 3 bass clarinets, with one
>> to low
>> > C; or any 3 like clarinets if one goes to low C. You can play it with
>> 2
>> > Bb clarinets and a bass to low C, and in fact the version by Alea
>> press (
>> > http://www.bassclarinet.org/alea/ ) labels the parts that way, though
>> to my
>> > mind/ear it puts the rumbly bass along way below the other 2 parts.
>> >
> One of the best options to play the divertimentos, as was suggested by
> Tony Pay, is in two clarinets in A and a basst clarinet in A.
> It sounds soft and dark almost as the basset horns, and if you have budget
> problems, it is much easier to buy one basset clarinet (and play the
> concerto with it too:-) , instead of 3 basset horns.
> Sarah
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>

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