Klarinet Archive - Posting 000226.txt from 2010/05

From: corvo di bassetto <rab@-----.de>
Subj: Re: [kl] Clarinet in C
Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 05:49:28 -0400

Yeah, but how about having a historically correct clarinet made? Strauss did not write for Boehm system instruments and the C clarinet called for by Schubert has very little in common with the kind of instrument discussed here. Would that not also produce a "sonic character that is not what the composer had in mind"?
To me this problem is indeed so severe, that I can hardly play French music written in 1925 on anything but a French clarinet made in around 1925. This would of cause be entirely inappropriate (even though I use Albert instruments) for Brahms. Sure enough, various clarinets, being quite different in feel, intonation, keywork, produce enormous problems if you have to switch all the time, hence I am afraid this would not be an option for a regular orchestra musician. On the same line it appears a practical solution that if you have to play on modern standard instruments with the capacity to play difficult passages in x flats or sharps, why not play everything on the e-flat and Bb you are used to? It won't be historically correct anyway yet at least well executed. I am hearing a lot of historically "authentic" performances with a level of technical proficiency so low it is certainly not what the composers wanted either.

Best regards
danyel

Am 22.05.2010 um 19:47 schrieb Dan Leeson:

> I almost never played the piccolo clarinet parts. I did Til Eulenspiegel
> once on an E-flat, and one of the Mahler symphonies also on E-flat though
> the part called for a D. But if I were playing today, I would have a D made
> for me.
>
> I do not think that my conception of what instrument to play on is more
> finely attuned than the composer's perception. In effect, the use of a
> clarinet pitch not called for by the composer runs the risk of producing a
> sonic character that is not what the composer had in mind.
>
> Dan
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Martin Baxter" <martinbaxter1@-----.com>
> To: "The Klarinet Mailing List" <klarinet@-----.com>
> Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 10:31 AM
> Subject: Re: [kl] Clarinet in C
>
>
>> On this topic Dan how do you feel about D clarinet parts being played, as
>> they almost always are, on the Eflat clarinet.
>> Martin
>> On 21 May 2010, at 23:48, Dan Leeson wrote:
>>
>>> And some 15 years ago, when I first began banging on the C clarinet drum
>>> on
>>> this web site, suggesting that clarinetists had no business deciding
>>> which
>>> to use when playing but should respect the composer's request, there was
>>> a
>>> great deal of rejection of my philosophy. I may have been a prophet
>>> ahead
>>> of my time. Every symphonic clarinetist should have an A, B-flat, and C
>>> clarinet at all gigs. It should be a condition of employment.
>>>
>>> Dan Leeson
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Keith Bowen" <keith.bowen@-----.com>
>>> To: "'The Klarinet Mailing List'" <klarinet@-----.com>
>>> Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 3:30 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [kl] Clarinet in C
>>>
>>>
>>>> I have had an Amati C for several years, and also bought two in Prague
>>>> for
>>>> US friends. They do play nicely and are incredible value. I did some
>>>> work
>>>> on
>>>> the intonation (following Clark Fobes valuable advice on his website);
>>>> the
>>>> oldest one needed a lot of work, but the more recent ones very little.
>>>> They
>>>> have had strong development in the last few years. They really are fine
>>>> for
>>>> the use you describe, and the conductor of my pro-am orchestra commented
>>>> favourably when I and the professional first used them in Beethoven 5.
>>>> He
>>>> felt the different sound quality was striking and important. I have
>>>> played
>>>> them against the cheaper Noblets and Buffets and prefer the Amatis.
>>>>
>>>> I have recently indulged myself in a Wurlitzer C to match my Reform
>>>> Boehm
>>>> A
>>>> and Bb, but that is because I am playing more Harmoniemusik, in which C
>>>> is
>>>> very common and exposed. And it was an indulgence.
>>>>
>>>> There are hundreds of works that call for the C. Clarinet manuals
>>>> throughout
>>>> the nineteenth century remark on the different tone: more penetrating
>>>> and
>>>> brighter, and how composers must allow for this. It is, in my view, a
>>>> mistake to try to make a C sound like a Bb, or to play the parts on a
>>>> Bb.
>>>>
>>>> Keith Bowen
>>>>
>>>
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>>
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