Klarinet Archive - Posting 000448.txt from 2010/09

From: Diego Casadei <casadei.diego@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Improvising in Mozart's clarinet music
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2010 03:39:35 -0400

Few years ago I heard Carbonare playing Mozart's concerto with a a
basset clarinet under the direction of Abbado. The conductor insisted
quite a lot on adding (moderate) variations whenever a phrase was
repeated, and Carbonare did it. The biggest impact was indeed in the
slow movement, in which repetitions are several (but the orchestra never
added variations) and improvisations can take more time to develop.

I must say that I did not like the result. But I think that it is
coherent with a view of the piece which attempts to return the spirit of
the Mozart time and "per se" is not bad at all. Surely, the way I've
been used to consider such concerto (like a sacred opus) does not allow
me to easily digest a lot of variations, but this is my own limit, not a
fault of the soloist and conductors (you can imagine how good was the
level of the execution).

Indeed, I like playing (small) variations on the quintet (apart from the
first movement), but to me this piece looks like a completely different
opus, with a different aim and a different spirit (much more "giocoso"
than the concerto).

On the side of the concerto, I would prefer to spend some time
investigating about different possibilities for the "cadenze",
expecially on the two which are inserted in the first movement. If you
consider the piano concertos, for example, they are available with
several variations, all of them being quite long and presenting again a
lot of material from the original Mozart themes. Still, in the clarinet
concerto, at most we usually play a few notes to add few seconds only.
(Again, this is in tune with the "sacred" view of the music which I've
been taught in my life.)

Cheers,
Diego

Dan Leeson wrote:
> One way to begin is to study Jazz improvisation. Larry Combs, who is a
> fantastic jazz player, uses the same skill to improvise in Mozart
> performances.
>
> Next, get a score of any Mozart piano concerto that Levin has recorded and
> study the score while listening to him play until you eyeballs hurt. You
> need to become very familiar with what Mozart wrote and how you can present
> the same material without wandering off into cyberspace. Keep it simple. If
> someone who knows the composition well recognizes that you have improvised,
> you have done too much. Less is more.
>
> Third, examine the third and fourth measure of the clarinet solo in K. 622.
> That is where the clarinetist enters for the first time after the
> orchestra's long introduction. The third measure consists of two notes,
> which are repeated: f-d, f-d. The question you want to face is, "How can I
> play the second of the f-d pair in a way that is different from the first"?
> Find 25 ways to play the second f-d that makes it different from the first.
> This is the "wax on, wax off" method of learning how to improvise. You will
> say, "what does this have to do with improvisation?" and I say, "wax on, wax
> off."
>
> Now consider the next measure of the clarinet solo. It is nothing more than
> a "c" followed by a "b." Find 25 different ways to get from the c to the b.
> Reject all that are too busy, and replace them with very simple ways. For
> example: c-edcb. How about c-dcdb. In both cases, figure out a rhythm that
> works with this suggestion. And you can't use these two in the 25 you are
> trying to invent. I own them. They are copyrighted.
>
> Finally this: whenever you come to the end of a phrase, find some an
> interesting way to come to the end of the phrase differently than simply
> arriving there as suggested by the composer.
>
> It is not simple. We clarinetists are trained to play what is written and
> are given very little opportunity encourage to move away from that dictum.
>
> Dan Leeson.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Wayne Thompson"<wthompson7274@-----.net>
> To: "clarinet"<klarinet@-----.com>
> Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2010 1:27 PM
> Subject: [kl] Improvising in Mozart's clarinet music
>
>
> Dan wrote,
> "I have often spoken about how performances of Mozart's clarinet music (and
> Beethoven's and Schubert's and others) are invariably well-played but frozen
> and
> unchanged from performance to performance, from player to player......
> etc.."
>
> Dan, double check your You Tube addresses. They don't seem to work.
>
> You've mentioned this before, Dan. I wonder if you know of, or if anyone
> else
> has opinions on schools or teachers that teach improvisation. Where can a
> student go to learn?
>
> Wayne Thompson
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--

Diego Casadei
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