Klarinet Archive - Posting 000449.txt from 2010/09

From: Jennifer Jones <helen.jennifer@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Improvising in Mozart's clarinet music
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2010 06:46:38 -0400

OK. I'll do something.

On Thu, Sep 16, 2010 at 12:44 PM, Dan Leeson <dnleeson@-----.net> wrote:
> I have often spoken about how performances of Mozart's clarinet music (an=
d Beethoven's and Schubert's and others) are invariably >well-played but fr=
ozen and unchanged from performance to performance, from player to player. =
It is when I hear questions about >where the autograph of Mozart's clarinet=
concerto can be found, that I realize how little historical knowledge of p=
erformance issues of >18th century music can be found in today's world of c=
larinetdom.

I hang my head in shame and embarrassment at the ignorant question I
posed (simply because it slipped my mind 8^P ;+) [that is what
several years away from the list, working for 'tha man' and reading
Sandman comics will do to ya.]

> Except for the use of the basset clarinet, which allows some distinguishi=
ng of performers and performances, in almost every performance we hear, one=
could unplug one soloist and plug in another, so unvarying, constant, and =
unchanging is the solo line. All the players are brilliant, of course, but =
that is not enough. They need to be able to distinguish their performances =
from everyone else's.
>
> As much as I dearly love K. 622 and K. 581, I avoid performances in which=
I believe the soloist is not flamboyant enough to >improvise on the basic =
material provided by Mozart. In effect, few soloists distinguish their perf=
ormance by imaginative improvisations >so as to make the piece a display of=
their ingenuity built on Mozart's fundamental scheme. It was not until I h=
eard the brilliant >clarinetist, Robert Marcellus, create a dull performanc=
e of K. 622 did I realize how serious the problem was. He really thought th=
at >what he did would be perceived as introducing a high standard to perfor=
mance of the work, when, in my opinion, it was as dull as split >pea soup.

HEY! Don't you go denigrating split pea soup!!!!!! Split pea soup
with good ham can be really good! I think short of my mom's split pea
soup, I like those reconstitute-a-cup versions from the cup-o-noodles
aisle at the grocery store.

> Part 1:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DSVexD...eature=3Drelated
>
> Part 2:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DPBcqr...eature=3Drelated
>
> Here are two YOUTUBE films on the subject of improvisation. =A0You might =
find them interesting. Perhaps not.

Hmmm. The first link brings up things I've been looking at and the
second link brings up some completely unfamiliar stuff.

>Mozart wrote his music with clear indications of where to improvise. He sc=
reams at you, "DO SOMETHING," and to presume that to >do so violates the in=
tent of his music in some unidentified way is a pile doo doo. The problem i=
s that so few clarinetists are trained to >recognize the clear and unambigu=
ous signals he lays down.

What, like noting the part that is marked cadenza? And then playing
something other than what is written?

Would you kindly explain "In discussion with some of the leading
American clarinet players, I am often told that improvising on
Mozart's music is like gilding the lily. Sorry, but that old chestnut
no longer works."

Does this have anything to do with the chocolate sauce on asparagus -
vibrato simile?

I think that is the nicest fecal reference I've seen yet. Ties in
well with the chocolate sauce theme. Or the Jaws theme and a Baby
Ruth.

> I point out that a recording of K. 452, which included Tony Pay on clarin=
et and Levin as the pianist, all the players showed how a >performance of a=
work is transformed to a higher musical and artistic level by the simple a=
ct of changing the text.

I was trying to follow the Simrock score and my Schirmer library
edition with Fuchs' performances of Brahms' second sonata the other
day and can't quite get them to match. Any relation to this topic?

> It is not that there are no rules in which text to change and how to chan=
ge it. =A0There are, of course. =A0But stubbornness and old >fashioned thin=
king inhibit a move to another direction of performance in music of the cla=
ssic period.

Ignorance of basic harmonies? I learned the circle of fifths. I went
through the extended scales in Baermann's second book; even memorized
them, had them in mind for years. I played a year in jazz band. I
never got to the point of improvising though. Justin Mamen though
made my favorite solo though. He shifted into that stereotypical
circus tune in the middle of some jazz chart we were playing. I can't
remember the name of it! GAAAA! Twas my favorite because it sounded
almost accessible to me. Though that was when I was playing jazz band
zero period, going through the six periods of courses and then taking
calculus based physics and doing marching band practices and homework
on top of that. All I could do was to absorb my academics and try to
read the music right and avoid sounding like a dying goose with a
cracking voice on the low notes of the tenor saxophone because I had a
clarinet embouchure that just wouldn't loosen. MADNESS I TELL YOU.

Is it possible that more improvising goes on in private than in public?

OTOH, since I started playing my clarinet again, the neighbors have
gotten out their drum sets. In fact, I even futzed a bit with the
recorder, trying to do something melodically interesting in rhythm to
them. 'cause I have misplaced all my sheet music and about all I can
do is sound out tunes that I haven't played in years. When all you
have to go on is the sliver swan, greensleeves, take me out to the
ball game, daisy (there might be a couple others I've sounded out,
can't remember, they slipped my mind) and the F major scale, you gotta
screw around somehow.

-Jennifer
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