Klarinet Archive - Posting 000119.txt from 2010/10

From: "Keith Bowen" <keith.bowen@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Weber concerto No. 1
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 08:09:49 -0400

Yes. We cannot hear Mozart with ears that have not heard Shostakovitch.
There is much to be learned from the use of period instruments and
performance practice, which can illuminate a work. But it is inevitable that
works change according to their context, and it is truly impossible to
recreate an eighteenth-century context.

Having said that, the bass clarinet solo in the King Mark scene in Tristan
damn well does sound better on a bass in A!

Keith

-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Baxter [mailto:martinbaxter1@-----.com]
Sent: 19 October 2010 12:28
To: The Klarinet Mailing List
Subject: Re: [kl] Weber concerto No. 1

I remember the (well authenticated) story of Elgar, replying to criticism
in the "Times" of a Brass Band concert where his cello concerto was played
in a transcription for solo Euphonium. His words were "I would rather that
audiences heard my music played in this form than that they didn't hear it
in the form in which I wrote them ...or even at all.
Aren't we sometimes a little 'precious' about this. I heard one rather
callow young man saying that he could only enjoy the Mozart Quintet if it
were played on a 6-key clarinet in domestic surroundings. I asked if he also
required gut strings, a pitch of A =426(or whatever) and the players and
audience in !8th cent. clothes, also the furnishings of the room to be of
this period. He pontificated that this was desirable for full enjoyment, so
I asked where he got his eighteenth century ears. At this point I was
dismissed as a musical philistine. I comforted myself with the thought that
I had actually played the work albeit on a 20th cent. Leblanc Boehm.
Martin

On 19 Oct 2010, at 04:36, Tom Bassett wrote:

Dan,

I actually completely agree with you. While I was arranging the version we
were going to use I was cringing. However, it is the only chance many
people (and myself) can get to play a great work like that with
accompaniment. ( I believe band is a step-up from piano) I've wondered
though.. if organ is the better way to go for orchestral reductions. They
have the pedals so there can be 3 staves of music, they can sustain pitches,
and they have stops for different timbres. If you have a big enough organ,
it can probably crank up to the volume of an orchestra too.

Anyway, while I felt the band performance sounded borderline awful I still
was glad I got to do it. I guess in this case you just have to take it for
what it's worth... a chance to perform with an ensemble behind you. and as
they say... the audience won't know anyway. (I hate that saying because
it's an excuse to do everything wrong but it is still true at least in my
situation)

Tom
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