Klarinet Archive - Posting 000153.txt from 2010/10

From: Jennifer Jones <helen.jennifer@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Weber concerto No. 1
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:20:59 -0400

On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 5:09 AM, Keith Bowen <keith.bowen@-----.com> wrote:
> Yes. We cannot hear Mozart with ears that have not heard Shostakovitch.

Oh, but the ignorant can (unless, as you touch on below, you argue
that the people who have adjusted acoustical design of the instruments
that Mozart's music is played on have heard Shostakovich, but that is
a rather indirect connection).

> There is much to be learned from the use of period instruments and
> performance practice, which can illuminate a work. But it is inevitable t=
hat
> 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 =A0of Elgar, replying to critic=
ism
> 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 a=
lso
> required gut strings, a pitch of A =3D426(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. =A0I 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. =A0While I was arranging the versio=
n we
> were going to use I was cringing. =A0However, it is the only chance many
> people =A0(and myself) can get to play a great work like that with
> accompaniment. =A0( I believe band is a step-up from piano) =A0I've wonde=
red
> though.. if organ is the better way to go for orchestral reductions. =A0T=
hey
> have the pedals so there can be 3 staves of music, they can sustain pitch=
es,
> and they have stops for different timbres. =A0If you have a big enough or=
gan,
> 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. =A0I guess in this case you just have to take it=
for
> what it's worth... a chance to perform with an ensemble behind you. =A0 a=
nd as
> they say... the audience won't know anyway. =A0(I hate that saying because
> it's an excuse to do everything wrong but it is still true at least in my
> situation)
>
>
> Tom

Ignorant is a strange word. From the definitions of ignorant below,
it does not seem to relate to ignore. (Ignorant suggests, complete
lack of knowledge, whereas to ignore is to refuse to acknowledge) The
connotation I have of ignorant suggests that one lacks knowledge
because one chooses not to learn, such that one ignores things they
could learn. This is suggested in the example for the last definition
for ignore below, but the definitions of ignorant generally do not
seem to have this pejorative connotation.

from princeton wordnet:

Ignorant:
# S: (adj) ignorant, nescient, unlearned, unlettered (uneducated in
general; lacking knowledge or sophistication) "an ignorant man";
"nescient of contemporary literature"; "an unlearned group incapable
of understanding complex issues"; "exhibiting contempt for his
unlettered companions"
# S: (adj) ignorant, illiterate (uneducated in the fundamentals of a
given art or branch of learning; lacking knowledge of a specific
field) "she is ignorant of quantum mechanics"; "he is musically
illiterate"
# S: (adj) ignorant, unknowledgeable, unknowing, unwitting (unaware
because of a lack of relevant information or knowledge) "he was
completely ignorant of the circumstances"; "an unknowledgeable
assistant"; "his rudeness was unwitting"

ignore:
# S: (v) ignore, disregard, snub, cut (refuse to acknowledge) "She cut
him dead at the meeting"
# S: (v) dismiss, disregard, brush aside, brush off, discount, push
aside, ignore (bar from attention or consideration) "She dismissed his
advances"
# S: (v) ignore (fail to notice)
# S: (v) neglect, ignore, disregard (give little or no attention to)
"Disregard the errors"
# S: (v) ignore (be ignorant of or in the dark about)

I don't like the pejorative nature of the word ignorant. I would
rather have a word that indicates simply doesn't know. Though the
synonyms below don't satisfy me either. Perhaps I will dissociate my
sense of condescension from the word ignorant and use it according to
a loose understanding of the definition. In this case, one who has
not heard Shostakovich's music.

http://education.yahoo.com/reference/thesaurus/entry/ignorant
1. Without education or knowledge: illiterate, nescient,
uneducated, uninstructed, unlearned, unschooled, untaught. See
knowledge
2. Exhibiting lack of education or knowledge: backward, benighted,
primitive, unenlightened. See knowledge
3. Not aware or informed: innocent, oblivious, unacquainted,
unaware, unconscious, unenlightened, unfamiliar, uninformed,
unknowing, unwitting. Idiom: in the dark. See knowledge
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