Klarinet Archive - Posting 000161.txt from 2010/10

From: "Vann Turner" <vjoet@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Weber concerto No. 1
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:59:42 -0400

Jennifer,

I commented to offer a perspective on "period music" that is different from
what is usually parroted on this board: Some "name" says it and dozens
reiterate it as unwavering gospel.

It is only opinion that authentic instruments should be used for period
music, or that there is greater value in experiencing the music with period
instruments.

There are others who hold other opinions on the matter. Imagine the horror
of it: Bach's Goldberg-Variationen played on pianoforte! Horror! Disgrace!
Yet Daniel Barenboim does it on piano, and it is transcendently beautiful.
Has he violated it? Is he ignorant that it was composed for harpsicord? Or
has he breathed life into it? In the program notes it states he lived with
it for 25 years before recording it. I think that shows artistic intregrity.

Several years ago on PBS I heard an interview with Kurt Mazur in which he
stated in his view the movement to period instrumentation is wrong-headed. I
agree. Others on this board don't agree, and that's okay.

Consider a moment: Music exists independently of the particular
instrumentation of it. That's a deep statement, and will require some
pondering. But for those who will really ponder the statement, it opens
vistas.

Jennifer: "And who said they are improvements? ...seems to me they are just
differences." Hmmm? I recall in one of Pamela Weston's books she states the
audience admired the playing, even if it was badly out of tune. Don't recall
which clarinetist it was. Baermann? Stadler? Don't recall.

vJoe
(amateur)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jennifer Jones" <helen.jennifer@-----.com>

Mr. Vann Joe Turner,

My you are wandering. I think it is the requirements of the callow
young man you are criticizing. Not those of Martin.

And who said they are improvements? ...seems to me they are just
differences.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Jones

On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 8:01 AM, Vann Turner <vjoet@-----.net> wrote:
> Enjoyable post, Martin! But don't you think you aren't sufficiently pure
> in
> your requirements? Shouldn't it be performed only with a hard carved
> wooden
> mouthpiece, and the reed against the upper lip? I'm sure Weber and Mozart
> would have strong opinions about such things, and would object to all the
> acoustical improvements in the intervening centuries. hehehehehehe
>
> vJoe
> (amateur)
>
>
>
>>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

_______________________________________________
Klarinet mailing list
Klarinet@-----.com
To do darn near anything to your subscription, go to:
http://klarinet-list.serve-music.com

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org