Klarinet Archive - Posting 000163.txt from 2011/03

From: "Keith Bowen" <keith.bowen@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mozart wind serenades & double bass
Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2011 08:56:56 -0400

I do agree about Fidelio arrangement, it is excellent.

I dare to disagree with my esteemed friend Dan on the 7th though. My
orchestra had a funding disaster last year and had to replace the full
orchestra Seventh with the wind nonet version for an advertised concert. It
is unremittingly exhausting and difficult to play, but came together quite
quickly (four pros and five pretty good amateurs) and was much enjoyed by
the audience and the players. The only really unsatisfactory thing about it
is that the key relationships between the movements are not preserved.

Of course we used C clarinets. I wouldn't want to do it on B flats, for both
sound and difficulty.

There are many other gems for octet/nonet from the operatic and symphonic
literature. I am not sure if Martin Harlow's arrangement of Gluck's
Iphigenia en Tauride is published yet (Barenreiter should be doing it) but
it is wonderful.

Keith Bowen

-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Leeson [mailto:dnleeson@-----.net]
Sent: 20 March 2011 12:43
To: The Klarinet Mailing List
Subject: Re: [kl] Mozart wind serenades & double bass

There are several arrangements for wind octet based on music by Beethoven.
In my opinion, the Fidelio suite is the very best one. It's luxurious. The
Pathetique is OK but tough to bring off. But the arrangement of the 7th
symphony simply dreadful.

I have not done any serious research on wind octet music for close to 50
years, but when I was into the period, there was a whirlwind of such music
published and available. You can try contacting Chris Weait (professor
emeritus of bassoon at Ohio State), who has stayed with the subject long
after I left for other things. His email is: chris@-----.com

Good luck.

Dan Leeson

----- Original Message -----

The Krommer octets/nonets are senstational.

Dan Leeson

From: "Brian and Ann" <wordpecker@-----.au>
To: "The Klarinet Mailing List" <klarinet@-----.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 5:32 AM
Subject: Re: [kl] Mozart wind serenades & double bass

> Thanks Dan,
> Yes it's the version for 8 winds.
> The addition of the bass certainly adds depth to the sound of the octet.
> I'd
> be interested to hear the Beethoven arrangements and will look them up.
> I appreciate you taking the time for this.
> Brian Catchlove
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
> To: "The Klarinet Mailing List" <klarinet@-----.com>
> Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 8:57 PM
> Subject: Re: [kl] Mozart wind serenades & double bass
>
>
>> The standard Harmonie of 8 players does not have a true bass, and it is
>> this
>> deficiency that caused other composers of wind octet music (such as
>> Krommar)
>> to use a contrabassoon or contrabass. How common it was at the time of
>> Mozart is by no means clear, but using a 16 foot bass to double the
>> second
>> bassoon is very much the right thing to do. There is a silhouette of a
>> wind
>> octet with double bass that is often used as artwork on the cover of some
>> Harmoniemusik, which shows that the practice was known.
>>
>> In the era of the Beethoven works arranged for wind octet by locals, they
>> almost always have a contra part. I'm thinking of the arrangement for
>> octet
>> of the Pathetique sonata, or the Fidelio arrangement by Sedlak..
>>
>> The only constraint you might consider is that the line for 16 foot bass
>> should stay out of the way in quiet passages, otherwise it can sound like
>> a
>> bull in a china shop.
>>
>> P.S. I am assuming that you are referring to K. 375 for 8 winds and not
>> the
>> earlier version for 6.
>>
>> Dan Leeson
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Brian and Ann" <wordpecker@-----.au>
>> To: <Klarinet@-----.com>
>> Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 2:32 AM
>> Subject: [kl] Mozart wind serenades & double bass
>>
>>
>>> Hi everyone,
>>> I've just listened to a recording of Mozart Serenade KV 375. It appears
>>> to
>>> have a double bass added to the tutti sections, playing the 2nd bassoon
>>> line
>>> I believe. I have also heard this performed without the double bass.
>>> My query is how common is this practice and was it considered normal
>>> performance during Mozart's lifetime?
>>> I ask, because I am playing this work next week and I quite like the
>>> sound
>>> of the wind octet with the added bass.
>>> Regards
>>> Brian Catchlove
>>>
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>>
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>
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