Klarinet Archive - Posting 000167.txt from 2011/03

From: "Forest Aten" <forestaten@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mozart/basset horns
Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2011 13:29:38 -0400

You're right Dan.....I performed that 3rd basset part this weekend...with the contra sitting right behind me. Wow....
And Dan, those first three chords (in <> whole notes) were something. After those chords...and then when the strings
enter, you know whoever wrote the work, knew what he was doing. :-)

In the Stravinsky....I've performed it four times now (over the years) with the Dallas Symphony, even recorded it with
the DSO under the baton of Eduardo Mata. Mata had a gift with complex works...and the best baton work ever for this sort
of work....BUT I've never performed it the way we did this weekend. More of everything good. More power, more beauty,
darker, yet crystal clear and more "primitive" than I've ever experienced....and with incredible direction and
purpose....
Van Zweden has something very special going for him as a conductor. He's ALWAYS had it going in the musical
world...tops...but he's made the transition from world class violin player to conductor and it's good. Very, very good.

PS how many conductors could pull off a big deal, sold out to the rafters concert (very high expectations)....opening
with Mozart's funeral music, then to a Mozart piano concerto...played by a young, smart artist (some gypsy in him, I
believe) :-) ....and then finish with The Rite of Spring?? At the end of the funeral music....you could have heard a pin
drop anywhere in the hall. The audience was stunned by the beauty.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dan Leeson [mailto:dnleeson@-----.net]
> Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 12:11 PM
> To: The Klarinet Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [kl] Mozart/basset horns
>
> Forest,
>
> Isn't the sound of the opening measures, what with 3 bassets and a
> contrabassoon, unearthly??? I have not played that piece as many times as I
> should have. Sorry I missed it. And the last time I played it, I worked
> the 3rd basset horn. Heaven, absolute heaven.
>
> The use of the contra is an important piece of history. Many say that if
> Mozart had had a contra, he would have used it for the gran Partitta. But,
> as is clearly shown by the Funeral Music, HE DID HAVE A CONTRA, so the
> argument is moot.
>
> Dan Leeson

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