Klarinet Archive - Posting 000229.txt from 2011/03

From: "Keith Bowen" <keith.bowen@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Purism and after?
Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2011 07:21:19 -0400

Martin,

I don't think it is appropriate to criticize anyone for their choices in
music! Just because Danyel's choice is different from yours, or mine for
that matter, is no reason to call him a snob; he is not telling us what to
do. And he is giving us a special insight by telling us his experience of
playing various works on contemporary instruments.

Yes, I do play Mozart on modern basset horns, even though my favourite CD of
the work is by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on period
instruments. I have played classical clarinets and basset horns, and love
them, but don't own them - mainly as I would have so little chance to use
them in ensembles and that is the most important thing for me. I do agree
they sound different from modern instruments, and have a lightness and
clarity that it is harder to achieve now, but not THAT different. And what I
feel is very important is the relative sound of the instruments. If you play
K361 on modern instruments, to my ears the appropriate instrument to put in
the basset horn parts is a modern narrow-bore basset horn, or a German
medium bore, not a wide French-type bore nor an alto clarinet, nor of course
a soprano clarinet, and not a classical basset horn either. I gain enormous
pleasure, enjoyment and insight by playing the work this way. Danyel
doesn't, but that's OK too. We can say what WE would miss in his approach,
but we can't assume this is the same for him, or tell him he is wrong, no
more than your wife should have been told that she 'should' not perform Red
Peppers. People who don't like it can just stay away, just as Danyel
declines to perform on non-contemporary instruments.

(I don't like Nielsen's clarinet works much, either, but that doesn't make
either me or you wrong ...)

Keith

-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Baxter [mailto:martinbaxter1@-----.com]
Sent: 25 March 2011 10:41
To: The Klarinet Mailing List
Subject: [kl] Purism and after?

On 25 Mar 2011, at 01:03, corvo di bassetto wrote:

Of course I reject the use of Haeckel bassoons for French music. Actually, I
can do well without any bassoon at all.
I don't play K375 because I don't have the proper horn. I practice Mozart at
home and with my students but it is out of my reach for actual performance.
Tutz in Innsbruck makes good copies of the kind of instruments the Stadlers
used.

Best wishes
danyel

Danyel,
Thank you for your reply, I am Fascinated! I cannot imagine that anyone who
could play K375 (or K388) would deprive themselves of the pleasure just
because their instrument, and those of the other players needed, were not
made in Vienna in the latter part of the eighteenth century. I think you
have carried musical snobbism to new heights, and next time I meet an
overt purist in any musical field I shall have to adopt your approach. ( I
also play bassoon and clarinet in a folk group and am always meeting those
who, ignorant of the gallery band tradition, tell me they aren't "true
folk." They seem happy to ignore Boehm flautists and electric basses in
other groups.)
I may say it is found other than in music. My wife once directed a
performance of Noel Coward's "Red Peppers" in a Festival and was told that,
as Coward had written it for himself and Gertrude Lawrence no-one else
should ever play it. If we may extend the argument to music I assume no-one
should ever play the Brahms Quintet now that Muhlfield is dead.
I'm sorry that you can take no pleasure in Finzi's music; I think you are
missing a lot, and even more in the case of Poulenc. What about Nielsen, who
did ,of course number a clarinettist amongst his friends?
Baffled Regards,
Martin
PS I haven't come across Haekel bassoons. I would assume a misprint but I
try not to make assumptions.
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