Klarinet Archive - Posting 000071.txt from 2011/08

From: "Keith Bowen" <keith.bowen@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mozart quintet repeat
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2011 07:39:03 -0400

Mark,

I deliberately wouldn't answer your direct question, because it would be
wrong to do so. Dan encapsulated this when he was coaching us at
Kammermusik, on hearing a fine eingang by a clarinettist: "Brilliant
eingang, David. Now, never do that one again!". The essence of
embellishments is that they are spontaneous. The trouble with recordings is
that they are always the same. Tony Pay wouldn't give the same performance
twice.

Dan and Tom have given good principles to follow, and this is pretty much
all you are allowed to have! I would add that you need some knowledge of
harmony. You must make sure that the embellishments are within the local
key. This often means simply obeying the key signature, but you must know
whether the music has modulated to the dominant, or whatever. There's one
passage in the Gran Partitta Adagio where the written part is three widely
separated notes. I usually do a scale/arpeggio/broken chord between them;
but though the key signature has not changed, study of the score shows that
there is a modulation during the second note. In this case, as I recall, the
upwards embellishment is C major, the downwards in C minor.

Another Dan mantra: less is more. You don't have to change everything. Be
subtle. As he says, the Lewin concertos are exemplary.

Oh and you need to get a basset joint for your clarinet. Since we don't know
exactly what Mozart wrote for the clarinet let alone basset clarinet, this
also guarantees some sort of embellishment!

Keith

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Thiel [mailto:mark.thiel@-----.com]
Sent: 13 August 2011 18:37
To: klarinet
Subject: [kl] Mozart quintet repeat

OK, since no one has actually answered the actual question I originally
posed (though as usual there have e been interesting digressions), which was
what you personally do in the Mozart Clarinet Quintet slow movement for the
reprise of the opening melody (bar 51-70), I listened to some
recordings. I found 4 (which surprised me, though I've also got George
Silfies somewhere).

Yes, I know that professional clarinetists are not necessarily (often?)
musical experts and that I can't expect to come up with appropriate
performance practice by averaging what I hear.

I also checked tempos just for amusement, though my numbers are rough
averages since everyone varied the tempo quite a bit,
especially on the reprise.

Walter Boeykens first time 42; reprise 40, no embellishments

Jozsef Balogh (a Hungarian, should be an accent on the o of Jozsef) first
time 44; reprise 42, quieter, no embellishments

Richard Stoltzman first time 38; reprise 35, more vibrato, no
embellishments, rubatissimo (or should I say rubato that should
be charged as grand larceny) especially on bar 50, which is the bar of 16th
notes leading up to the reprise. The concerto is
on the same disk and in the slow movement there he does a quite nice eingang
and tasteful embellishments in the reprise
(along with even more vibrato).

Antony Pay first time 40; reprise 38 with a lot of rubato especially bar
50, embellishments starting in bar 58 (the 7th
bar of the reprise) consisting of 2 apoggiaturas, 1 grupetto, a double grace
note and about a dozen 16th notes played
rhythmically instead of eights or quarters.

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