Klarinet Archive - Posting 000308.txt from 1998/12
From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] Schubert Octet
Date: Sun, 6 Dec 1998 16:31:11 -0500
On Sun, 6 Dec 1998 22:14:53 +0200, hmaki@-----.fi said:
> Anybody want to go from here?
How about you? Notice that the only real answer is in your playing.
> Pros for playing with c:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> (1) It's original [Schubert wrote for it].
> (2) It brings a new sound to the piece right where it needs it.
> (thinking also about the "glorious length" of it.)
> Cons:
^^^^
> (1) Where to get a good instrument?
> (2) How to learn to play the little thing so that it is not merely
> survival?
> (3) The practical problems of playing with a cold instrument.
> (4) Sound of the modern c-clarinet.
I've reformatted it so that you can see the choices.
Can you see how you could solve the 'Cons' (1), (2), (3), (4) ?
> If this subject has been exhausted in Sneezy(tm), my apologies.
I'm sure it hasn't. But our solutions may be different from yours.
Some suggestions:
(1) Adverts, shops, word of mouth, borrowing, hiring....
(2) Same way as you get to Carnegie Hall....
(3) Stick it up your jumper. Short barrel, pulling out as you go.
(4) Perhaps you need to convince yourself, use a different embouchure, a
different mouthpiece and reed.....
If the end result isn't worth it, don't do it. (If I have to play in a
freezing church, I might decide differently.
Just as a little something to put an edge on it, here's an email I sent
to Dan and Bob Levin when I was in a similar position of choice last
year. (The background is that Dan had just sent me an article that they
had written about Mozart's use of key signatures above one sharp for the
clarinet -- he never used them.)
Dan had wanted to post it to the list, but I wanted to wait until I'd
posted other things.
But now, here it is:
> From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
> To: leeson@-----.edu
> Cc: rlevin@-----.edu
> Subject: To transpose or not to transpose....
> Reply-To: Tony@-----.uk
> Date: Mon, 02 Jun 1997 20:03:40 GMT
> X-Mailer: Acorn Archimedes TTFN Version 0.39
> X-Posting-Agent: RISC OS Newsbase 0.57h
>
> Dan & Bob,
>
> You might be amused to hear of a dilemma I am about to resolve for
> myself.
>
> I am about to go on tour with the Orchestra of the Age of
> Enlightenment, playing the Mozart Concerto on the basset clarinet,
> conducted by Simon Rattle. I'm also playing in the orchestra, and it
> so happens that the programme including the concerto starts with
> Schubert 3, proceeding immediately to the Mozart. I was hoping to do
> the Schubert on my basset clarinet, switching to C as indicated for
> the 2nd movement, then back to basset for movements 3 and 4. That
> way, I'm warmed up and accustomed to my instrument, ready (!) to step
> to the front of the orchestra.
>
> This is only a little iffy, as the basset in the normal registers has
> a sound that's quite like my standard A clarinet, or that at any rate
> can be encouraged in that direction (though the internal intonation is
> different, which is really why I didn't want to make the sudden
> switch).
>
> But, now, Simon takes the introduction really quite fast, and when we
> rehearsed it, my solution for the pp ascending E flat major scale
> (answered, as always, impeccably by the flute, who has no tonality
> problem at that point) really wasn't working. A couple of hours
> practice convinced me that I didn't really have a very good
> alternative on the basset clarinet, so I was wondering rather
> desperately what to do, and rather dreading having to encounter such a
> nerve-racking challenge so close to the beginning of the concerts in
> which I had to play the Mozart, no easy piece at the best of times,
> and especially difficult after stuffing an important and beautiful
> Schubert orchestral solo.
>
> But then I found that, actually, the whole first movement goes very
> well on the C clarinet! The E flat run in the introduction is a dream
> (C major instead of an uncomfortable flub up to a sharp E flat), and
> the rather coy quality of the C perfectly suits the playful mood you
> anyway try to create in the Allegro. And though the key is D major,
> it all lies nicely, apart from one or two bits in the tuttis that are
> all but impossible on *any* period instrument.
>
> So, what I'm going to do is to play movements 1 & 2 on the C, and
> switch to the basset for 3 & 4. It's a pragmatic choice really,
> because the musical results (played by me, at any rate!) are much
> better.
>
> I could of course say that I'm adopting the point of view that the 18
> year old Schubert didn't really write for the A clarinet for any
> special reason, and was 'merely' following the convention of no more
> than 1 sharp in the key signature (for the knowledge of which
> convention I am indebted to you), but of course you know I wouldn't
> stoop so low:-)
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Tony
So, did I do good? Or do I rate a thumbs-down?
Bob Levin wrote:
> Your secret is safe with me, chief.
Dan wrote:
> What a fiendishly wicked thing to do!!! On one hand I am full of
> admiration at your solution to the problem of how to get your b.c.
> warmed up for K. 622, and on the other hand I think the devil is in
> you for playing a part for clarinet in A on the C instrument.
[snip]
Wha'dd'y'all think?
Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE
tel/fax 01865 553339
"...his playing soars so freely, one is aware of witchcraft without
noticing a single magical gesture."
(C.D.F.Schubart on the harpsichord playing of C.P.E.Bach)
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