 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: davyd
Date: 2007-10-31 02:56
From time to time, I have (or a colleague has) been handed a part for Bass Clarinet in A: works by Albeniz (Seville), Rachmaninoff (2nd symphony), Ravel (La valse), and Dvorak (Scherzo capricioso) come to mind, among others.
To all the purists out there, those who insist that I must play the part on the exact instrument for which it was written because the composer always knows best: the next time a part calls for Bass Clarinet in A, may I borrow yours? I wouldn't want to be inauthentic, would I?
Seriously: is it possible to rent such an instrument from anywhere? I know they're for sale, but for what they cost, it doesn't make sense for a non-wealthy amateur to own one, given how infrequently it's needed.
A volume of such parts transposed for Bass clarinet in Bb is something I might well want to buy. I wonder if such a thing exists?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: graham
Date: 2007-10-31 09:40
And the Pomp & Circumstance No.2.
I agree and it looks like a gap in the market
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: LarryBocaner ★2017
Date: 2007-10-31 13:11
Composers wrote for bass clarinet in A for a number of reasons -- in the case of Mahler and Ravel often to extend the range down to C# concert pitch at a time when most instruments were manufactured without a low Eb key.
You can get a very nice transposed part for La Valse here:
http://www.orchestralibrary.com/Acrobat/Ravel_LaValseBassClar.pdf
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: bill28099
Date: 2007-10-31 15:51
Who wants a bass clarinet in A??? When doing Mahler 4 you already have to cart 4 horns onto the stage if you don't transpose that one little C part in movement 1. I can't imagine trying to keep two bass clarinets around your neck while tooting 4 bars on the Bb, A or C.
A great teacher gives you answers to questions
you don't even know you should ask.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: clarnibass
Date: 2007-10-31 18:04
Bennie Maupin has an A bass clarinet. I heard him play it in a concert, but no one (me included) would be able to tell it is an A bass clarinet from listening. The only reason I know this is because just before the concert the host said we need to wait a minute until Bennie Maupin is back because he went to bring his A bass clarinet 
Post Edited (2007-11-01 12:12)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2007-10-31 18:29
There's been a good bit of discussion about the bass in A over on the Klarinet list. Dan Leeson had one but eventually sold it.
Most Wagner parts are for bass in A (in bass clef). I've read that the Bayreuth theater owns one for use at the Wagner festivals.
I asked Ron Reuben (Philadelphia Orchestra) whether he had one. He said no, and that he would never consider using one, since it would be confusing to learn two sets of fingerings. On the difficult parts (e.g., La Valse), you simply learn to play it, like every pro.
Ken Shaw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ed
Date: 2007-10-31 18:54
"since it would be confusing to learn two sets of fingerings"
Unless I am interpreting something wrong here, having an A bass would be no different than having an A clarinet and learning those parts on that instrument, right? The fingering issue only comes into play IF you already learned them on a Bb AND THEN get the A.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2007-11-01 00:05
Ed -
Ron Reuben said he has the transposed A parts "in his fingers," and that using another set of fingerings would conflict with the ones he knows.
There's a Handel recorder sonata that's usually printed in C, but also exists a step down in Bb. I once played the Bb version, without preparation, and was quite uncomfortable with the familiar music but unfamiliar notes. It wasn't impossible, but I felt a cognitive dissonance. My muscles wanted to play the motions they knew, not the ones my mind was ordering them to play.
Ken Shaw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: graham
Date: 2007-11-01 09:43
I certainly feel that carrying two basses to do, say Rach 2 (which is pitched in both) or Mahler 6, is pointless.
We are being too nice to the publishers. They should routinely produce fully transposed parts into B flat bass so the issue need not arise. Any idea that this would go against the composer's preference is sheer nonsense. But the publishers just don't care because copyright creates a monopoly so thay can get away with murder.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
