 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: presto214
Date: 2004-08-19 00:15
I am playing the 1st and 4th movement of the Saint-Saens sonata for a statewide solo and ensemble festival. What is a good accepted tempo for the 4th movement? I have a recording of a guy playing it around 176-180 bpm. I try to play along but it just isn't working lol. What is a good general accepted tempo for the 4th movement because that tempo is near impossible.
AAHHH!
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Author: diz
Date: 2004-08-19 01:53
Yep ... 180 is not unrealisitic ... have you tried slowly building up to that speed ... break the movement into easily managed sections (maybe 8 bars each [whatever]) set the tempo to 150 and then build by 5 bpm intervals until you reach 185 ... once you've done that for the movement, settling down to 180 bpm might just be more easily achieved ... this method works for me, anyways.
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Author: ken
Date: 2004-08-19 01:55
The ideal tempo is what the composer marks. A good general, accepted tempo is what you the performer can technically negotiate the piece at comfortably and note perfect, however being the most musical. The definition of what being musical is, is well, up to you the perfomer.
v/r Ken
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2004-08-19 01:58
Do you have French Clarinet Art by Paul Meyer?? His Saint-Saens is impressive (and at times amusingly quick), but I wouldn't rely on him for artistic guidance on this piece (his 1st and 2nd movement are WAY over-tempo, to the detriment of the music). His 4th movement works, but I think it's unrealistic to aim for that speed and still play the music well (his recording may even be sped up a bit..)
DH
theclarinetist@yahoo.com
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2004-08-19 14:29
Presto214 -
It's tempting to play the last movement of the Saint-Saens Sonata as fast as possible, but 180 is MUCH too presto.
Furthermore, it's probably too fast for you to play cleanly. Try setting your metronome to 96. I'll bet that you will have a lot of trouble staying with it prefectly and will have to back down to maybe 72 to do everything exactly right. What that means is that at any faster tempo, you're faking it, depending on talent and luck instead of practicing until you get it right every time.
Anyway, 180 is too fast for the audience to hear what you're doing. The movement is not simply a torrent of notes. Each phrase has a shape. You don't have to play it at 120, but you should be able to make it WORK at that tempo, bringing out the kaleidoscope of colors.
At the beginning, for example, the first big flourish unfurls over a sustained tremolo chord in the piano. It's like throwing out a boomerang - you have to give it time to circle around and return. You can't make it come back faster by throwing it harder. In fact, it has to be at just the right speed to join perfectly to the start of the second flourish, on a new chord.
The judges will downgrade you even if you play it flawlessly at 180. It should go at, maybe, 132. If you're clean and even at 132, it will sound much faster.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Rivers
Date: 2004-08-19 15:51
I personally prefer Walter Boeyken's tempo for the Saint-Saens Sonata on his CD "French Clarinet Music" especially when compared to Paul Meyer's version on French Clarinet Art. IMO after you listen to them both Meyer's rendition seems "hurried".
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2004-08-22 01:15
Go at 148 if you can. I have a tool which you can slow down your recording to 100, 110, 116, 132, etc - whatever you need at the time if you want to play along with it.
Remember that you will be competing against players who WILL try to take it quickly and you need to be competitive. But it has, HAS to be clean - no slop. If you can't play it cleanly at a quick tempo you have to play it slower. You can make 148 cleanly sound like it is almost as quick as the faster players play it.
Check out my site www.mytempo.com for it.
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