Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2006-06-11 23:12
beejay wrote, in part:
>> [from 'Phrasing in Contention']:
"The absence of a slur [in extended fast running passages] is often best thought of as the absence of anything to correct — the bar structure or the note groupings are sufficient to show the phrase-rhythm, but the passage may nevertheless be played legato."
>> Yet most of us lack the native knowledge that enabled the musicians of Mozart's time to know when to slur and when to play detached.>>
I'd want to say that in both Mozart's time and ours, whether a passage is articulated or not isn't such a crucial issue. Or rather, it is a crucial issue, but it's secondary to the performer's choice of musical character for a given passage -- which has to make sense in context, of course.
'Detached' and 'slurred', produced by a thoughtful player, are not clearly defined characters. Staccato admits of varying degrees, shading into quasi-legato.
>> So we go on using versions marked up by editors or our teachers because without them we would be up a creek without a paddle....
(I have to say that I *like* being up a creek without a paddle in this sense;-)
>>....nevertheless, I wonder whether the Andre and other early editions, which came out at a time when people clearly had seen the autograph, were not much closer to Mozart's intentions than modern works.>>
Well, I agree with you. I think, though, that the Baerenreiter edition is not bad in this regard, being relatively uncluttered.
I don't want to promote an excess of vigorous clarinet staccato in Mozart's passagework, even though his own approach to passagework was noted for its lack of the sort of legato that Beethoven used.
Mozart after all commented on the degree of practice required to make such passagework 'flow like oil' -- which sounds as though even his reportedly 'detached' style had many qualities we nowadays associate with legato. (I'm reminded of the wonderful modern piano playing of the late Jaques Klein, which magically combined fluidity and clarity in a way that seemed to offer the best of both qualities.)
I myself now use much less local articulation in the passagework of K622 than I did in my recording of over 20 years ago, probably because I now want to emphasise different aspects of the piece.
Tony
Post Edited (2006-06-12 13:44)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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