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 Less is more - cadenzas
Author: Wittlenix 
Date:   2007-12-29 10:04

I know someone at uni who tends to overdo every cadenza they can. Their Mozart cadenza (second movement) was 2 minutes long. Is it just me or is that ridiculously self-indulgent and counter-musical? I am a fan of 'less is more' with cadenzas, particularly in the earlier clarinet works. I'm curious to know what everyone else thinks...

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 Re: Less is more - cadenzas
Author: tictactux 2017
Date:   2007-12-29 10:08

Seconded. 2 minutes sounds exaggerated. I mean, a Mozart concerto is not a jazz gig with with the usual interspersed solos...

--
Ben

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 Re: Less is more - cadenzas
Author: Hank Lehrer 
Date:   2007-12-29 11:51

It's not always a Mozart concerto.

A classic case of less is more was Count Basie's piano playing with the big band. I was listening to some of his things the other day and at certain points, all he had to do was hit a few notes and it was prefect. Classic understatement.

Whether 2 minutes is too long in this case could be an individual thing. Cadenzas I have performed might be 20 seconds or so but not often longer. However, I play Sophisticated Lady often with one piano player and he wants a longer one at the end so... He's the leader. One time I was a sax soloist with a concert band and the director said about the opening cadenza "keep it short!"

I have always viewed a cadenza as an ending/beginning statement where the soloist has a chance to show a "little" flash of technique and/or imagination (emphasis on the little).



Post Edited (2007-12-29 16:30)

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 Re: Less is more - cadenzas
Author: Mark G Simon 
Date:   2007-12-29 14:17

The 2nd movement of the Mozart doesn't really count as a cadenza, in that it does not fill out a cadential I 6/4 chord. Rather it is an "Eingang", a passage in which the soloist may elaborate briefly on the V7 harmony before "going in" to the recap of the main theme. Whatever the soloist chooses to play ought to be brief, and it ought to adhere closely to the dominant 7th harmony.

Clarinetist, composer, arranger of music for clarinet ensemble

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 Re: Less is more - cadenzas
Author: Mark Charette 
Date:   2007-12-29 14:30

There are no cadenzas in the Mozart Concerto.

http://test.woodwind.org/Databases/Klarinet/1999/01/000917.txt
http://test.woodwind.org/Databases/Klarinet/2001/09/000178.txt
http://test.woodwind.org/Databases/Klarinet/2005/01/000141.txt

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 Re: Less is more - cadenzas
Author: kilo 
Date:   2007-12-29 18:01

There are some wise words about playing cadenzas in Langenus II.

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 Re: Less is more - cadenzas
Author: Bob Phillips 
Date:   2007-12-30 16:31

In the Rococo period between Baroque and Classical, Quantz reports that the polite convention is to keep cadenzas short enough to play in ONE BREATH.

Bob Phillips

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 Re: Less is more - cadenzas
Author: Hank Lehrer 
Date:   2007-12-30 22:33

Bob,

This was before circular breathing, right?

HRL

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 Re: Less is more - cadenzas
Author: Bob Phillips 
Date:   2007-12-31 03:44

OMG, Hank, you've found a loophole in Quantz's one-breath rule.

Bob Phillips

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 Re: Less is more - cadenzas
Author: Hank Lehrer 
Date:   2007-12-31 10:42

Bob,

And I'm not even a lawyer (but I slept at a Holiday Inn Express once). I really do think a one breath rule seems very reasonable.

HRL

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 Re: Less is more - cadenzas
Author: Synonymous Botch 
Date:   2008-01-01 13:49

There's an attempt to draw attention, and there's unwanted attention...

"Any drum solo is too long..."

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 Re: Less is more - cadenzas
Author: JDJ 
Date:   2008-01-02 05:49

What do you folks think of Martin Frost's Cadenza at the end of the Rossini Introdution, Theme, and Variations? Too long, too short, just right?



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 Re: Less is more - cadenzas
Author: Liam Murphy 
Date:   2008-01-02 09:08



No Martin Frost cadenza is too short...

Or with too many notes...

: )



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 Re: Less is more - cadenzas
Author: Brenda Siewert 
Date:   2008-01-03 18:00

I agree that less is more...just not to much less.

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