 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2012-12-02 20:06
I had the very great pleasure of hearing Daniel Cotter and Jane Ellsworth play the clarinet parts in the Beethoven Sextet Op. 71 yesterday.
Actually, it was a sad way to hear this wonder because the concert was a benefit for the striking members of the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, who have been demanded to take an unconscionable cut in their compensation.
Anyhow, the original sextet for two each clarinets, bassoons and horns has been transcribed for woodwind quintet. Our little amateur band has kept the 5tet transcription in our folder for years and is currently beating it into presentable condition. So, yesterday's return to the piece's roots was really interesting.
In the quintet version, the tendency is for the background players [ ;-) ] to demand that the clarinetist take off running after the "get the audience settled" introduction --usually with the result that the more challenging riffs in the clarinet part become terrifying (and with some players, fumbled).
Dan was able to flash through all of the tricky parts with wonderful phrasing, but in discussions with the musicians, I learned that every one of them has a great deal of respect for the 20-minutes of relentless reliance on the first clarinetist.
Oddly, the transcriber (was it Beethoven himself?) moved the sonorous 2nd movement theme from the first bassoon to the horn. I've been listening to the transcription for so long that it sounded wrong for it to be sung by the bassoon in yesterday's performance.
What is the story on the quintet version, and how fast should the outer movements be played?
Bob Phillips
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2012-12-02 23:07
The Philadelphia Woodwind Quintet recorded it in an arrangement made in the 1950s by, as I recall their horn player Mason Jones. It's been published and is the one I've played.
Ken Shaw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2012-12-03 02:26
Interesting, Ken.
I have it in a compendium of ww5 literature, but have not been able to find another published edition of the 5tet.
Bob Phillips
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2012-12-03 12:00
Bob -
I guess you have Twenty Two Woodwind Quintets, which used to be known as the "Orange Books" but are now known as the "Yellow Books" since they changed the color of the covers. This is a great collection, with some losers but also some amazing music, such as the Taffanel. They're a big bargain from Southern. The part books are available separately, which saved me when a horn player left the quintet but never returned her book.
Ken Shaw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2012-12-03 15:39
You're right, Ken.
I really miss Southern Music. Another valuable series from them: The Harold Wright Legacy Series, which consists of cleaned-up copies of his phrasing marks prepared by Eric Stone and Wright's widow after his death. There are a few errors and some flaws in the engraving, but they provide thought provoking alternatives to the way I've been playing the stuff.
It could be a good investment to gather up their publications before they become too rare --unless someone buys up their copyrights.
Bob Phillips
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: davyd
Date: 2012-12-04 07:13
There appears to be an edition of this work edited by Robert Stark, published by Anton J. Benjamin, and distributed by Boosey. Is it preferable in any way to the 22 Wind Quintets edition? More specifically: does it have the horn part in F rather than the 'original' Eb?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: rmk54
Date: 2012-12-04 12:04
The Stark arrangement is the same one as in the "22 Wind Quintets".
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2012-12-04 19:12
Horn players learn to read parts in any key as the first step beyond the rank beginner stage. Any horn player who can't play an Eb part on F horn won't be able to play the part even if it was transposed.
Ken Shaw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Dileep Gangolli
Date: 2012-12-05 14:19
Southern Music is still around:
http://smcpublications.com/index06172012.html
I could not find the Orange Book and think that if they no longer publish it, they are making a mistake.
As said prior, there are several pieces in the book that make it a must for ww quintets esp students and the price point was perfect for parents.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: davyd
Date: 2012-12-10 06:09
The 22 WQ (isn't it actually 19 quintets, 1 trio, 1 quartet and 1 sextet?) collection is certainly a useful resource, but I wish there was a score available as well as just the parts.
Certainly one would expect a professional player to transpose, and would not expect a rank beginner to do so. But I've worked with plenty of intermediate players who are perfectly capable of playing chamber and orchestral music once the logistical hurdle of transposition is removed. At least in the circles I move in, even players who can transpose perfectly well would prefer not to if there's a choice.
Natural brass instruments haven't been widely used for decades, at least not by amateurs. Why do parts for natural brass instruments continue to be published? I don't get it.
Post Edited (2012-12-10 06:10)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
