 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: AAAClarinet
Date: 2013-07-23 15:57
All of this reading about the different clarinet parts in Mahler symphonies got me wondering if different clarinets were used based on the key the music is in or for the specific tone color. It must be great fun having the opportunity to play the different clarinets.
AAAClarinet
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Author: gemini-clarinet
Date: 2013-07-23 19:52
I played 2nd clarinet in Mahler Symphony #4 last season. My part called for Clarinets in Bb, A & Eb. There was also a short passage for the Principal Clarinet part in C. It was fun playing the different clarinets, but there were some pretty quick instrument changes and that was a little bit challenging. I think the Bass Clarinet Part (in A AND written in Bass Clef) also used the Bb, A and Eb.
Barry
Tucson, AZ
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Author: William
Date: 2013-07-24 18:00
Mahler was so meticulous with his markings that I would suspect he had specific tonal tambres in mind when writing his clarinet parts. I could be wrong, but it would be my first time.......lol
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2013-07-24 18:15
I could agree with William, but it would be my first time......all seriousness aside, from my little bit of Mahler experience (1st Symphony on three occasions, 4th and 5th once each), I'm fairly convinced that Mahler really meant what he wrote, and wrote the way he did partly for key signature "ease" but mainly for timbre. For example, in the 1st Symphony the last movement is entirely on C clarinet for the third clarinet book (the one which also has bass, A, and Eb clarinet parts in various places), and it makes timbral sense because for much of the last movement the C clarinet is in octaves or thirds/fourths/fifths with the Eb clarinet (fourth clarinet book) --- it just sounds better on C clarinet than it would on Bb -- a better match with the eefer.
Unfortunately, as with many composers of that era (during which some bass clarinets in A actually existed) and of later eras (when composers should have known better because the A bass had disappeared by then), the A bass clarinet parts were probably not written for reasons of timbre, but rather for commonality with the soprano clarinets when the latter are written for the A instrument. Can't say if an A bass sounds any different than a Bb bass; I've never heard one and probably never will. Furthermore I can't even distinguish the sound of an A soprano from a Bb soprano unless the player has actually gone to a lot of effort to try to sound different on the two.
You're right about the quick instrument changes, that's half the challenge in playing Mahler for us "utility guys" --- the music itself is not that hard (in my opinion); what's tough is staging the different sizes of clarinets (I built some custom bracketry for my K&M bass clarinet stand to hold up to four soprano clarinets on it), keeping all those reeds wet (sorry, William, I'm still not sold on synthetic reeds for concert performance!) and physically making the switches quickly without damaging the instruments or bashing your stand-mates with them.
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Author: gemini-clarinet
Date: 2013-07-24 18:35
I offered to let our principal clarinetist use my C Clarinet for the Mahler. She was not able to make the switch quickly enough for those few measures and just transposed it. I think it probably would have sounded better on the "C" while playing with the Eb.
I use my Backun barrels on both my Bb and A clarinet but only use the Backun bell on my Bb. I know that if I used them on both clarinets I would eventually grab the wrong one when moving from the effer!
BARRY
Tucson, AZ
Post Edited (2013-07-24 18:38)
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