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Re: KV 581 article

Author: brycon
Date: 2024-04-22 23:52

Quote:

Simply play the passage slowly at the piano with the bass part and you will be convinced that this produces the best counterpoint. Try the NMA reconstruction the same way - it is not correct. Even the solution I offered previously is not as good, although it is perhaps the best option for those without a low B.

You're talking about the dominant arpeggio above the 4/2 chord in the orchestra?

If so, I do like your reproduction! The way I would harmonize a 4/2 resolution would be a step up in the soprano line (from scale-degree 7 to 1 if it were a V to I motion) or a leap of a 4th (from scale-degree 5 to 1). Your turn around in the basset part gets this scale-degree 7 to 1 line that sounds very idiomatic to my ears.

The NMA, for me, isn't technically incorrect but much less idiomatic. I think it's because the basset line hits a concert C# (written low E) on the last eighth-note of the bar. This pitch gives away the resolution of the 4/2 in the bass and creates an un-Mozart-like 7-6 accented passing tone (a bit more Chopin-esque, no?). Much worse than this realization, though, is the common A-clarinet version where players descend a scale down to low E and then complete the bar with an upper-neighbor E-F-E, which produces parallel octaves with the bass. But I guess it might be too much to ask for clarinetists to look at the bass line to a piece of music they're playing...

Thanks for sharing your hard work! And bravo on an excellent edition!

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KV 581 article new

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2023-06-28 15:17