 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2009-01-20 17:19
Eventually WQED FM broadcasts all of the PSO concerts, but usually a year later. These are then available on streaming audio, and the sound is remarkably good.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: DAVE
Date: 2009-01-20 17:23
I think they played very well, but the piece was not very special, IMO. A friend of mine put it best when he said "the most memorable part was a melody that (williams) did not write."
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2009-01-20 17:34
I didn't realize that the work was actually for violin, cello, clarinet, piano and idiot NPR announcer.
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2009-01-20 22:52
I was surprised that the clarinet player played it in E major on the Bb clarinet.
Mozart would of course have written it in F major for the A clarinet; and the reason he would have done that hasn't completely gone away.
Tony
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Author: mrn
Date: 2009-01-20 23:57
Tony wrote:
<<I was surprised that the clarinet player played it in E major on the Bb clarinet.>>
I'd have said the same thing, except that my orchestra recently played a suite of movements from one of John Williams' soundtracks, and much of the piece was like that. There was one switch to an A clarinet, but it was apparently done for the purpose of being able to play a low E. In the same movement, he also has the second clarinetist double on bass for the same reason (to be able to play a couple of notes). Everything else was written for the Bb clarinet, apparently regardless of key, because much of it was chock full of sharps, depite being clearly tonal in nature (much of it was in F# minor [written], if I remember correctly). Williams apparently also doesn't like to use key signatures and prefers to write everything out with accidentals, too. The celesta part was very awkward, too, so I'm told. My guess is that, as a film composer, Williams probably writes too quickly to give these sorts of issues that much thought.
Of course, Copland's original score to Appalachian Spring (the chamber orchestra version) put the Bb clarinetist in key of B major, so I guess there's a sort of perverse appropiateness to Williams doing something similar in this arrangement of "Simple Gifts." Copland apparently rescored the clarinet part for an A clarinet in the later, full orchestra version--I'm not sure if that's because somebody complained or because Copland had more time on his hands to think about these things the second time around.
Post Edited (2009-01-21 00:08)
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Author: Jkelly32562
Date: 2009-01-21 01:40
DAVE said:
"I think they played very well, but the piece was not very special, IMO. A friend of mine put it best when he said "the most memorable part was a melody that (williams) did not write.""
John Williams hasn't had many original ideas....
Jonathan Kelly
jkelly32562@troy.edu
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Author: Dan Oberlin ★2017
Date: 2009-01-21 11:55
Perhaps John Williams should have called his piece
Quatuor pour la fin d'un mauvais temps.
D.O.
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Author: Old Geezer
Date: 2009-01-21 16:51
It's really not a suitable piece for outdoor performance...the look on the violinist face at the end says it all.
He should have written something for the Marine Band, a gala festival piece et al.
Nothing fazes Yo Yo though...you should have seen him handle the paps at LAX on TMZ.
Clarinet Redux
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Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2009-01-21 17:38
DavidBlumberg wrote:
>> Was Anthony in the key of E or B? (I'm thinking B).>>
Well, the 'gift to be simple' tune was in B for the clarinet, but the piece ended in D major (E for the clarinet).
Actually, I'd forgotten that in Appalachian Spring too, you have to play it in B major. (Do you really? I don't have a score.) I suppose that though I've played that piece many times (once with Copland) my years of playing on period instruments make such simple tunes seem so 'wrong' in extreme keys that I 'retrospectively' misremember it. And Appalachian Spring is a very 'classical' piece, if you know what I mean.
In music actually of the classical period, it's quite common to be given a Bb part of some piece in a key like D major (the Krommer Parthias are a case in point) and suspect that it's really for a C clarinet. Then, finding the evidence that you're right can be a matter of tracking down an early set of parts, which may be nontrivial. (The publishers just transpose it routinely, and don't say that they have.)
Tony
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Author: leonardA
Date: 2009-01-21 20:29
I was wondering what clarinet the clarinetist used in that cold weather. I can't imagine him using either wood or a cheap plastic one. Maybe a greenline or Lyrique.
Leonard
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2009-01-21 21:38
He used his usual setup of Leblancs
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: David Niethamer
Date: 2009-01-21 21:50
The "Simple Gifts" tune in Appalachian Spring is introduced by the clarinet in Ab concert on Bb clarinet - written Bb. Same for the large orchestra version. After a short time it is replayed (not as a clarinet solo) in Gb concert.
David
David
niethamer@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/index.html
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Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2009-01-21 22:13
David Niethamer wrote:
>> The "Simple Gifts" tune in Appalachian Spring is introduced by the clarinet in Ab concert on Bb clarinet - written Bb. Same for the large orchestra version. After a short time it is replayed (not as a clarinet solo) in Gb concert.>>
Aha! That makes a lot more sense.
By the way, I thought it was called 'the gift to be simple' -- which I find a much more resonant notion.
Tony
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2009-01-22 00:53
Tony Pay stated; "By the way, I thought it was called 'the gift to be simple' -- which I find a much more resonant notion."
Precisely
Lyrics:
'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: mrn
Date: 2009-01-22 06:54
Tony wrote:
<<Actually, I'd forgotten that in Appalachian Spring too, you have to play it in B major. (Do you really? I don't have a score.) >>
The Appalachian Spring suite *starts* in concert A Major (B Major for the Bb clarinet), which was what I was referring to--not actually the "Simple Gifts" melody, itself. By the time the "Simple Gifts" theme is introduced, the piece has modulated to another key. I should have been a little clearer on that.
If you look here you can look at the first page of the original chamber orchestra score. The first page of the later reorchestrated version is here. (And the second sample page shows where the "Simple Gifts" theme is played in the violins in Gb Major, as David mentioned.)
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Author: bbarner
Date: 2009-01-22 14:43
Just wanted to add that the Simple Gifts melody fits nicely the lyrics to the old Beverly Hillbillies tv show:
Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
Then one day he was shootin at some food,
And up through the ground came a bubblin' crude.
Bill Barner
http://www.billbarner.com
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Author: MattBowmanSmith
Date: 2009-01-25 02:24
I was able to hear the inauguration piece be played tonight and all 4 of the PSO musicians did an excellent job. Rusinek performed superbly on clarinet, and IMO the piece sounded just as good as the recording last Tuesday.
Anyone else get to hear the piece played this Friday-Sunday?
-Matt
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Author: asabene
Date: 2009-01-25 04:14
I got to hear it Friday, too! I'm not from Pittsburgh, but I just so happened to be in the area, so I got myself a ticket and went. Rusinek sounded terrific... as usual. The piece itself is kind of bland in my opinion, but it served its purpose I suppose and I guess that's all that matters. Any thoughts on the Rhapsody in Blue? Ms. Mentero is a terrific pianist, but her interpretation was just not at all what I look for in that piece. She was swinging her 8ths at times too, which was weird. But the "Here we go Pittsburgh/Steelers" encore was terrific!
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Author: asabene
Date: 2009-01-25 04:18
The joke going around is that those of us who heard the Pittsburgh Symphony Friday night got to hear the true first live performance of the piece!
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2009-01-25 13:17
I will be there today. Guess I should bring my Terrible Towel.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: MattBowmanSmith
Date: 2009-01-25 16:29
Asabene wrote
>But the "Here we go Pittsburgh/Steelers" encore was terrific!
Ms. Mentero improvised to John Denver's Take me Home Country Roads at the WVU performance of the PSO. And as an encore she did Happy Birthday for one of the orchestra members. Mentero asked the audience for a second piece that was "more personal" to the audience, and this is where the audience drew a blank. Being a WVU student I cant think of a piece "more personal" to us Mountaineers than Country Roads....maybe Simple Gifts, which both are played at every home football game.
Post Edited (2009-01-25 17:15)
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2009-01-26 01:01
Today she did Over the Rainbow.
On hearing the Williams live piece today, it sounds more complex and full than it did on national TV....the piano part was barely audible on TV, whereas today it was more apparent.
The clarinet part, aside from introducing the Simple Gifts theme, does indeed seem like an add-on. The clarinet part was, however, more apparent in today's live performance (this time provided by Michael Rusinek).
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
Post Edited (2009-01-26 01:13)
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