Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2010-11-08 21:56
Sally wrote:
>> Thanks for all the advice everyone. I have tried all your suggestions and I think I'll go with changing the C fingering during the beat - the xxo-xxo fingering sounds very differently on my clarinet and really sticks out.>>
That's fine -- of course it should match what the other notes sound like, and if that's what you need to do in order to make the effect, then do it.
BTW, I suppose you mean that the alternative fingering sticks IN, rather than sticking OUT:-)
>> As the Ab is very prominent I am going to go for the best tone I can get, which comes from the "standard" fingering.>>
I have an observation to make about that: because you're playing AS QUIETLY AS YOU CAN, quality of tone is not such a crucial issue here -- that's what I meant by what I wrote in a previous post, when the 'fake' fingering was being discussed.
Of course the tone needs to be clean (no fizz or breathiness) -- but the wisp of sound that's required can be almost unrecognisable as belonging to any particular instrument. The clarinet is very good at playing very quietly, and Crusell was undoubtedly well aware of the fact, being a virtuoso himself. I imagine it was a special effect that he knew about to begin with, and then worked quite hard on.
The result is particularly striking in a live performance, because when it's well done the audience has to strain to hear it, especially in a largish hall.
A wrinkle that you might not know about is that control of the passage is considerably eased by opening the register key only very slightly. (In fact, I believe that the register key on period clarinets is set rather 'proud' particularly in order to facilitate the use of a variety of openings of the key.) Doing so helps the pitch (there is a tendency to sharpness at very low dynamics) and minimises the likelihood of the upper notes 'grunting' -- ie, sounding the fundamental of the tube plus register key rather than the first partial. You don't want to be worrying about that; and the good news is that you needn't:-)
I really encourage you to make a special effort for these ppp echo effects, whatever any of the 'experts' here says. It's the raison d'etre of the whole section, dramatically.
>>I don't seem to be very good at slides, not enough control! (shall have to practice!).>>
Interestingly, on the period instrument the slide is obligatory between these two notes, because C and Eb are produced by the same RH little finger; the Ab can therefore anyway be played with the normal fingering, using the key that Crusell undoubtedly had.
Tony
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The Clarinet BBoard
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