Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2011-01-31 21:36
Liquorice wrote:
>>... if you either slur everything or tongue everything, you can be fairly certain that you're doing the wrong thing! I recommend reading Harnoncourt's book.>>
I can hardly disagree.
It's a wonderful tonic:-)
However, I'd say that this passage is rather 'formal' -- you don't want too much variety of articulation in it.
And anyhow; here, what is 'right' or 'wrong' -- SUCH a preoccupation on this BBoard, and declared SO unequivocally, SO often, by SO many pretty-much-know-nothings -- needs rather to be judged in the context of how the singers and strings are being asked to sing/play, and the acoustic in which the piece is being performed on that particular occasion.
I've remarked here before that 'tonguing' -- or better, 'articulation' -- doesn't have a well-defined character. It's possible to articulate imperceptibly, giving a slight clarity to an essentially legato idea; and it's possible to articulate very definitely, giving an energetic separation to the notes of the passage.
And there is an infinite variety of possibilities between those extremes, including the notion that timbral shapes very often need to be indicated even if there is no slurring at all.
Actually, in a very resonant acoustic, it may well be helpful for SOME players to articulate quite strongly, whilst others are more legato. (Stravinsky understood this, and sometimes explicitly notated it in his scores.) The music is then perceived as the result of the combination of several individual contributions.
So, I'd say there's no easy answer. A good solution MIGHT be for the bassethorns to produce a 'legato articulation', whilst the strings separate the notes.
You'd have to go out front to listen to the effect in order to know.
Tony
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The Clarinet BBoard
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