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Articulation question

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2016-05-28 04:34

I'm actually a little uneasy about asking this because I should by now have worked out an answer. Actually, I have - sort of - but I'm interested in what other experienced orchestral players end up doing.

I'm reviewing the 1st clarinet part for Mahler 4th, which I'll be playing in a few weeks. I've played it before, all three parts at various times, and I've always kind of glossed over this problem, which this time around is driving me a little nuts. There are many places where the last note of a slurred grouping has a dot (staccato) over it. In some cases, it seems plausible that it means the last note should be separated (tongued) lightly - e.g. the triplet 16ths followed by 8ths (under the slur but dotted) throughout the first movement. There are other spots, though, where it seems as if the most musical interpretation is to make the slur and clip the last note (with the dot) short, e.g. most of the places where only two notes are slurred and the second has a dot under the slur. There are a few places where two notes of the same pitch seem clearly to be tied over a barline, but there's a dot over the second note. In still other spots, the same passage may appear with a dot in one place and no dot in another the instances either identical or at least similar. Editorial sloppiness aside (which seems likely in this last type of example), it seems to me that each reading of the dots (separate or shorten) is musically graceful in some places and awkward in others.

I don't want to try to attach images of the spots - they will only be meaningful to those who know the piece and the score is available online for anyone to look at. You can pick almost any page and find examples of what I'm describing.

My question is, what do other players do about this problem? It isn't limited only to Mahler (I once had a discussion about it as a student with Gigliotti in one of the Baermann studies). But I think Mahler may be the most problematic because he *seems* inconsistent. I've always just picked one or the other meaning on a case-by-case basis unless the conductor noticed and didn't like my choice. Do other players take a more consistent approach to this marking, particularly in Mahler? Do you just do what feels right? I've never seen an authoritative scholarly edition of any of the Mahler symphonies. If any of you have access, are they clearer or more consistent in this?

Karl

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