Vocal material began the program with three poems by Mayrhofer (in which the poet made certain that any emotional silver lining of the text had a dark cloud to obscure it). These were Der Alpenjäger, D. 524; Fahrt zum Hades, D. 526; and Auf der Donau, D. 553. Next came Schiller’s 27-stanza poem, Der Taucher, D. 77 (a work of the 16-year-old Schubert). Finally, there were three settings of poems by Goethe: Ganymed, D. 544; Grenzen der Menscheit, D. 716; and Der Musensohn, D. 764. Between the vocal offerings, fortepianist Breitman played two impromptus from Op. 90 (D. 899).
Sylvan’s diction was impeccable and he altered his vocal shadings effectively to fit the mood of each song. “Bravura” passages had the vocal character of rich, burnished wood; tender sections were smooth and sweet, his voice conveying dark hopelessness. Breitman’s work as accompanist, as well as his playing of the two impromptus, was elegant.
The program began in the early evening at the Church of the Forest in Pebble Beach. For me at least, a programming problem undermined the musical experience. The first of the two works was a quartet for flute and strings in C major, listed as a composition by Mozart (but with an incorrect Köchel listing). Although flutist Robin Carlson Peery performed the piece satisfactorily, musicologists have criticized the it for the last half century as a work of questionable authenticity. Its second (and final) movement is an inept arrangement of the variations movement of Mozart's Serenade for 13 players, K. 361; the first movement is so poorly composed as to discount it as a work of Mozart.
In the face of that kind of a conclusion by some of the world’s leading historical musicologists, it is difficult to understand why the work is still being performed under a false flag.
Enter the Basset Clarinet
With the second work on the program, the Mozart Clarinet Quintet, K. 581, almost all was forgiven. Not only did soloist Ginger Kroft Barnetson play brilliantly, she was also intelligent enough to play the work on a basset clarinet, an instrument some eight inches longer than a standard clarinet, which allows for additional notes in the bottom range.
opening four measures of K. 581 is the only
formal connection we have
to his original conception.
In 1948, an English musicologist proposed that “there is something very wrong with the text of both the Mozart clarinet concerto and clarinet quintet.” He persuasively argued that the composer’s favorite clarinet player, Anton Stadler, had a special clarinet with four extra notes at the bottom. Thus, the instrument rose from the dead, with several players and instrument makers reconstructing a basset clarinet.
Barnetson’s decision to play the basset clarinet presented her with two problems. The first was to integrate the four low notes into her technique, while the second was to alter her solo part so as to be able to take advantage of the extended range.
No original score of the clarinet quintet exists, which means that we do not know exactly what Mozart wrote. And there is only good guesswork about where any of the four low notes were used in the solo part. In 1948, it was one thing to suggest that the accepted solo was defective, but in 2009 it is quite another to modify the clarinet part so that the additional notes can be intelligently assimilated into the music.
Nonetheless, I never thought that in my lifetime I would hear a live performance of Mozart’s clarinet quintet played on a basset clarinet, and I thank Barnetson for allowing me this delicious pleasure.
Perfection Yet to Come
The performance itself, showed that Barnetson does not yet own the work; it owns her. But she is young and has many years to perfect her execution of the composition. The most glaring deficiency was her unwillingness to deviate from the written solo line.
For example, in the ABA form of the work's slow movement, the reappearance of the "A" theme should have been a platform from which to display more improvisatory imagination. A musician would have to be made of stone to play that final "A" section the same way twice.
On the whole, Barnetson's playing is exceptional — but she needs to become acquainted with 18th-century performance practice. If she does, I expect her to have a long career full of opportunities to play the Mozart Concerto and Quintet.
The strings that so beautifully accompanied both Peery and Barnetson were Emlyn Ngai and Canfield Cole, violins; Sarah Darling (who elegantly played her solo variation in the quintet's minor-key variation), viola; and Timothy Roberts, cello.