Prom 4: MacMillan/Mahler, Hallé/Hallé Choir & Youth Choir & Children’s Choir, Elder

[smittims]

It happens. The NYO might do it in the first symphony: that's on TV too. And there's a 'stand-out' solo for e-flat clarinet in the finale of Janacek's Sinfonietta which would benefit from beig played Schalltrichter auf!

[oliver sudden]

I’m bemused by that particular part of Mahler performance practice. I’ve certainly done it on the handful of occasions I’ve played Mahler in concert. But I don’t really know how much sonic difference it really makes besides bringing me out of my normal alignment of the embouchure and air supply with the instrument (clarinet in my case). Unlike with trumpets, the note does not invariably come solely out of the bell. There’s a sweet spot for any given mouthpiece in terms of its angle in the mouth and if you retain that while raising the bell then it’s the neck that has to compensate, which to be honest is not much fun.

Mahler ‘Schalltrichter auf’ curiosities:
- he never says when to bring it down again
- in the original version of the sixth symphony he asks the bass clarinet to do it, which would be a pretty acrobatic business.

[smittims]

I wonder if the direction to raise the bell came from the way oboe and clarinet players habitually held the instrument vertically, as shown in old photos and films. Nowadays it's neare 45 degrees so raising the bell doesn't make that much difference. I supose it's also a 'theatrical' device to catch the audience attention, like the horns standing up in the finale of Mahler 1.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I’m bemused by that particular part of Mahler performance practice. I’ve certainly done it on the handful of occasions I’ve played Mahler in concert. But I don’t really know how much sonic difference it really makes besides bringing me out of my normal alignment of the embouchure and air supply with the instrument (clarinet in my case). Unlike with trumpets, the note does not invariably come solely out of the bell. There’s a sweet spot for any given mouthpiece in terms of its angle in the mouth and if you retain that while raising the bell then it’s the neck that has to compensate, which to be honest is not much fun.

Mahler ‘Schalltrichter auf’ curiosities:
- he never says when to bring it down again
- in the original version of the sixth symphony he asks the bass clarinet to do it, which would be a pretty acrobatic business.

There’s a BBC doc on Mark Elder where he meticulously takes players through Mahler’s very detailed woodwind instructions - even translating them - so clearly ME follows them. I often wondered whether that bells raised business is more about producing a raucous “Klezmer” or jazz effect rather than volume but I don’t know enough clarinet playing to know whether it produces that.
Over the years I’ve seen jazz tenor sax players playing with the instrument at just about every conceivable angle . Trouble is if a bass clarinet tried It players on either side would be in some danger.