Klarinet Archive - Posting 000435.txt from 1994/10

From: Josias Associates <josassoc@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: david shifrin
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 1994 03:42:28 -0500

On Sat, 29 Oct 1994, Dannene Joy Kulp wrote:

> Fellow clarinetist,
>
> Have any of you played for David Shifrin? I'm playing in a masterclass by
> him on Thursday, and I was curious as to what kind of person he is. I want to
> know what to expect. I'm playing the Debussy for him. I have a CD of him,
and
> he sounds great on it so I'm excited to play for him, but I'm also nervous.
> The flutists here just had a masterclass with the first flute in the chicago
> symphony and he was mean and tore them all apart. I just want to know if that
> might happen to me!!!

Dannene,

About ten years ago, Shiffrin was a guest artist with the
Caltech/Occidental-College Wind Ensemble and played the Weber Concerto
No. 2 at Occidental. I think that, at that time, he was near the end of his
tenure with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra or had just left. I had been a
community member of the Ensemble and was playing Solo Clarinet.

My only point of reference on the man was in the preparation
and performance of the concerto with Shiffrin. For what it's worth, my
limited sample was as follows:

The man was gracious, cooperative, and easy to work with, unlike
other famous soloists who were hell on wheels. As I recalled, the
concerto went together without incident, and his performance was first
rate. One of the things that sticks in my mind was that, during the
actual performance, he managed to acknowledge deserving sections and players
after tutti passages. Once, after a fast technical passage in the
clarinet section, he showed his pleasure during the concert by shuffling his
feet as though he were a section player in a symphony orchestra
complimenting a colleague.

From what little I saw of the man, I would guess that, if a
student were going to be criticized by Shiffrin, it would be with
civilized and constructive comments. He also appears to let people know
when they're doing well.

I hope this has been of some help.

Good luck!

Connie

Conrad Josias
Engineering Consultant
Josias Associates
La Canada, California
josassoc@-----.com

   
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