Klarinet Archive - Posting 000002.txt from 1995/01

From: ELAINE THOMPSON <eethomp@-----.EDU>
Subj: Stoltzman and Shifrin
Date: Sat, 31 Dec 1994 11:51:29 -0500

Stoltzman--ugh. Unless you are talking about his jazz. I saw him
perform a series of Monk tunes and the jazz was fantastic. As for his
classical playing, I find it tacky beyond belief. I have a recording of
him playing the Mozart concerto, and it sounds as though he couldn't
decide on a consistent articulation, so he just used as many patterns as
he could. And where he wasn't sure of what to do with the phrasing, he
threw in some vibrato for effect. The overall effect of the recording is
that of a clarinettist that is trying to do something different, but has
to rely on tricks instead of musicality.

Shifrin, OTOH, is my favorite classical player. He has a wonderfully
flexible tone and novel interpretations that don't rely on gimmics.
Instead he does his phrasing with a wonderful repertoire of different tone
colors.

To me, comparing Stoltzman and Shifrin is like comparing a red Camaro with
a pink interior, fuzzy dice, and a neon license plate to a Rolls Royce.
Both will be noticed, but the effect is completely different.

This is all my opinion, of course, and flames will be cheerfully ignored.

Elaine Thompson "Two roads diverged in a wood and I,
eethomp@-----.edu I took the one less travelled by,
Johns Hopkins Univ. And it has made all the difference."
--Robert Frost