Klarinet Archive - Posting 000385.txt from 1995/01

From: Lorne G Buick - Music TA <lgbuick@-----.CA>
Subj: Re: British Clarinettists
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 18:47:34 -0500

Actually the topic of my reply changes to "clarinetists from New Zealand
and Argentina"...

On Thu, 26 Jan 1995, Stephen Cranefield wrote:

> Lisa Gartrell Yeo <ux403@-----.CA> wrote:
>
> > While we are on the (controversial) subject of British clarinettists,
> > I would like to recommend a former teacher of mine, John McCaw
[snip]
> > He has a warm, lyrical tone, and truly makes the clarinet "sing".
> > His Nielsen is not only technically flawless, but the most musical
> > interpretation I have ever heard. Many performances of this work
[snip]
Just wanted to add my voice in agreement, being a student-of-a-student of
McCaw's- I love his Nielsen/ Mozart record too (not my favourite version of
the Mozart, but certainly one of my favourite clarinet recordings for sound).

And an anecdote concerning McCaw and his student who was my teacher, Luis
Rossi: when Rossi was a student, he played Boosey & Hawkes 1010 (large
bore) clarinets. He heard McCaw's recording and assumed that he played the
same instrument. When McCaw heard the tape, he was impressed, and assumed
Rossi was playing Buffets, which is what he (McCaw) was in fact playing!
When Rossi arrived in England and they met, they were both surprised to
see each other's instruments! Just goes to show, I guess, that a true
musician (or maybe I should just say, a strong-willed musician) creates
his own sound and doesn't just accept whatever comes out of the instrument.

>
> I feel obliged to mention at this point that John McCaw is originally
> from Dunedin, New Zealand where he was taught by his father, a
> self-taught clarinettist. Although his entire career was in the UK
> and he is highly respected by British clarinettists, he can't really
> be considered as representative of any sort of "British school" of
> playing (although no doubt his teaching has had a great influence on
> many younger British players!).
>
> - Stephen
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Stephen Cranefield Phone: +64 3 479 8083
> Department of Information Science Fax: 479 8311
> University of Otago
> Dunedin, New Zealand E-mail: scranefield@-----.nz
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------