Klarinet Archive - Posting 000137.txt from 1995/02

From: Josias Associates <josassoc@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: vibrato
Date: Mon, 6 Feb 1995 18:04:54 -0500

There have been a number of eloquent and informative messages on
"Klarinet" on the use of clarinet vibrato in classical music. I
particularly enjoyed ones submitted by Fred Jacobowitz and Clark Fobes.
Poor Chris Vaughn must be getting punchy from the feedback, and Nichelle
White (?) has probably received more opinions than she bargained for.

I thought I might also shovel some coals into the fire, but, in my
case, with some anecdotal information. The first part was stimulated by
an inquiry from John Blegen, and the second part refers to the
cyclical nature of playing styles.

ANECDOTAL RESPONSE TO JOHN BLEGEN

John,

Your message -- the part where you wondered if you really heard
Drucker use a vibrato -- reminded me of an incident that occurred about
six years ago.

While at a chamber-music workshop, I was momentarily caught off
guard when another clarinetist -- a very fine one, I might add -- started
railing at players who used vibrato, as though it were an abomination or
Un-American to do so. He cited his teacher's doctrine on the subject
plus "obvious logic" as the basis for his credo.

I asked him what made it logical for singers and other
instrumentalists to use vibrato and not clarinetists. He cited the unique
tonal characteristics of the instrument, which, according to Jack
Brymer, can give it ".....the cool, flawless beauty of a marble statue or
a piece of perfectly polished wood." The purity of the sound makes one
think that the slightest modification to the sound would be a blemish.
"Anyway," he maintained, "Singers, violinists, flutists, oboists,
bassoonists, etc. have always used vibrato."

While it may seem that way, they haven't always. It's just that
the clarinet is a relative newcomer, and use of vibrato in
classical clarinet playing hasn't yet achieved the universal acceptance
accorded other musical sounds. One of the participants in the discussion
pointed out that modern players who adhere rigidly to old dogmas sometimes
put themselves at an unnecessary disadvantage.

A string player volunteered that a clarinetist sharing a
chamber-music program with a string player would be at a disadvantage if
the clarinetist didn't play with some vibrato. Discussing this very point
in his book, "Clarinet" (Yehudi Menuhin Music Guides, Schirmer Books,
1976), Brymer says:

"....There are many thousands of clarinetists who would share a
recital with such a player [he previously mentioned a flutist and
violinist], and would solemnly plod their way through the E-flat Sonata
[of Brahms] immediately after the audience had heard a luscious "con
amore" interpretation of the F minor on its incorrect instrument, the
viola."

Little headway was achieved with such an argument, because that
clarinet player was convinced that the purity of a straight unmodulated
clarinet sound would make the sound more interesting than that of another
modulated woodwind or stringed instrument. He was also convinced
that a vibrato of any kind would mar that perfect sound.

I took another approach. I asked, "Are you always aware of which
clarinetists use vibrato and which don't?"
He said "Of course I am."
"What about player X (another clarinetist at the workshop):
Does he use a vibrato?"
"Hell, no," he said. "He has the good sense to play with a
straight tone."
"So there's nothing unusual about his sound?" I pressed further.
"No, just that pleasant shimmering effect he gets."
"And what do you suppose causes that?"
He thought for a minute and said, "Atmospherics, acoustics, I'm
not sure."
I then said, "Unless you're referring to echoes -- stuff coming
off the walls -- there's nothing in the recital-hall acoustics that will
cause that kind of an amplitude modulation, which is what 'shimmering'
is. The only place that such modulation can come from is the player,
who is adding it to his or her sound."
He looked intently at me for some time and, without saying
anything, stood up and walked away.

In a situation similar to ones pointed out by others in this
discussion, this anti-vibrato person had, at least on this one
occasion -- and very possibly many others -- been listening to a player
using vibrato, hadn't found it objectionable, and hadn't actually been
aware of what he had heard.

John, I did not hear that performance of the Dvorak Cello Concerto to
which you referred, but if you thought there was a vibrato in Drucker's
sound, even a subtle one, it was probably there and was undoubtedly added
intentionally. This opinion was reinforced further by the message from
David Gilman, who is more familiar with Drucker's playing than I am.
Those modulation effects don't usually happen accidentally, and the practice
of using a vibrato in classical clarinet music is probably more widespread
than some people realize.

An excellent example of a clarinet vibrato used in an ensemble
setting is in the recording of the Beethoven Octet from the Marlboro
Series, in which the two clarinetists are Harold Wright and Dick Lesser.
One of the beautiful aspects of Wright's playing in this performance (at
least it is for me) is the way he tastefully vibrated short notes in
much the same way that a string player might vibrate a pizz.

CYCLICAL NATURE OF CERTAIN PLAYING STYLES

As a postscript to the lively discussion on vibrato, I'd like to
reinforce Dan Leeson's reminder to relatively new subscribers to Klarinet
about previous discussions on the same subject -- discussions that were
equally active.

Although not well documented, there is some evidence that certain
playing styles, like use of vibrato in the clarinet, have run in cycles,
which are often started by exceptional players who are frequently
emulated by others. Thus, in recent times, one might credit Reginald Kell
with being a style setter.

But, he probably wasn't the first prominent clarinetist to use
vibrato. On one of my postings on the subject last year, I discussed reports
that Richard Muhlfeld, the famous player whose style and sound persuaded
Brahms to postpone his planned retirement, used vibrato. The artist had
so impressed Brahms that, instead of retiring, over the next four
years he wrote four major chamber works, all using the clarinet. The
very existence of those works can thus be attributed, in part, to the
effect Muhlfeld's playing had in influencing Brahms. If the
expressiveness of his playing is what most affected Brahms, as many people
believe, vibrato may have had a part.

If Muhlfeld's playing created a style cycle, it probably didn't
last very long, because there were forces at work that would attenuate
his influence. Use of vibrato in the clarinet was far from being a
tradition, and conductors of the day (up until recently) were often
violently opposed to its use.

Once again, after the establishment of a trend-setting style by
Kell, use of vibrato among English players no longer appears to be as
universal as it one seemed. But there does appear to be a cautious growth
of its use in the U.S. -- a different style than employed by Kell and his
English disciples, to be sure -- but a more frequent use of this coloring
tool to add to the attractiveness of the sound of the classical clarinet.

Connie

Conrad Josias
La Canada, California