Klarinet Archive - Posting 000203.txt from 1995/02

From: Josias Associates <josassoc@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Michelle Zukovsky
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 1995 15:03:01 -0500

On Wed, 8 Feb 1995, David Gilman wrote:

> On another current track, I think I heard Mrs. Zukovsky playing with a bit
> of vibrato. It was very subtle; so, I'm not completely sure it was there,
> but what I picked up was a magnificent, elegant tone color unlike any other
> I've encountered. Thus, Jonathan is right [no big surprise]. Vibrato
> should be taught and used.
>
> Any comments, flames, .... [I feel the burn already.]
>
> David Gilman

David,

On the assumption that Michelle Zukovsky has, in fact, added a
shimmer to her sound, the following are some unsubstantiated speculations
on why it might have happened.

Frank Sabin had studied with a number of teachers, including LA
Phil Principal Oboist, Henri Debuscherre and your teacher, Kalman Bloch.
While studying with Bloch, Sabin became friendly with both his teacher and
his teacher's daughter, Michelle, and that friendship has continued to this
very day.

Sabin modeled his sound after that of the Philadelphia Orchestra's
Ralph McLane, and he used vibrato throughout his professional performing
career. Although his early professional work was centered in the Southern
California area, he had developed a national reputation by the early 1940s.
After Sabin had done a series of commercial recordings in 1943 for the
Boston Symphony, Serge Kousevitsky offered him the first chair, which was
being vacated by Victor Polochek.

Sabin declined the offer, as he did later once again when offered
the principal chair in the San Francisco Symphony, preferring to perform
in the relative anonymity of the Pasadena Symphony. But Bloch, who was then
Principal Clarinet at the LA Phil, and his daughter, an aspiring
clarinetist at the time, came to Pasadena frequently to hear Sabin, whom
they regarded as a clarinetist's clarinetist.

If Michelle is now using a vibrato, she might at last have
succumbed to any one of a number of influences. Her husband,
Charles Zukovsky, is reported to be one of the finest studio clarinetists
in the business. Since I have not heard him play, I have no idea about
whether he vibrates. Perhaps he was the one who suggested use of a shimmer.

But she had heard Sabin play with a vibrato since she was a young
girl, and it's not unlikely that vibrato has been a continuing topic of
discussion between them for many years and may have influenced her
thinking.

With respect to your high regard for her playing, others -- very
notably composers -- feel the same way. Two composers, who, I imagine, feel
that way about her are John Corigliano, whose clarinet concerto she
premiered, and Luciano Berio, whose orchestral transcription of a
Brahms sonata she also premiered.

Connie

Conrad Josias
La Canada, California