Klarinet Archive - Posting 000595.txt from 1995/04

From: "Donald B. Kinghorn" <don@-----.EDU>
Subj: has the clarinet changed?
Date: Sat, 29 Apr 1995 19:33:30 -0400

The recent discussion about the sound of the clarinet got me
thinking.
Has the sound of the clarinet (and clarinet players) changed
substantially in the last 15-20 years?
The reason I ask is this; I used to dislike the (soprano) clarinet.
(I loved the bass clarinet, even bought my own bass and contra alto.)
Basically I never heard any soprano clarinet playing that I liked,
live or recorded. I had respect for some of the players, I just
didn't like their sound or the music they were playing, I think DULL
was the word used in a previous posting. (I always liked the Mozart
clarinet concerto but thought it was a shame that it had to be played
on a clarinet.) That was 12 years ago, when I stopped playing and
left the music biz.
BUT NOW (12 years latter) I LOVE THE SOPRANO CLARINET! I heard the
Eddie Daniels CD, Collection (an assortment of pieces off several
recordings), and was stunned, I had never heard anyone play the
clarinet like that! Then I heard Richard Stoltzman's new CD Visions,
it almost brought tears to my eyes, it's the most beautiful sound
I've ever heard out of a clarinet! That's what inspired me to try my
hand at the clarinet, and I love it, even I sound ok (to me) after
only a few weeks of practice. So what's up; did I change? or did the
clarinet and clarinet players change?
(by the way I'm using an Eddie Daniels #2 m.p. with Rico Royal #2's
on my Vito VSP, it sounds good to me but I don't have any other point
of reference, or opinions. I'm stranded here in the chemistry
building finishing my thesis with no other contact with humanity
other than you good folks :-) (I played some of the melodies I've
been able to "ear" off of that Stoltzman CD in the stairwell last
night before I went home, AWESOME!)
-Don