Klarinet Archive - Posting 000982.txt from 1995/10

From: Stephen Cranefield <stephen@-----.NZ>
Subj: Re: MAXWELL-DAVIES CLARINET CONCERTO
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 21:32:27 -0400

James Sclater writes:
> Recently I had the pleasure of hearing the CD of one of the
> "Strathclyde Concertos" by Peter Maxwell Davies. The Clarinet Concerto was
> recorded by Lewis Morrison and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra on the
> Collins label. It's a fine new piece, very challenging and very worthy of
> the attention of players.
> My question is this...can any of our colleagues in the UK tell me
> anything about Lewis Morrison? [ ... ]

I lived in Edinburgh for four years and had the pleasure of hearing
the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Scottish National Orchestra (as
they were then called) every week. I was a great fan of Lewis
Morrison's playing. Yes, he is the principal of the SCO, or at least
was in 1991 when I left Edinburgh. I imagine he's still there as he
was reasonably young and the SCO is a very desirable orchestra to be
in (I've heard that they pay London rates even though the players get
to live somewhere with a much greater quality of life). I enjoyed the
subtlety of his playing. He always played beautifully but unlike the
principals of some orchestras, never tried to dominate the texture
(with some orchestras I've heard I had the feeling that the principal
was thinking "right, here's the clarinet solo, move over everyone
else, I'm going to blast this one out"). Of all the orchestral
players I've heard Lewis Morrison was the one I would most want to
sound like.

On the other hand, as a member of a chamber orchestra that is based in
a converted church, I guess he has a rather different job to do than
someone who plays in a large orchestra in a huge hall. Perhaps
there's less scope for subtlety there -- but I like to think that's
not the case!

- Stephen

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Stephen Cranefield Phone: +64 3 479 8083
Department of Information Science Fax: 479 8311
University of Otago
Dunedin, New Zealand E-mail: scranefield@-----.nz
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