Klarinet Archive - Posting 000487.txt from 1996/03

From: Everett J Austin <BrendaA624@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: German music, German clarinets; French, French clarinets
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1996 02:00:00 -0500

Roger Shilcock wrote a comment about Cahuzac, apparently in regard to an
earlier one made by Dan Leeson about "French" sounds. I would like to add a
comment with a little historical perspective.

Regarding Cahuzac's recording of the Hindemith Concerto, which is quite
wonderful in spirit and sound (the best sound if there is one, to my ear,
without excluding many other wonderful possibilities): I received a couple
of very nice letters from people who have witnessed some transformations in
"French" clarinet sound and who knew Cahuzac's playing first-hand, Guy Deplus
and Hans Rudolf Stalder. They both are enthusiastic about his sound and M.
Deplus said that the Hindemith recording captures it well, despite Cahuzac's
being close to 80. Cahuzac's sound as a soloist in the second quarter of
this century was not typical of the French sound of his time and was much
rounder and more colored than the customary sound of his French
contemporaries. If you compare the sound of Perier, also good, Perier's is
smaller, more focussed and finer (or thinner) and "aggressive" to quote M.
Deplus. It is interesting to note that Perier, Hamelin and Cahuzac all dated
from a similar time at the Conservatoire around the turn of the century and
still had quite distinctive styles and sounds. In other words "French" did
not mean just one thing even then, and Cahuzac did more to change the French
style and color than to represent a typical school of French playing in his
time.

Everett Austin
Fairfax, California