Klarinet Archive - Posting 000572.txt from 1996/03

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: What type of sound carries?
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 13:50:53 -0500

Brad Behn wrote:

"A sound like Steve Girko's projects beautifully!"

I never said it *didn't* project, but "beautifully" is another question
entirely. If you failed to read completely, I stated clearly that he
tends not to blend with the ensemble very well because his sound *is* so
piercing. Sure, the clarinet is an important instrument in the
orchestra, but there are times when one should not be able to pick it out
of a densely textured winds passage. With composers like Mahler and
Stravinsky, sections of the orchestra are "played" as a simultaneity -- a
conscious effect created by the composer. They create an aggregate tone
color. You can't have a new shade of blue-green if somebody insists on
continuously throwing neon red into the mix.

"The type of sound that does not project should be another topic of
> discussion. It is in my opinion that "Dark" sounds don't project in the
> concert hall very well."

Ever heard Karl Leister perform? You know -- principal clarinet of the
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for some 30-odd years? I assure, he has no
problem whatsoever being heard in the concert hall.

"I think all you folks that are so keen on having a dark sound, are simply
> afraid of a little tonal edge."

As with so many matters of performance, one's tone is very presonal
property. The range of tone colors which we hear in the clarinet world
these days stands as testament to how many different ways in which
clarinetists conceive of the clarinet as a whole. Whether or not the
sound projects is not an issue of a person's concept of his/her tone. It is
an issue of whether that tone is focused, and whether they are able to
use it in a musical fashion. If Steve Girko had no musicality (and he
has plenty), I wouldn't pay any anntention to his playing. He could throw his
clarinet into the audience to get their attention, but I would throw it
back if there were nothing to hear.

"Steve should be commended for holding out against the current fashion of
"Dark, Fat, Diffused and...boring"> sounds.

You must be listening to only the unfocused clarinet players. There are
plenty of players out there with less obtrusive sounds who are equally
capable of creating beauty and projection without the excessive thinness
and edge which characterizes Girko's sound. Don't get me wrong. Girko
is a musician before he is a clarinetist, so the music comes across
without a doubt. We're being entirely subjective here in our opinions of
his tone quality and his rendering of the music.

"By the way, Has the critic of Steve and his sound ever played steve's
set up? How does the critic know if the reeds Steve playes are very soft?"

I study with Steve Girko at SMU. Sure, I'm a critic of his sound, and
his style as well sometimes. But he is one hell of a player
nonetheless. He and I are much alike, actually. He would never hesitate
to rip somebody to shreds for a single disagreeable aspect of their
playing, but continue to hold respect for the player in the cumulative
sense if they are worthy of it. You don't beat around the bush with
Girko, or he'll have you for dinner.

"Anyway, I would like to say that I do apreciate Neil Leupold's comments...I
> don't mean to slamm him for his comments and observations"

Come on, Brad. Slamming me is exactly what you had in mind, I hope you
enjoyed doing it as much as I enjoyed reading it. And you're right, the
straight-forward opinions of people on this list are damned important.
I'm not talking about the scientific, objective, erudite discourse which
Dan Leeson feverishly insists follow any statement of a subjective
nature. I'm talking about simple human expression for expression's sake,
without any need to "justify" it with bore dimensions, sine waves,
bibliographies, or an analysis of the composer's wife's pap smear.

"Is it only the sound we hear, or the way> in which the sound is used,
that helps create projection?"

A topic we chew on constantly on Klarinet, and may it never become passe'
to do so.

Neil