Klarinet Archive - Posting 000114.txt from 1996/04

From: thehat@-----.ORG
Subj: Mozart Concerto--Marcellu
Date: Fri, 5 Apr 1996 13:10:57 -0500

In a message dated 04-05-96 INTERNET: Larry Liberson wrote to ** ALL **:
Ih> Marcellus took this most demanding Mozart Concerto and makes it sound
Ih> effortless, which is a large part of the magic of this performance.
Ih> His musical approach and style coupled with his impeccable control of
Ih> all facets of the instrument makes this such a joy to listen to, many
Ih> years -- and many players! -- since I first heard it a long, long
Ih> time ago!

Ih> To me (my own humble opinion!), Marcellus served Mozart as well as it
Ih> could be done...and that's what makes his performance exciting.

Thanks, Mr. Liberson, for putting this into words better than I could have. I
would add that Mr. Marcellus was a young man of 32 when he made this
recording. Although he was proud of his effort, he almost never could bring
himself to listen to the record, because he would notice what he regarded as
flaws in his own performance. One thing he never questioned, though, was Mr.
Szell's influence in this work (and all other Mozart, for that matter). Szell
had, in the 1950s, taken him through the work virtually bar by bar to make
him rethink everything about the work.

Another aside: often, if one tried to add too much "fire" to a reading of the
Concerto (this usually meant adding too much fast articulation somewhere),
the response from Mr. Marcellus would be "to me, this sounds too much like
Weber." In would come the slurs. Right or wrong, that was how he felt about
the work, and I personally can only admire his dedication and marvel at his
execution, particularly the depth of beauty in his tone color and the
effortlessness of the articulation!

Perhaps later I can write more about the "old man," as some of us referred to
him. Right now it is still to difficult.

David Hattner
clarinetist-at-large, NYC
-> Alice4Mac 2.4.4 E QWK Eval:04Feb96
Origin: Hat's Nut House