Klarinet Archive - Posting 000432.txt from 1997/03

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Question for all
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 02:51:11 -0500

On Fri, 14 Mar 1997, R Tennenbaum wrote:

> Whose playing did you first really dig? Did you first just like the
> sound of the instrument, then was there someone whose playing knocked
> you out -- a teacher, another student, Artie Shaw....?

I began to like classical music when I was around 12 years old.
Up to that point, I was always telling my mother, "You're some
kind of weirdo. Opera sucks. I hate classical music." Maybe
the change in my aesthetics had something to do with the coin-
cidence of puberty, but whatever the reason, I started tuning
into KDFC (San Francsico's better classical music station at
the time -- now defunct, unfortunately). The first clarinet
solo I ever heard, which set me on my ear (and set my musical
heart on fire) was a recording on KDFC of Sabine Meyer playing
Weber's "Concertino". I was astounded by what I heard, for I'd
been playing clarinet for three years and had no idea that such
incredible music and artistry could be expressed on my instrument.
I immediately began working on obtaining a copy of the part.

After that initial experience, I became more interested in
discovering what was possible on the clarinet. Stoltzman's
insane flights of fancy and creativity in his now-famous
rendition of the Rossini "Intro, Theme, and Variations" was
the next mind-blower. I can still remember sitting in rapture
on my bedroom carpet, maybe 13 years old, screaming, "That's
imPOSSIBLE!!", listening to it for the first time on the radio,
while he climbed one half-step at a time up to high C at the very
end. I still consider it the most remarkable recording of the
piece in existence.

My very first inspiration? Why, my oldest brother, of course.
He played clarinet from elementary through high school, and he
wouldn't let me touch his instrument, much less try to play it.
That was all it took. I was determined to play it too when my
time came, and I had to do it better than him. I'll finally
get my performance degree in December (9 years after my very
first semester in college). Rudi? 'Probably couldn't assemble
a clarinet if his life depended on it now. He tests bad IC boards
at a communications company these days. Somehow that doesn't
seem as satisfying as reaching for the musical stars as a
clarinetist. I've been through the whole stable-income
corporate culture thing. I'd rather be poor and musical
since I happen to have a choice. :) Well, poverty leaves
much to be desired, but barely surviving with music is
better than "flourishing" without.

Neil