Klarinet Archive - Posting 000200.txt from 1997/10

From: Gary Young <gyoung@-----.com>
Subj: RE: clarinet works
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 19:43:39 -0400

Dan is right about Brahms.

When I was in college, my orchestra conductor asked me to play the Mozart
concerto with the orchestra, but he told me I couldn't play a Brahms sonata
for my senior recital -- that (he really said this) I hadn't suffered
enough. (He did let me play the John Ireland Fantasy Sonata. Go figure.)

Well, I think it was arbitrary and dictatorial of him not to let me play
Brahms, but he was right to this extent: living -- and suffering, which is
unavoidable if you live -- change you, give you a depth of understanding of
Brahms that does not come about with many other composers, such as (in my
opinion) Weber. I've been playing Concertino for over forty years, though
not constantly, thank God, and though I now know it better than when I was
in high school, the improvement is primarily technical. But with Brahms --
when you're playing Brahms, well, I lack words for it, it is so amazing,
and connects you so much to the people you're playing with, and in some
ineffable way teaches you a lot about life. I think the same is true of
Mozart -- both are very exposed and very simple compared to today's
technically demanding music, but I think that that simplicity and exposure
makes them even harder to play well. Think of the slow movement of
Mozart's concerto. I think that's really difficult to do well. Lots of
people think it's just a pretty tune, but that's wrong -- just the opening
bars are extremely hard to get right, and the change of harmony in the
reprise is an absolutely spine-tingling moment. You have to be in the
right farme of mind to play these well (that statement gives me away as an
amateur -- a professional would not have the luxury of feeling like playing
as a condition of playing), and being in that frame of mind enough times
can change you as a person. It is truly addictive.

Well, this has been a long day, a big brief filed with the court and law
school class taught, a glass of wine and I find Dan's comment and it sets
me off this way. So much for rampant unrepentant subjectivism.

Gary Young
Madison, Wisconsin

----------
From: Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu]
Subject: Re: clarinet works

> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.33
> Subj: Re: clarinet works

> I know everybody says the Mozart is the end all be all, but personally
the
> only movement I like out of it is the first. My vote? Weber Concerto in
> F-.
>
> Shelley Scott

Shelley, I would like to venture that you are younger than 20. Is that
a correct estimate of your age.

This is not a put down of any sort. I simply note that many players
do find Weber a more exciting composer than Mozart when they are younger
than 20, and that their tastes change over the years.

For example, an appreciation of Brahms as a composer of clarinet
music generally occurs much later in life.

I am glad that you like the Weber concerti (I presume you like them all
even though you mentioned only one) and if my estimate of your age
is correct, it is a perfect piece of music for that period of your
life.

>
=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
=======================================

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org