Klarinet Archive - Posting 000386.txt from 1997/10

From: "Andrew Scholberg" <ascholbe@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Oops! Sorry. I goofed.
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 1997 00:17:15 -0400

Concerning my garbled message about ranking Mozart, Weber, and Brahms, I
apologize. My computer is fighting me tonight for some reason, and some
high bytes must have sneaked through, surviving the e-mail process and
creating unexpected typographic effects. I've reduced the message down to
ASCII, and it should come through clean this time. Here's the message I had
intended to send:

How unfortunate that so many clarinet players take the Mozart concerto for
granted. A pianist (!) once told me that he regarded the Mozart clarinet
concerto as the greatest concerto ever written for *any* instrument.

Galway's attempt to transcribe this concerto for flute is a token of his
deep feeling and admiration for it. I heard his transcription on the radio
once, and my assessment is that it I do not desire to hear it a second
time, although Galway is certainly a fine musician and I don't blame him
for trying. (Mozart's two flute concertos lack the depth of the clarinet
concerto.)

Why do some clarinet players disparage or belittle the Mozart concerto? A
few years ago I played Brahms's first symphony in a community orchestra.
The former director of that orchestra, a curmudgeon, frowned on the
selection and became indignant, declaring, "That symphony should not be
played by shoe clerks!" Bruno Walter didn't dare to conduct Mozart's 40th
symphony until he had reached the maturity of 54 years of age. Perhaps
clarinet players should wait until they've suffered for a few decades
before presuming to perform the Mozart concerto.

The middle movement is remarkable when played by a master. I'll never
forget a performance by Joe Longo in about 1975 in Minneapolis. His
remarkable sound and smooth playing commanded the immediate attention of
the audience, and he played the music with utmost tenderness, sensitivity,
and respect. When he came to the pianissimo passage in the middle movement,
he applied a subtle vibrato: You could have heard a pin drop in that
concert hall. He held the entire audience breathless -- in the palm of his
hand. I've heard recordings by Leister, Marcellus, and a few other world
class players, but Joe Longo's interpretation is the best I've heard so
far. I'm
not aware that he has ever recorded it.

No young musician should be blamed for falling under the spell of Weber.
His music has such panache that it's irresistible. It's pointless to argue
whether Weber's concertos are "greater" than the Mozart concerto. If the
criterion is panache or sizzle, the Mozart concerto will lose out. Each
composer has a different style. If one could ask Weber to compare his works
to Mozart, I believe in deference he would remove his hat at the mention of
Mozart's name.

Bruno Walter said that as a young conductor he was obsessed with the "big
shout" of Wagner, but Walter says that when Mahler took him under his wing,
he "revealed the wonders of Mozart to me."

>From personal experience I want to confirm Dan Leeson's observations about
Weber and Brahms. When I was a teenager Weber really hit the spot, and the
Brahms clarinet sonatas didn't do a thing for me. Weber's exuberant,
extroverted music excited me. I still enjoy his unabashed, operatic style.
The Brahms sonatas came across to me as dull because I wasn't yet ready for
his introspective, reflective, personal style. Now, later in life, Brahms
speaks to my soul. His music has depth, feeling, and beauty. (Young
musicians, you'll just have to take my word for it.)

Mozart, Weber, and Brahms are three composers among many more that I love.
Young musicians shouldn't be disparaged or "corrected" for preferring one
composer over another. Instead, they should be *commended* for listening to
worthwhile music instead of allowing the disgusting racket blaring from the
popular radio stations to ruin their hearing. (Did you read in the
newspaper last Saturday that President Clinton at age 51 is getting hearing
aids? His hearing loss was probably caused by listening to too much
abrasive rock "music" rather than honking his baritone sax too loudly.)

Andy Scholberg
ascholbe@-----.com