Klarinet Archive - Posting 000118.txt from 1997/12

From: Ken Bryson <kbryson@-----.com>
Subj: de Peyer
Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 12:39:32 -0500

I live in the Washington area and have heard de Peyer play a couple of
times in the last year. While I would have to say that I prefer a very
different kind of sound (Sabine Meyer, Karl Leister), there are things
about de Peyer's playing that I admire. I heard him play Bartok's
Contrasts for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano, and I thought it was
terrific. The things that bothered me about his playing on the Weber
Duo Concertant, which was also on the program, somehow didn't seem at
all inappropriate in the Bartok (if anything, what were faults in the
first piece seemed somehow to become advantages in the second), and his
sense of the music was superb. He played with fire and a kind of
brilliance, I would say. It sounds as though he is currently playing on
a very soft reed and open mouthpiece. I am not familiar with his
recordings (other than to know that he seems to have more of them,
historically, than just about any other clarinetist), so I don't know
how his current sound might compare to his sound at earlier times in his
career. But one last thing that I enjoyed about his performances is how
much he seemed to be enjoying playing--that for him this is a fun and
joyous activity. That communicates something to an audience that can
never be captured in a recording, and for which I am happy to pay the
price of admission. I will probably not make it to Saturday's concert
because of the crush of other obligations this month, but I expect next
year I'll catch at least one of his concerts.

Nancy