Klarinet Archive - Posting 000569.txt from 1997/12

From: "John Gates" <cadenza@-----.com>
Subj: Re: More on Gervase
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 1997 19:42:42 -0500

Nancy,
I should think that dental work would have a negative effect although I'm
told that some years ago Robt. Marcellus was in an automobile wreck and had
to have some reconstructive surgery on his mouth. Evidently he, and I have
no memory as to how I heard this, told the surgeon how he wanted his teeth
placed so that he would get even a more beautiful tone (sic!). Well the
story goes that after the operation his tone was even more beautiful !!.
Maybe somebody out there knows more about this?

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Bryson <kbryson@-----.com>
Date: Thursday, December 11, 1997 5:10 AM
Subject: Re: More on Gervase

>Thanks, John, for a very informative posting on de Peyer's career. I
>appreciated your description of the excitement he brings to his
>performances. I had been thinking recently about the difference in
>reaction to his playing between my clarinetist friends and other
>musicians--violinists, pianists, cellists--who are chamber music fans.
>In general, the clarinetists are highly critical whereas the other
>musicians (perhaps not burdened by a preconceived notion of the
>"perfect" clarinet sound) are much more appreciative of him on general
>musical terms. That said, even a clarinetist friend of mine, having
>heard de Peyer's performance of the Weber Grand Duo last year, found my
>Leister recording of the piece rather anemic and, well, boring by
>comparison.
>
>I was also interested in the role that dental work can play in changing
>one's tone quality. I am about to have two wisdom teeth extracted (the
>only parts of my body that possess any wisdom at all, and I'm told
>they've got to go!). I have heard many times of wind players' sound
>being affected by dental work--generally, not for the better. It makes
>sense that if changes of millimeters and less to the inside of a
>mouthpiece can radically alter it's playing characteristics, that
>changes to the inside of the mouth could do the same for a player. I am
>curious if any members of the list have had personal experience of this?
>Or the opposite, extensive dental work with no effect on sound?
>
>Nancy
>
>John Gates wrote:
>>
>> I realize that the recent thread on Gervase de Peyer is probably a couple
of
>> weeks old by now but I have not had an easy time getting this on the
>> klarinet BBS. I think I finally have it, (the listserve), figured out
and
>> hope that those of you who were in one way or another touched by
Gervase's
>> playing will enjoy this.
>>
>> Today (12/5) I spent nearly an hour and read all the recent comments on
>> Gervase de Peyer. Thanks for Mark's database!!! I think that with the
>> exception of a very few (Nancy Sulfridge, Jim and Dan P) none of the
>> commentaries have looked at the whole picture of what he has brought to
>> performance.
>>
>> First of all his rhythm is compelling; I don't mean necessarily
>> metronomic but the type that makes for very exciting playing. Heifetz
had
>> that same sort of quality. Secondly he has/had a wonderful sound in so
many
>> respects, however it certainly is not a beautiful tone all the time. He
is
>> able to play extremely brilliantly and then take the tone, when the music
>> calls for it, and melt all that urgency into intimacy. Yes usually with
an
>> English style vibrato (thank you Haydn Draper and Reginald Kell). Who
else
>> does this? Thirdly he has the talent to walk out on stage and make the
air
>> sizzle with excitement. There is something very thrilling about Gervase.
>> You know something is going to happen when he walks out on stage, in this
>> respect he is a natural performer.
>>
>> Now for some info that any of you that have been affected positively
or
>> negatively by Gervase de Peyer's playing might find interesting.
Sometime
>> in the mid sixties he became very dissatisfied with mouthpieces. I
studied
>> off and on with him from 1966-68. I remember that he was always trying
to
>> find a mouthpiece that could give him the ability of playing with great
>> flexibility. When he made the 2nd recording of the Weber Quintet (for
>> EMI/angel) Cecil Aronowitz, violist with Melos ensemble, told me that he
>> would squeak so much that took out a pocket knife and work on his
mouthpiece
>> when the rest of them listened to playbacks!! I remember once when he
was
>> about 40 yrs. old that he showed me a box with over a hundred mouthpieces
>> that he had worked on.
>>
>> I think that after he came back to London after studying with Cahuzac
he
>> played his best. It was then that he just got into the London Symphony
>> Orchestra and recorded his first Mozart Conc. (the one with the bassoon
>> conc. on the other side). He played it like Weber. It was very fast and
>> brilliant. Jim Lytthans has this recording. Incidentally he is the
>> clarinetist on just about all the recordings of the LSO in the sixties.
>> He's the clarinetist on the Joseph Krips Beethoven Cycle, all the Dvorak
>> cycle with Istvan Kertez (also Galanta Dances with Kertez), and a slew of
>> other ones. He also played Principal on all the Peter Maag Mendelssohn
>> works (probably the greatest Scottish symphony ever recorded, thanks
Peter
>> Maag)
>>
>> Shortly after he recorded the Weber2/Spohr1, with the young Colin
Davis
>> conducting a rough sounding LSO, the Weber 5tet and Kegelstatt and a
>> clarinet recital album including Le Tombeau de Ravel, Martinu Sonatina
and
>> Weber Grand duo Concertante. These recordings launched his career.
There
>> was a new voice on the clarinet, nobody had ever played like that before.
>> Wow. All of a sudden the clarinet opened up an exciting experience, not
>> just another beautiful sound. He could play like Kell but also with the
>> energy of Horowitz.
>>
>> At any rate he had some dental work (never have an English dentist do
>> work on your mouth) including a root canal sometime in 1967 and from then
on
>> his tone began to deteriorate, also he started squeaking a lot. I think
>> that his dental work, and not therefore not being able to produce the
tone
>> he wanted to, and his drive to make the polarize the tempers of the music
>> had a negative effect on certain aspects of his tone.
>>
>> I hope he is doing well, like Kell his career never did that well
when
>> he came to America and I know he's probably not all that happy with the
way
>> certain events have gone. He tried to launch a conducting career but it
>> never took.
>