Klarinet Archive - Posting 000345.txt from 1998/07

From: Mitch Bassman <mbassman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Any Clarfest reports?
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 16:07:39 -0400

At 05:38 AM 7/14/98 PDT, Wendi Hatton wrote:
>For those of you who attended this year's Clarfest, please send your
>impressions and experiences to the list for those who could not attend.
>It would be greatly appreciated. Did anyone from the Washington, DC
>area attend?

Impressions and experiences? Yes, Wendi, there were attendees from the
Washington, DC, area; I live in Northern Virginia. And in fact, the very
first two people I bumped into while wandering around the OSU campus on
Monday evening, July 6, before the first day of the Big Clarinet Party,
were Jim Fay (our esteemed Klarinet list owner), who is *also* from this
region and whom I already knew, and Mark Charette (caretaker and feeder of
the Sneezy machine), who is definitely *not* from the Washington area and
who is much happier than he appears in his on-line photo
<http://www.sneezy.org/Images/mcharette.jpg>. Mark immediately allowed me
take him out to buy him a Sam Adams (he said everybody owed him one), while
Jim went off somewhere to rest up for the next day. :)

As an amateur musician (meaning I play because I love it), I thought I was
in Fantasy Land all week. (Coming back to my day job this week was a real
drag.) As others have already done, I commend Jim Pyne, Hild Peerson (who
is truly delightful), and the rest of the conference organizers for
providing me with a wonderful experience.

The Tuesday afternoon performances were a perfect beginning. I especially
enjoyed the opportunity to chat with John Yeh after The Chicago Trio (Larry
Combs, John Yeh, and Julie DeRoche) played (perhaps my favorite of the many
recitals). John and my brother (a hornist) shared an apartment (and a wind
quintet) when they were at Juilliard together in the early 1970s, so it was
a chance to update him on my brother's current doings (and to buy a CD from
him).

Beginning Wednesday, there were difficult decisions to be made about
whether to attend the concurrent recitals, seminars, or exhibits. But
Wednesday morning I headed for Toyland -- the exhibit hall -- with my
clarinets to try mouthpieces and barrels. After Wednesday, I left my
clarinets behind and went with only mouthpieces to try clarinets of every
shape and size. What an opportunity to compare brands and models! They were
all right there in the same room. And every maker had great instruments;
there is no obvious reason to avoid any of the brands. I was surprised at
how light (weight) the Patricola is compared to my Buffet. When I totalled
my purchases on Saturday, I learned that I had spent more that I had
expected: two mouthpieces (B-flat and E-flat), two barrels (B-flat and
E-flat), two ligatures (E-flat and bass), a reed case, books, CDs, and lots
of other assorted clarinet stuff.

I'm reluctant to get started discussing the recitals and concerts, because
I'm doing this from memory (during a break from work) and I know I'll leave
out something that was important to me. But Eric Hoeprich with his period
clarinets and basset horn was fabulous, especially in the performance of
the Mozart Trio, which was a late Thursday afternoon treat. The Thursday
evening concert featuring the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and a succession
of clarinet soloists was a highlight of the week for me. The CSO
clarinetists (David Thomas and Robert Jones) got things started very
nicely; Howard Klug was (and is always) an impressive soloist; but Ricardo
Morales drew two standing ovations from an audience of fellow clarinet
players: His closing with the Mozart Concerto on a Buffet (not Leblanc)
basset clarinet was elegant. But his earlier appearance in the concert,
playing the Weber Concertino, was something of a surprise; he made it sound
like a masterpiece and the entire audience rose to acknowledge that feat.

Oh, just before I left Sunday, I ran into Michele Gingras in the recital
hall. Earlier in the week I had purchased her two CDs at the exhibit hall.
Michele is as gracious as she is talented. If you like klezmer, check out
her recordings with The Cincinnati Klezmer Project.

I enjoyed meeting many of you during the week. Thanks very much to Mark
Charette for organizing the pizza and beer bash. And, Anne Bell, I'll try
to get that contact information for you again.

Back to Wendi's Washington, DC, question, I went this year because Columbus
is only about a 7.5-hour drive from my home in Northern Virginia. Recent
annual events have been much farther away. I spoke with Alan Stanek on the
bus to the Saturday night pops concert (Eddie Daniels) about having another
ClarinetFest in the Eastern U.S. some time in the near future. He said that
all it takes is that someone who has suitable facilities to host such an
event has to volunteer to organize it. So, somebody volunteer.

OK, that was my quick break. Now back to work and then home to practice.

Mitch Bassman
Burke, Virginia, USA
mbassman@-----.com

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