Klarinet Archive - Posting 001033.txt from 1998/07

From: dnaden <dnaden@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Leister
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 12:54:13 -0400

In response to HatNYC62:

I was the one who supposedly wrote a disparagement remark about Karl Leister. If
you will please re-read my post, you will note that I stated that his style of
playing (sound, technique, etc.) lends itself better to the Germanic/Central
European repertoire. I also stated that his recordings are generally excellent.

I did not make any negative remarks about his playing, as I too own a majority of
his recordings. There is no doubt that he is a musician par excellance. I did
make the recommendation that Mark Bradley check out other available recordings,
because I believe that there are others out there that are not better in terms of
overall performance, but are better in terms of articualtion, attacks, releases,
etc that give much more of a "French" feel.

As an example, although the repertoire is not French or German, rather
Scandanavian, is his recording of the Crusell Concertos for Clarinet. Excellent
performances, yes. However, very legato and smooth, when compared to the
performances by Thea King on Hyperion. Thea King's performances have just that
extra sparkle or whatever because of the crisper, sharper articulation and
phrasing.

David S. Naden, MMus
Cal State University Los Angeles

PS--It would be helpful to me, and the entire list if you would please identify
yourself. I for one dislike have to write to a username that is not the person's
real name.

HatNYC62@-----.com wrote:

> I was disturbed to see yet another disparagement of Karl Leister here
> recently. I forget the exact context already, but it was a recommendation
> against buying a recording of Leister's (which the writer admitted never
> having heard).
>
> In contemporary clarinet history, there have been extremely few clarinetists
> who have managed to distinguish themselves in a major orchestral post, chamber
> music and solo playing SIMULTANEOUSLY. In fact, the only other clarinetists I
> can name who have achieved true distinction in all areas at the same time are
> Leopold Wlach (Vienna Staatsoper) and Harold Wright. Neither of them made as
> many recordings as Leister, in any of the three categories. In fact, Leister
> has probably made more classical recordings than any clarinetist, particularly
> when you include the Berlin Philharmonic recordings.
>
> In addition, unless you have heard him live, you really don't know Leister's
> playing. The sparkle of his sound and the great spirit of his musicianship
> don't fully translate to recordings. Many clarinetists sound much better on
> their highly overproduced cds than they do in person, thanks to the modern
> splice and other high-technology tricks. Not Leister.
>
> Let's face it, you don't spend 30 years in the Berlin Philharmonic, become a
> founding member of the world's greatest wind quintet (Ensemble Wein-Berlin),
> solo all over the world and record all the major literature for the instrument
> by accident. On top of all that, at age 60 or so, he can still play rings
> around most mortals, and proved as much a few months ago at Alice Tully, at
> joint concert of the Wein-Berlin and the Lincoln Center Chamber Players. I was
> there, and every clarinet player I talked to afterwards was in complete
> admiration of the playing we heard.
>
> To say that a recital disc by such a man, even if it is a German playing
> French music, is not worthy of inclusion in a library is a dangerous piece of
> advice. This is especially true when you haven't heard the recording in
> question. Let's face it, America is a hell of a lot further away from France
> than Germany is. Are you saying we have a better concept of French music than
> a German musician who has worked with most of the major French conductors of
> the last 40 years?
>
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