Klarinet Archive - Posting 001046.txt from 1998/07
From: <HatNYC62@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re: klarinet Digest 25 Jul 1998 19:51:29 -0000 Issue 320
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 16:31:00 -0400
>>>I believe some clarification is in order. First, My personal collection of
CDs
with only clarinet repertoire exceeds 250. In addition to the majority of
recordings made by Leister (Oreo, Camerata, etc), I have recordings made by
Thea
King (Hyperion), Emma Johnson (ASV), Janet Hilton (Chandos), Dieter Klocker
(Orfeo, MDG, etc), Hans Rudolf Stadler, Richard Stolzman (RCA/BMG, etc), David
Shiffrin (Delos), Eduard Brunner, Eddie Daniels, Sabine Meyer (EMI, etc.),
Paul
Meyer (Denon), Walter Boeykens (Harmoni Mundi), Charles Neidich (Sony, etc),
Gervase de Peyer (Chandos, etc), Colin Bradbury, Victoria Sommes, etc., etc.
While my collection is far from complete, it is representative of the major
clarinetists recording today. Not only do I own these recordings--including
the
one in question--I have listened to evey one on more than one occassion.
Since you are predisposed to purchase a recording of Leister's based on your
preferences, can you make the same claim as to the number of recordings and
artists that you have purchased or listened to? Whether you can or can't is
not
really relavent to the issue at hand, but please just think about it.
Your own comments in your last post only supports what I told Mark in the
first
place: Check out other recordings. As an aspiring clarinetist he should--as
we
ALL should--do comparative listening. I never stated that there is a right or
wrong way to perform a piece, but no single recording can be considered
definitive.
You have a definitie preference for Leister's recordings, and that is
admirable.
If you choose to emulate him in your playing style, that's a choice that you
make. The original post to which I responded asked about available
recordings,
and I stand by my original post to check out other recordings. No one is
denegrating Mr. Leister, and no one is denegrating your opinion. I do point
out
however, that you become extremely defensive any time a list member makes any
statement about Leister or his recordings that does not hold him or the
recording
to your personal view of him.<<<
As you said it is not relevant, but I own very few recordings of clarinet
music, as few recent recordings interest me greatly and I would rather listen
to other things. However, I do own over 700 cds and somewhere around 5,000 lps
of non-clarinet-specific music. Thus I am not predisposed to purchase a
Leister recording, but if someone asks whether or not they should purchase one
(which is what I think was the case), I certainly wouldn't discourage them.
You didn't offer an alternative, you just said that there was a better option,
and you said this without knowing the recording.
As for being defensive, I didn't even participate in the last ugly discussion
about Leister. Since that took place I heard him in concert again (it had been
a few years) and saw a tv documentary he was in. Every time I see him it is
humbling and even awesome in some ways. I feel the same was about Ricardo
Morales, who I hear much more often as I am at the MET constantly, and I felt
that way about Harold Wright and my teacher, Robert Marcellus.
My point is: Leister is in a different class from most of those other players
you mentioned, as he has gained worldwide acclaim for 40 years from non-
clarinetists and clarinetists alike. Some of the others undoubtedly play well,
but because of the international recognition over several generations that
Leister has received, I think it is a mistake to dismiss anything he does.
That doesn't mean you have to like it, but I do think you have to respect it,
even if your gut feeling is that in might not be good
By the way, since you are collecting clarinetists, look for these names which
I was sorry not to see on your list: Al Gallodoro, Yona Ettlinger, Charles
Draper, Harold Wright, Leopold Wlach. Not all of these have cds in print right
now, but they certainly prove that good clarinet playing wasn't invented
yesterday.
David Hattner, NYC
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