Klarinet Archive - Posting 000448.txt from 1998/10

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] Re: American Woodwind Playing
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 22:41:44 -0400

David Hattner makes wonderful points and succinctly, too. I enjoyed
the note. Only one thing came out of it that I think needs some
clarification (which I am not prepared to do because I have a bias)
and that was David's comment that 3 of our big 5 orchestras prior to
the 1940s had principal clarinetists who used German-style instruments.

As I remember that era, none of those players were German or Austrian,
but David is correct about which kinds of instruments they used. So
that brings up the logical question about to what extent the clarinet
type (French or German) influences both the character of sound and
the style of playing?

Would Sabina Meyer sound significantly different if she played on
a French system? And before one answers that question too rapidly,
does the current principal clarinet in Los Angeles sound significantly
different today on her German system than she did years ago when she
played French system.

It is easy to wax rhapsodic about the obvious differences between
the two systems but, even if there is such a significant difference,
is that due to equipment or culture? A French, French horn sounds
very much like the French horn that we know when played without
a vibrato. So is that a cultural issue or a mechanical one?

And that brings me back to the clarinet players of the 1940s who
played on German systems. None of them were German. So what did
they sound like? Did Bellison sound Russian (which is where he
was from and where all of his study was and his formative years, etc.)?

As both genes and environment are said to share the responsibility
for the nature of the child as s/he matures, is it equipment or
culture that forms the mature clarinet player?

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Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
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