Klarinet Archive - Posting 001294.txt from 1999/03

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] Fred Jackobowitz' coments about Schifrin's playing
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 18:41:34 -0500

I very much enjoyed Fred's comments about Schifrin's playing. If I
can paraphrase what he said, Fred suggested that technical proficiency
alone is insufficient. (I'm not suggesting I agree with Fred's
perspective of Schifrin's playing, only stating what I think Fred
said.) That a great performance requires more than mere technical
accuracy is the substance of Fred's remarks.

It is the very point that I have been hammering into the ground for
the past 4 years; i.e., that a musical composition is not a
completed thing, and that a performance is not simply a presentation
of the notes described in a smooth elegant fashion.

In order for compositions from this era to be performed, one must
bring to them the sense of invention that most clarinet players
eschew. The last thing that is expected from a performer should be a
duplication of what is written in the score. That's paradoxical.

The performer has to think of himself/herself as a painter who has
been given an incomplete canvas, one on which a certain basic
picture architecture has been placed there by the original artist,
the composer. It is the performer's duty to complete the canvas in
a highly personalized way. Of course he/she is expected to perform
accurately. That goes without saying. But that is the minimum
level of performance and if it is all that one does, the performance
is going to be minimally acceptable.

While most performers think that they are giving highly
individualized interpretations of a composition, all most of them
do is simply mimic every other performance, most of which were
equally technically satisfactory in every way. But when done,
all one has is just another tired old version of the same piece.

It is the essence of the performing clarinetist that is being
discussed here. What does one do to make a performance exciting,
interesting, different?

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

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