Klarinet Archive - Posting 000297.txt from 1999/11
From: "mark weinstein" <cpaok@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] . . . my trip to Chicago
Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 00:41:13 -0500
What a "small world" and how many of us who travel, from time-to-time, DO
think alike.
I just returned from a 4 day business trip to San Franciso and caught the
SFSO Saturday nite, getting a GREAT seat in the First Tier Side Balcony, Row
A, First seat ... virtually overlooking the entire orchestra. Cat Bird's
seat for sure or so it seemed. Amazing symphony hall. Heard a Bartok Piano
Concerto ... the last piece he wrote before he died and for his beloved
pianist wife ... this piece was proudly played by Bronfman and was followed
after intermission by Dvorak's 8th Symphony.
Inspired and moving, World class sound.
I had called for a ticket on Thursday night and thought it a bargain price
for a real opportunity ($46). Picked up my ticket at "will call". Grabbed a
couple of rimski "cough-a-cough" drops and had a blast.
Talk about coughing during breaks. Its contageous. During performance it was
all fairly quiet, definitely more restrained.
The cough drops are part of the SFSO's Rimski Corsa-Cougher "program".
mw
BTW --- HMMMM ... having attended the Chicago Clarinet Trio's 1999 DePaul
Clarinet Workshop ... and having watched a talented young clarinetist be
scolded by Yeh over an air leak .... are you sure that Yeh was leaking air ?
I can recall Yeh vividly ...accusing the young clarinetist of "heating the
room" unnecessarily. He talked of how any lair eak was a REAL waste .....
----- Original Message -----
From: Kevin Fay (LCA) <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subject: [kl] . . . my trip to Chicago
Last week, my boss sent me to Chicago. Because Michael Jordan's retired
and Wrigley's closed for winter, I had to find something else to do with the
free evening. So I decided to bop on down to Symphony Center and check out
the CSO. (Actually, seeing the CSO is one of the major points on my
checklist of things to do before I die. When I found out that I was going
to Chicago, I immediately checked their web page -- and was overjoyed to
find a concert scheduled for the free night. ) My ticket was for a seat in
a 2-row balcony on the side of the stage -- not only great sound, but the
opportunity to view the interaction of the orchestra. I was literally 30
feet from the clarinet section, viewing them from the side.
I drove to the hall straight from the airport. arriving somewhat early.
When I took my seat, there were but two musicians on the stage: a
percussionist busily arranging toys, and a clarinet player fussing over
reeds. The clarinet player turned out to be our own Greg Smith. (An
aside--all of the reeds sounded terrific. Hearing him warm up brought both
tingles and thoughts of dark chocolate. Greg has, IMHO, the quintessential
clarinet tone, particularly in the chalumeau.)
Having no shame (and also having been invited to do so by Greg via email), I
leaned over the rail and identified myself as the traveling klarinetist.Greg
immediately jumped up, came over and gave me a virtual tour of the hall and
the orchestra -- well beyond the call of duty. He's as affable in
person as on our list. Oh yes, the concert. The first piece was
Beethoven's 4th. I though the performance absolutely stunning. I was
completely floored. The CSO has the rep of being a very loud orchestra --
more on that later -- but I was completely awestruck by the incredible
sensitivity of the musicians, individually and as a whole. The dynamic
contrast was simply incredible, and from the very ppp to the loudest
passages, everything was almost instantly in tune all the time.
For the first 2 pieces, the principal winds took a breather. John Yeh
played 1st clarinet, did a fine job. (For you gear heads out there, he
appeared to use an Opus A, not a Yamaha -- and he's got one of those
Vandoren Optimum things). While technically pretty much flawless, I did
have 2 minor quibbles: first, Mr. Yeh physically moves an awful lot -- so
much that I found it distracting. Second, he leaked a fair amount of air on
the loud passages.
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