Klarinet Archive - Posting 000696.txt from 2000/10

From: Neil Leupold <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] And while we are at it ...
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 16:37:09 -0400

--- Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net> wrote:

> Neil, that you do not care for Stolzman or think that what he does is
> not appropriate does not constitute a universal truth. It seems to me
> that whenever you want to disagree with some point, you bring up things
> that you like or dislike as if doing so is an argument for your point or
> against the point of the person you are addressing.

Dan, I'm both surprised and fascinated by:

(a) your kneejerk assumption that I dislike Stoltzman's playing, and

(b) your immediately defensive attitude in response.

I assure you, I meant no offense to you by couching my question in
the terms in which it appeared. Perhaps I could have been a little
more delicate. Secondly [or firstly, relative to (a) & (b) above],
I have been an admirer of Stoltzman from my very beginnings as a clar-
inetist. I continue to marvel at his musical imagination.

These things are irrelevant to the current discussion, however, so
I won't belabor the personal stuff. To refocus the issue: I cited
Stoltzman, and peppered my citation with your own language, as a
means for calling into question (am I allowed?) your statement that
"when we don't [do things in a stylistically viable manner], (or
when our departure from that style becomes massively abusive), our
performances are not going to be tolerated for very long, and it
will be said of us that we have no business doing that thing." I
had a kneejerk reaction of my own to this statement, and the counter-
examples that came immediately to mind were Stoltzman's various in-
terpretations of the Mozart concerto. The focus was, and continues
to be, on the contrast that I perceive between Stoltzman's interpre-
tive license vs. what is known to be acceptable performance practice
as dictated by 18th-century precedent. The focus is not on Stoltzman
himself, nor was my original question intended to impugn the quality
of his musicianship. If I can demonstrate that he has, in fact, done
things with the Mozart that are non-Mozartean, the overwhelming suc-
cess of his Mozart concerto discography would impugn your assertion
that doing such things would result in a player's "not [being] toler-
ated for very long, and (that) it will be said of [him] that [he has]
no business doing that thing."

What remains is for me to provide objective evidence that Stoltzman
has done non-Mozartean things in his interpretations of the clarinet
concerto. I assume that it will be valid to cite not merely elements
specific to Mozart, but (in your own vein) issues which pertain to
general Classical performance practice, especially during Mozart's
lifetime. Not to bait you and then leave you hanging, but my dozen
or more Stoltzman-specific CD recordings are packed away in boxes
which I have yet to unpack since moving east six months ago. I
haven't even wired up my stereo speakers yet. I made the mistake
of assuming that you were well-enough acquainted with Stoltzman's
liberties with the Mozart that I wouldn't need to dig up the actual
CD's in order for my point to be properly received. I'll see about
digging them up this weekend. Perhaps I'm all wet, and the liberties
that I perceive are actually demonstrations of greater authenticity
by Stoltzman in the form of much-vaunted Classically appropriate
improvisation.

In any event, Dan, none of this is meant to be personal. You're the
Mozart scholar here, not I. If you say that Stoltzman commits no per-
formance practice sins on his Mozart concerto recordings, then I'll
likely end up with egg on my face while listening to those CD's again
this weekend. If I find things that you agree constitute 18th-century
breaches of style, then we'll both have learned something valuable about
the relative correlation between authenticity vs. audience appeal and
artistic longevity. I apologize for the fact that my original message
seemed personally antagonistic.

-- Neil

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