Klarinet Archive - Posting 000384.txt from 2001/04

From: Neil Leupold <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Questions for former Marcellus Students
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 08:09:28 -0400

--- Gregory Smith <Gregory@-----.com> wrote:

> And for those that have never heard the recording and will hear it
> for the first time soon....well I envy all of you.

I still remember the first time I heard the recording, and then I
immediately wished I hadn't. For years prior, I'd heard the acco-
lades and idolatry, the statements that this was the definitive per-
formance of the concerto, to which all players should aspire to emu-
late. I'd heard dozens of renditions by other players already and
thought to myself (a victim of the hype)...as I gingerly placed my
compact disc into the CD tray, "Wow, I think I'm about to have my
mind exploded or something."

'Ever been in the middle of an orchestra rehearsal, focused intensely
on the music, counting rests amidst an intricate orchestral passage,
priming yourself to come in at the precise correct moment and nail
that big solo you have coming up? Three bars left, you lift the in-
strument to your mouth, take a gorgeous diaphragm-full load of air
into your lungs, set the embouchure, and....And....AND (!!!!!!!!!!)

- the conductor drops his arms and waves off the orchestra. All you
can do is let the air rus hout of your lungs and feel your body deflate
with the depression of an anticlimax.

Marcellus' recording is crystal clear, delicate, subtle, and expressive,
but I never found myself placing it on a pedestal, head & shoulders above
all other interpretations. It has merits unique to itself, but I hear
wonderful things in other renditions that I miss in Marcellus'. And in
agreement with Dan, there's an energy, a spark, that feels missing from
the performance. I have to agree that the tempo is a little sluggish
relative to the lightness with which Marcellus shapes the music.

Well, I have to go to work now, so this is an incomplete editorial, but
I admit that as wonderfully as Marcellus played the piece in that recording,
I didn't come away from it feeling as if I'd heard the singing voice of god
or something.

~ Neil

Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices
http://auctions.yahoo.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org