Klarinet Archive - Posting 000644.txt from 2001/10

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] If you are interested
Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2001 16:30:37 -0400

On Sat, 20 Oct 2001 13:29:22 -0400, LetsReason@-----.com said:

> I am interested in your opinions (from what you can gather in this
> excerpt). Though I am not always hospitable to the way people say
> things to each, I am very open and interested in your professional
> opinions. Particularly those of you who have established yourselves
> as successful performers and recording artists.

Well, what I thought was that this was a very good, and certainly
totally acceptable representation of that movement of the Brahms. I
wasn't able to tell anything about your tonal variation from register to
register, except to say that if it's something that is a problem
elsewhere, it wasn't a problem here. The recording on my system lacked
the quality that would enable me to judge further.

The tempo relationship between the first and second sections wasn't
convincing, I felt. Apart from that, I felt that you understood the
music very well, and showed it.

One of the things that you have to understand about this opinion is
that, very often, I'm not specially looking for anything that will knock
my socks off. I think the Brahms Quintet is enough in itself. (That
you didn't interfere with my enjoyment of it was enough.)

I've complained before about what I called the bad parts of an
'American' attitude to playing music, here.

How I'd characterise that in the present context is to say that I
perceive some American players to be wanting, perhaps unconsciously, to
demonstrate what 'good' players they are, irrespective of the relevance
of such 'good' playing to the music. They're sort of 'selling'
themselves.

I didn't feel you did that.

(Of course, that might be quite the 'right' thing to do when playing a
Weber concerto.)

The string players played very well, I have to say. I'd have wanted
some of it different, but then, I wasn't there. How did you get hold of
them?

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN artist: http://www.gmn.com
tel/fax 01865 553339

... Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

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