Klarinet Archive - Posting 000661.txt from 2001/10

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] If you are interested
Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 05:59:39 -0400

On Sat, 20 Oct 2001 17:13:15 -0400, LetsReason@-----.com said:

> You and I know the value of the piece, but often groups I have
> encountered at the collegiate level are so into playing their own
> standard rep. that when a solo instrument comes to ask them to play a
> piece, they have approached it as asking them to "accompany" you. They
> were extremely open and all of them were familiar with the place of
> the Brahms Quintet in the general rep. of both the clarinet and string
> quartet lit. I totally approached playing (this was my first time) as
> a member of a chamber group where all parts were equal. I looked upon
> myself as merely another member of the group, but with a unique color
> to add.

Yes. I agree with you that the Brahms Quintet has this nature. A very
great deal of how the performance goes depends on the quality of the
leader of the quartet, and the quality of their relationship with the
clarinet player. (Your relationship with the other string players is
important too, but that with the first violin is the most important.)

Other quintets *are* less satisfying for the quartet, of course. I once
played the Weber Quintet in concert with the Vermeer Quartet, led by
Shmuel Ashkenasi, and at one point he said, "This is a terrible piece!
Most of the time we've got nothing to play; and when we have, we sound
like shit!"

> I placed another, shorter, snipit of the Brahms (second movement, from
> that performance) up for my friend Mark (who was briefly a summer
> student of mine who is now doing his DMA in Florida with Kowalsky).
> He wanted to hear some of the "harder" stuff.

I can hear that you're less comfortable here. But it does sound like a
reed thing, as you said to start with. Perhaps you were just unlucky.

On the other hand, it's up to you to choose reeds that work:-) Your
playing is at a high level, but I sometimes reflect that the students I
have who play less well could be characterised as those who don't choose
the best reeds. That's a bit convoluted, but if the flexibility of
their address to the instrument were improved, or their idea of what was
musically acceptable changed, then they'd naturally choose reeds that
were more workable. Sometimes if I find them a better reed, they
improve, but that doesn't help them to find the next good one for
themselves.

The second bit doesn't apply to you -- you have a clear musical idea
of what you want, I'd judge -- but might the first bit be what your
critical friend was on about? There's a strong and IMO good tradition
of basing clarinet sound on the chalumeau register rather than the
clarinet register, so that the instrument is thought of 'from the bottom
up' rather than 'from the top down'. Because a lot of the best tunes
are in the clarinet register, we can tend to think too much in the
second way. You probably know that, but perhaps I detected a hint in
your second clip that it might be worth concentrating on.

The Israeli clarinet player Yona Ettlinger used to insist that all his
beginning students at the Guildhall play nothing but long notes in the
chalumeau for weeks on end. (Some said months, but perhaps they were
exaggerating.) I don't do that myself, but it bears thinking about.

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