Klarinet Archive - Posting 000492.txt from 2002/11

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Tone Color -- For Dan
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 23:55:20 -0500

Anne Lenoir wrote:
> Alan Balter was a wonderful clarinetist and friend of mine in Oberlin,
> though he graduated before me, I think back in 1966.

Anne, let me share with you two Alan Balter stories.

He and I were playing the Nutcracker ballet, with me playing an invented
combination of 2nd and bass. We did this very often during December of
every year, in addition to our regular duties with the San Jose Symphony.

After the first act we went for coffee in the musician's rest area and
during that time, someone accidentally knocked over Alan's B-flat
clarinet. When we returned, Alan tuned his A (not realizing anything
about the other instrument) and we began the act on those clarinets.
When the switch came to B-flat, Alan let out this awful squeak because
something was badly bent as a result of the instrument being knocked over.

Alan realized that something was wrong with the instrument at once,
grabbed his A and transposed the entire act at sight, and beautifully, too.

You may not be aware of it but Alan was here on the west coast because
he had developed cancer and was in treatment at Stanford University's
cancer center. The treatments and drugs he received often resulted in
his being very tired but he never missed a rehearsal or a performance.
It was the result of those treatments that indirectly led to his death.

When he was conducting in Memphis his entire swallowing mechanism began
to act up, he found it difficult to eat and was losing weight. My wife
and I visited him and his wife in Memphis and it seemed to me then that
he was awfully thin. As it turned out, the treatments he got for his
cancer had damaged his swallowing mechanism right down to his stomach.
It was in surgery to repair those problems that he died.

I really miss Alan. It was a great privilege to work with him.

--
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**Dan Leeson **
**leeson0@-----.net **
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