Klarinet Archive - Posting 000574.txt from 2003/06

From: "Joseph H. Fasel" <jhf@-----.gov>
Subj: Re: [kl] Vibrato on the Clarinet
Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 19:10:30 -0400

I regretted asserting what Felix would want almost as soon as I had
clicked "send". Touché.

Yes, recordings can be excellent documents. My point is that we
necessarily have only the era of sound recording documented in this
way, so if Norrington is right that the advent of recording itself
had an effect (perhaps not beneficial) on the use of vibrato among
string players, it doesn't impress me much to hear that most recordings
exhibit a lot of vibrato.

Cheers,
--Joe

On 2003.06.19 17:10 LARISA DUFFY & DAVID DOW wrote:
> I think recordings are an excellent document of taste and times. Virtuosos
> are popular because I think audiences really need more that a straight tone
> in Beethoven's violin concerto. I heard Michael Collins recording of it on
> clarinet and can say it did zero for me....however, what a brilliant player.
> String vibrato is certainly quite different in many regards from wind
> instruments.....I haven't heard the wild vibrato in the string sound on the
> Karajan Mendelssohn recording I have. Just great playing. I think its a
> bit dangerous to assert what Felix would want. I know that some composers
> are not the best performers of their own works!
> ----- Original Message -----
> rom: "Joseph H. Fasel" <jhf@-----.gov>
> To: <klarinet@-----.org>
> Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2003 11:40 AM
> Subject: Re: [kl] Vibrato on the Clarinet
>
>
> > Ah, but relying on recordings is part of the problem. Norrington tells
> > us that the current practice of continuous string vibrato followed closely
> > on the advent of recording, that performers were looking for a more
> > "glamorous" sound for these recordings. Copious vibrato in Mendelssohn
> > may be the norm today, but I doubt that Mendelssohn would approve.
> >
> > --Joe
> >
> > On 2003.06.19 09:33 Lelia Loban wrote:
> > > Virtuoso soloists don't worry much about this sort of thing, even when
> > > they're playing Bach (Nathan Milstein used vibrato discreetly and to
> great
> > > effect in his recordings of Bach's unaccompanied sonatas and partitas,
> for
> > > instance); and neither Kevin nor I can think of any recording of the
> > > Mendelssohn violin concerto, including recent ones such as Joshua Bell's
> > > CD, in which the soloist failed to use vibrato both ways. We haven't
> heard
> > > all the recordings that exist, but we've heard enough to be convinced
> that
> > > among violinists, copious vibrato in Mendelssohn is the norm, and that
> it
> > > would be far more controversial *not* to use it.
> >
> > Joseph H. Fasel, Ph.D. email: jhf@-----.gov
> > Stockpile-Complex Modeling and Analysis phone: +1 505 667 7158
> > University of California fax: +1 505 667 2960
> > Los Alamos National Laboratory post: D-2 MS F609; Los Alamos, NM
> 87545
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Klarinet is supported by Woodwind.Org, http://www.woodwind.org/
> >
> >
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Klarinet is supported by Woodwind.Org, http://www.woodwind.org/
>
>

Joseph H. Fasel, Ph.D. email: jhf@-----.gov
Stockpile-Complex Modeling and Analysis phone: +1 505 667 7158
University of California fax: +1 505 667 2960
Los Alamos National Laboratory post: D-2 MS F609; Los Alamos, NM 87545

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Klarinet is supported by Woodwind.Org, http://www.woodwind.org/