Klarinet Archive - Posting 000278.txt from 2003/09

From: "Ken Wolman" <kwolman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Clarinetist/Musician
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 08:37:58 -0400

Ormondtoby Montoya wrote:

> ....is a conductor who can neither play nor compose a "good" musician?
>
> <sorry!>

The world of classical singing, especially opera, has been replete with
people with wonderful voices who nevertheless could not read a note of
music. Enrico Caruso was one. More recently Franco Corelli and Luciano
Pavarotti were and are part of this contingent. They had to be taught
their roles by a coach and learn them by ear. They played no instrument
(piano is usually the obvious choice). I don't know about Caruso, but
Pavarotti and Corelli both commit unmusical errors: missing entrances,
screwing up dynamic markings, stepping on another singer's lines because
the only music they've committed to memory is their own, and that by
rote. Great voices or not, these are not musicians--they're simply great
instruments. By comparison, Placido Domingo is transitioning as his voice
fades into a conductor because he studied conducting and piano at the
conservatory in Mexico City years ago.

Ken
--
Kenneth Wolman
Proposal Development Department
Room SW334
Sarnoff Corporation
609-734-2538

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