Klarinet Archive - Posting 000328.txt from 2004/04
From: CBA <clarinet10001@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] who *IS* too European?
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 04:10:01 -0400
Bryan,
I believe I have heard this line (too Eurpoean) before in
relation to some interpretations...De Peyer and Stoltzman come
to mind. Their interpretations sometimes have *too much* of a
good thing, i.e. too much vibrato or too much rubato, or other
various things with phrase and color.
Conservative "American" playing tends to be exemplified by
players such as Marcellus and Shiffrin, which tends to be VERY
rhythmically strict, as opposed to De Peyer, who I can't even
tell the beat he is hearing in some of his representations of
music. American orchestras are noted in Europe by many to be too
"note perfect" without enough fire. Many Americans see European
orchestras in general as "haphazard with tempos, rubato,
dynamics, etc." I always read the music reviews of the CDs
*after* I listen to tracks at the store, so it doesn't give me a
false starting point to argue for or against the playing.
Although I think American and European playing in general is
different to an extent, I think categorizing American and
European playing tends to be an industry using blanket
terminology that doesn't give specifics (such as dark, bright,
centered, round, warm, etc...*hi Dan L.!*)
While I am not saying you have a wild rubato or vibrato in your
playing, I did notice you have a very specific way of putting a
< > type of swell on each of the notes in the clip of Barber's
Adagio on your website. The other players are playing chordal
figures and the sound is extremely steady and linear, so it
definitely not the recording quality that makes that swell on
each of your notes when you play. I would say, in your
particular case, maybe their "too european" was related to the
lack of static linear progression of your tone on prolonged
phrases.
Since I don't have clips of you playing the other pieces, I
would have no idea if there was something specific in those
pieces, but the swells on the individual notes instead of the
entire phrase seemed fairly obvious to me on the Adagio clip.
The other clips didn't seem to have this note by note swell. If
I was an adjucator, I would mark this specifically on the
feedback.
By the way, *I* used to have the very same thing in my playing,
and couldn't quite get a handle on it until I spent specific
time practicing while recording, and then going back over the
recordings with a fine toothed comb. The individual note swell
in my playing was my college teachers' most specific complaint,
and their analogies could have probably been construed as saying
"more static" or "more conservative" without actually using the
term "too european." Think of speaking. If you say something too
fast or with a wild rubato that makes the meaning of the
sentence sound strange, people will not understand you. A
conservative speech pattern would have little inflection and
little rhythmic variance or monotone (the other end of the
spectrum, which I also don't identify with.)
In general, if someone makes a comment to me about a stylistic
choice I make, I go back to the piece, learn to play it as
blandly ass possible (like a monotone,) and then split the
difference between my usual dynamics, tempo, and style, and the
bland one. Then I move from this middle point away from the
bland and towards what I was originally doing. I have found this
usually fixes the things with the style that didn't fit (usually
over-emoting) and still allows me to use my own style without
consequences of the "sentence not making sense."
Another thing I do is when learning a new piece, I practice it
at different tempos to keep myself from doing things that go
with fast tempi, such as wild rubato and sudden dynamic changes
where it wasn't specified. Taking something at half tempo and
recording it, and then going back and playing it full tempo
after hearing the recording sometimes help me *see* the line for
what it is, instead of how it is written on the page.
I think you play very well. I wouldn't ever suggest changing
stylistic interpretations to anyone for a blanket career move.
Do what you feel. In a competition though, usually less is more,
from my experience. The judge is *wanting* to be a listener and
not an adjucator, so anything that pushes the envelope a little
far interrupts their position as a listener, and causes them to
become an adjucator. Competitions and auditions are about
pristine precision and clarity of tone with a *little something
extra* to make you stand above. "Too European" would suggest to
me something might have been a "little too much," instead of a
"little something extra" in your playing at the competition.
Hope this helps...again, nice playing, and keep up the good
work!
Kelly Abraham
Woodwinds - Computer Geek
New York City
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--- Bryan Crumpler <crumpletox@-----.com> wrote:
> Bryan Crumpler wrote,
<<SNIP>>
> Anyway, I only brought up the topic because one of the judges
> in another
> competition I just did also mentioned that style was too
> European, which was
> like deja-vu almost. Rep for that was Tomasi & Weber Concerti,
> and
> Messager's Solo de Concours... As for the "too European"
> aspect, I still
> don't see the relevance, which is why I'm disturbed myself
> that I would hear
> such comments at an "international" competition.
>
>
> Bryan
>
>
> http://www.whosthatguy.com
http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/print_splash
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