Klarinet Archive - Posting 000565.txt from 2004/08

From: "Larisa Duffy and David Dow" <duffyl@-----.ca>
Subj: Re: [kl] The making of K. 581
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 15:29:23 -0400

Dear Dan

Thanks for the excellent insights...I am very much in agreement that the
K622 and K581 are given glossy romantic smooth interpretations...

Gerde Starke did a version awhile back that very raunch and with alot of
staccatto...in passages most would never dare!

This I feel is somewhat more in keeping with the whole idea of a concerto as
well...

Some of my main problems with the Szell and Marcellus
version(clarinetistically perfect) is the fact that there are so many
wonderful things that can be done in articulation and with turns etc. that
are left out...instead he (Marcellus) goes toward a heavily slurred
interpretation which glosses over some of the wondeful chances for the
clarinet to articulate...

As to the older Blayman B & H I seem to remember him saying to me that was
his preference....it was always an amazing thing to hear Herb play..but he
certainly would add more articulation to his interpretation than alot of his
contemporary colleagues...on top of that he had alot of technique to
boot...!!! And alot!

Sadly, I really feel that the Szell version is great as a Romantic
interpretation but is far away from Mozart in terms of spirit and thought.
Bernard Walton added alot of embellishments and arpeggios and it was his
version which really felt in some ways like it had more going for it because
of the way he didn't always repeat articulations and phrases the same
way...things that at the time most critics really slashed him for...

The really low point in the Marcellus version is the slow movement...he
simply plods through the development section and givens what he gave
before...not even any dynamic variation...however, technically he super! I
really have more respect for Prinz and also for Sabine Meyer who goes out
her way to articulate passages and given a more classically correct feel to
her interpretation.

David Dow

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org