Klarinet Archive - Posting 000098.txt from 2005/03

From: Chalumeau <chalumeau@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] German sound
Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 08:06:12 -0500

That there is a German or Germanic sound seems obvious to me. I listen
to Sabine play the Mozart Concerto and there it is, the same sound
character that I've heard from players in the Berlin and Vienna
orchestras. Sabine sounds far different from other recordings of the
Concerto I admire (or me). I particularly enjoy Tony Pay's recent
performance, but, perhaps as it is with word processors, you always have
a special feeling for your first. For me that would be Harold Wright
with the BSO. Vibrato no less. Lots of it. Call me weird. Anyway, that
distinctive German sound comes from the same place as all distinctive
clarinet sounds, I suspect. First the player, then the setup, then the
instrument. Oh, and Sabine seems to play more of the Concerto more
softly than anyone else.

I have a performance of the Mozart Requiem coming up on Good Friday,
second clarinet. I saw a fascinating video of it with the Berlin
Philharmonic at the Herbert von Karajan memorial concert. It looked to
me like the second player played it all on basset horn and the first
player on normal German-type Bb and A clarinets. Most of the nice
clarinet duets are marked p, so mostly what I have been working on is
soft tone quality and intonation to sound more like those players on the
exposed parts. Perhaps I should just admit the Frenchness of my LeBlanc
instruments. Thankfully I have Walter Grabner's K-13 inspired mouthpiece
on my side, which I think gives me more sound quality options. If I had
a Nurnburg Funnel for sound I would use it, since the music seems to
call for something different from what I normally deliver.

Thank you, Dan Leeson, for your informative book on the Requiem. It has
certainly affected how I approach the piece.

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