Klarinet Archive - Posting 000103.txt from 2005/03
From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] German sound
Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 09:31:23 -0500
Well, each person hears what they hear, but I offer the opinion
that there is no such thing as a "German" clarinet sound. I
propose that what you hear when you listen to Sabine Meyer play
may be many things (including beautifu), but referring to it in
nationalistic term has little basis in the reality of the
situation.
For people who hear clarinet sounds in terms of geographical
distribution of the players, I suggest that if you were
challenged by a test (one that we actually had about 10 years
ago), you could not distinguish the sounds of players based
exclusively on their nationality.
That you think you can is one thing, and I do not wish to abuse
your view of what you hear. But I believe that the idea of a
German sound (as contrasted with a French sound or an English
sound or an American sound) is just another one of those awful
inventions made by clarinet players that has made the transition
from an unproven speculation to a scientic fact in the space of
the blink of an eye. It is no different than "dark" or "bright"
sounds; i.e., there is no definition of what the thing is about
which you ascribe geographic characteristics.
I offer the notion that this is all made up and quite imaginary.
And somewhere on this list is an article I wrote called "If the
sound is lovely, this must be France." It was written after the
test (taken by an individual just as believing as you are) and
discusses the problem of classifying clarinet sound character by
political or geographic distribution.
It is precisely because clarinet sound is so difficult to speak
about objectively, that this kind of subculture talk has become
popular. It is easy to say, "Ah, the lovely German sound," and
then get some kind of a general agreement that is taken as
scientific truth.
Now I could be as wrong as it is possible to get with this view,
so I am not trying to legislate from a mountain top. Just giving
an opinion that views about the geographic origin of clarinet
sound are self-delusional.
Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Chalumeau [mailto:chalumeau@-----.net]
Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 5:05 AM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: [kl] German sound
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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