Klarinet Archive - Posting 000206.txt from 2006/09
From: "David Glenn" <davidglenn@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Swiss Clarinet Society Clarinet Day in Winterthur
Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2006 16:25:54 -0400
Hi List,
I wasn't able to go to the clarinet convention in Atlanta but I made it to Winterthur and even though it was only one day, it was great. Let me tell you about it:
Clarinet Day of the Swiss Clarinet Society on Saturday, 16 September 2006 in Winterthur.
Started out as a foggy day until suddenly in the early afternoon, the sun came out. I ran out to take my instrument out of the trunk of the car.
8:45 coffee and croissant greeting. Everything was basically in the foyer and concert hall of the Music School and Conservatorium building in Winterthur. Registration was quick and easy. I was allowed to put the just finished Kegelduette on display on a music stand. Unfortunately, two examples disappeared without a trace. I shall tell you about the Kegelduette in a seperate post. Several Stands were set up including Musik Hug, Schwenk & Seggelke, Notenpunkt, Musikhaus Walter Grimm, Heinz Furrer Rorschach.
At 9:20 we were greeted by Matthias Müller and then invited into the hall where the events took place.It was announced that written German would be the "official" language as there were some French speakers and also foreigners present who wouldn't understand the Swiss German dialect.
The first event of the day was Christine Baechi introducing her new clarinet method for beginners with the help of an overhead projector. It will be published in Germany but is not ready yet, so she had about 50 pcs. printed privately for anybody who wanted to buy it right there. The pile seemed much smaller by the time she had left.
10:00 AM: Matthias Müller introduced his new method for advanced players. He talked with contagious enthousiasm and used a power point show and three young clarinettists to demonstrate. I had the feeling that he would be an excellant teacher the way he got the pupils to do what they were supposed to do.
Scheduled for 10:45 was a rather dry performance with the promising name of "Instrumental Music Theatre" by Manfred Spitaler. The first piece was "Schattenklaenge" by Mauricio Kagel (*1931) where he played behind a translucent screen and four different lights cast shadows on the screen from behind with changing intensities as he slowly moved around. The second piece, "Traumformel" (1981) by Karlheinz Stockhausen (*1928) was played in front of the screen with a strong spotlight. (Light by Andreas Pfiffner). He entered through the main door playing the repeated long, high tones of the beginning of the piece and I was sure for a moment that he was going to trip over a rucksack which was lying directly in his path at the doorway. There were no mishaps however. He only walked around very slowly and not very "theatrically".
Next, Hans Rudolf Stalder, who had been an attentive listener with Herr Müller, informed us about the history of the clarinet in Switzerland. He was very informative and entertaining and presented us with his newest treasure: a walking stick clarinet! this was made by a Swiss instrument maker from Unterwasser. He unscrewed the cap at the top and played a tune on it. It sounded like a real clarinet! And the workmanship! The keys were all carved out of the stick so they lay real sleek in line. The task of the bell was taken by a hole near the bottom which must have been where a branch had forked away. An amazing piece of art and practical! Herr Stalder also informed us of the beginnings of the modern basset clarinet in Switzerland.
There was a delicious, vegetarian midday meal. No one bothered to check who had paid for it. Strictly honor system. After eating, I always love my cup of coffee but today there was no time as we were going to the museum to see original manuscripts including Mozart's K622! (Fragment for basset horn in G)
It was about a five minute walk over to the museum. There, we were expected by a very bright looking curater who took us into a reading room. He was a bit surprised that we were 32 (as he later counted) and not 15 as he had expected. He had selected a pile of manuscripts of clarinet music. I could already sense the presence of the Mozart manuscript in that nondescript pile laying there, motionless on the table! This gentleman put on his white gloves and took the first envelope of wood free card in his hands. It was fascinating to see the various originals but of course I could hardly wait for the Mozart. Finally he opened the envelope with the Mozart manuscript! Stillness in the room! He showed us the first page and then picked up some photocopies which he claimed looked just like the real thing and that way he wouldn't have to leaf through the piece. I piped up and said it was worth it what with all these people here and besides, I had the copies at home already. He then seemed only too glad to show us each page of the original! He answered questions about the paper (beautiful quality!) and the ink, etc. That made my whole day! If not my whole year!
Much of the material which they have in the library comes from the Reinhart brothers and we heard some of the history of this great patron of the arts and excellant "amature" clarinettist. One of the composers with whom he was associated was Stravinsky and he then showed us the manuscript to his Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet. There was also a copy by Stravinsky in a pocket format but he could hardly open it because the paper from the period after the war (WW1)was so wooden, full of wood (my English is failing me here) that it threatened to crumble.
The afternoon program of the clarinet conference started a bit late as our enthousiastic and knowledgable guide at the museum who obviously loved his work and loved to share it with people kept us up a little longer than planned.
Sometime around 2:30 there was a concert with clarinet and live electronics by Lukas Vogelsang, Philippe Kocher and Edi Allemann. I wasn't up to that after the Mozart manuscript so I went to the coffee machine and took my coffee now more to quiet my nerves down than to digest my food. The coffee was good and so was the talk with Jochen Seggelke (exhibitor) so that I came late to the next presentation: Heinz Stefan Herzka presented shawms from around the world and explained why they are the predecesors of the clarinet. There were some amazing pieces. Some the size of a pen but sounded surprisingly low. Others with a horn shaped bell. They were from Morocco, China, Iran, and many more places around the globe.
This was followed by a short break. Then the conference clarinet choir met. The conductor (who's name I have unfortunately forgotten) was apparently a native French speaker but spoke a most perfect German. He rehearsed with amazing self discipline and got all the pieces to sound acceptable in a very short time.
Before we played, there was a short memorial concert of music from Israel for Martin Imfeld by Michal Bait-Halachmi, Romy Day, Sandra Fehr and Sabine Schneider (all clarinet) and Judith Polgar who accompanied absolutely beautifully on the piano. Then a quick change and the clarinet choir, Klarinettissimo performed works by Weber, Offenbach and Yasinsitsky. Most of the people present were on stage but that didn't matter at all!
After this very full and intensive day, there was a members' meeting of the Swiss Clarinet Society. All interested clarinettists and clarinet fans are invited to the meeting next year in Fribourg.
Matthias Mueller and Sibylle Schuppli many thanks for a highly succesful and rewarding day! For information on the Swiss Clarinet Society, see www.clarinetsociety.ch.
Greetings,
David Glenn
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