Klarinet Archive - Posting 000032.txt from 2008/11

From: Karl Krelove <karlkrelove@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] After Drucker
Date: Sat, 08 Nov 2008 16:00:17 -0500

Unprepared? Not in my experience. Terrible? No. I've heard them in the
Philadelphia Orchestra on off-days play imperfectly. But will the "reams
of 'kids' every year who can play circles around the principal players
of all the major orchestras" play perfectly concert after concert
through entire seasons of high-demand repertoire? I doubt it. Maybe for
a few weeks. And I can recall only one Philadelphia principal (I get to
hear them a lot more than other major orchestras), a French horn player
years ago, who I thought had really continued beyond his ability to
control what was coming from his instrument.

I *have* heard older players become a little idiosyncratic, especially
in their performances of really standard repertoire that maybe they find
a little boring after a few years. But that isn't a matter of
preparedness, and I think there must be at least a little connivance in
these passages on the conductor's part. I think principals in major
orchestras, to have reached that level in the first place, have enough
pride in their playing for the most part not to get lazy or sloppy.

But apparently your experience has been different.

Karl Krelove

Alexander Brash wrote:
> .... How many times have I been to the New York Phil or Boston
> Symphony and heard players who have held those chairs for years and
> years sound embarrassingly unprepared or terrible? It becomes just a
> job, the hunger is gone.
>

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