Klarinet Archive - Posting 000092.txt from 2010/05

From: Fred <vze2bsbs@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Dan and Fred get flamed from Italy!!!!
Date: Sun, 09 May 2010 17:31:19 -0400

Here it is:

Klarinet Archive - Posting 000100.txt from 2009/10

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Lorenzo Coppola plays K. 622
Date: Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:56:52 -0400

You asked for my opinion of Coppola's performance, so here it is. I would
not have given it if it had not been asked for.

There are many good things to be said about his performance. I admire very
much that can play an instrument that is so primitive (as contrasted with
what we have today) and still carry it off so well, though not perfectly.
It is somewhat like watching an elephant dance. It isn't that he dances so
perfectly, it's that he can dance at all.

But the performance was not without its problems. Right at the top of the
heap is the high g played in the final movement. There is no authority for
that note, and in no manuscript of Mozart does it appear. It is simply a
20th century insertion that is of questionable presence. I think the highest
note that can be found in Mozart's autograph is the high e (the fourth and
fifth notes in the theme of the gran Partitta's variations movements).

His improvisations were too few and very ordinary. It appears to me that he
was unwilling or unable to put his own stamp on the work. He should be
demonstrating his improvisatory imagination a lot more than he did.

His playing of rapid passages occasionally are rushed. In one case, he come
to the end of the measure and had to wait for the orchestra to catch up with
him before going to the next measure.

The execution of trills were reminiscent of Brahms not Mozart. He would
start a trill slowly and then speed up to the final tempo. The current
thing on Mozartean trills is to hit them at a tempo that is sustained for
the length of the trill. That he attacked the trill from above was very
nice.

His tonguing ran into problems on rapid descending lines. Ascending lines
are much easier because removal of fingers in an ascending line is not as
demanding as covering holes, one after the other, in descending lines.

Body motions in playing were disruptive. He bowed and often bent at the
knees. It's awkward to watch. That used to drive me crazy with the
wonderful clarinetist who teaches at Michigan state, Elsa Ludwig Verdeer
(spelling?). Much too much body motion. It distracts from the music.

A small squeak in the third movement, but with that instrument I'm surprised
that it happened only once.

The eingang in the second movement is so ordinary that every body plays it,
and it also is used in the clarinet quintet, as if no one can invent an
eingang of their own.

The low note usage was good but a lot more could have been done.

Bottom line is that his playing is fussy.

The main difficulty he will have as a performer with K. 622, is that he may
only be able to play the work with a baroque orchestra that can accompany at
his pitch. It is a limiting factor that inhibits performances.

Can someone tell me where he is from and with what orchestra he plays? I
presume he is Italian.

And oh yes, the brunette playing second flute is even more gorgeous than at
my first look.

Dan Leeson
dnleeson@-----.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Wakeling" <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2009 5:11 PM
Subject: Re: [kl] Lorenzo Coppola plays K. 622

> Dan Leeson wrote:
>> I really have nothing significant to say about his performance. For one
>> thing, the YouTube piece contained only a part of the first movement.
>> If there is more I don't know about it. And one cannot judge a
>> performance by only a small part of the music.
>
> The whole performance is there:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dja8mbwpAZwU
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DQtMVYdQxgU4
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DM0uDCLb0RIc
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D-CyZmoB7mjk
>

At 05:19 PM 5/9/2010, you wrote:
>I do not have any recollection of having made any recent comments about the
>bobbing and weaving, or for that matter about any Italian clarinet player =
or
>playing. The reference given for my alleged comment is
>http://test.woodwind.org/Databases/Klarinet/2009/10/000100.txt, but when I
>tried to look at the link, it was broken.
>
>Dan Leeson
>dnleeson@-----.net
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Fred" <vze2bsbs@-----.net>
>To: <klarinet@-----.com>
>Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2010 12:34 PM
>Subject: [kl] Dan and Fred get flamed from Italy!!!!
>
>
>I read this on the Italian clarinet list- put it
>through translate.google.com and you can see that
>our views about bobbing and weaving were not well received!!!!!
>
>
>Ricordo anch'io la scarsa considerazione della critica americana (il solito
>D. Leeson). La si pu=F2 rileggere nella seguente pagina d'archivio:
>http://test.woodwind.org/Databases/Klarinet/2009/10/000100.txt
>Vi sono contenute alcune critiche intelligenti assieme ad altre molto meno
>condivisibili.
>Il continuo muoversi del solista viene considerata una distrazione che
>distoglie dall'ascolto.
>Anche un'altra recente americanata batte su questo punto, questa volta per=
=F2
>sabagliando completamente bersaglio.
>Se la prende infatti con i musicisti dell'orchestra che, a suo dire, con i
>loro movimenti e il continuo ammiccarsi l'un l'altro sarebbero ridicoli (p=
er
>giustificare il suo rilievo scomoda persino Toscanini...). L'autore del
>messaggio dimentica che l'orchestra barocca suona senza direttore e dunque=
i
>musicisti sono obbligati a tenersi d'occhio e soprattutto ad avere il primo
>violino come riferimento principale.
>
>Direi semplicemente:
>... non ti curar di lor ma guarda e passa...
>
>Ciao
>
>Alberto
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Diego Casadei" <casadei.diego@-----.com>
>To: "The Italian Mailing List for Clarinetists" <clair@-----.com>
>Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 8:43 PM
>Subject: Re: [clair] K622
>
>
>Tempo fa tale esecuzione =E8 stata un po' "bistrattata" sulla lista
>americana (*) ... anche se secondo me la gente =E8 stata troppo
>inclemente. Io non riesco nemmeno a credere che si possa suonare usando
>uno strumento che sembra una canna lacustre... (l'unico che ha fatto di
>meglio, che io sappia, =E8 Tony Pay con i primi due concerti di Spohr).
>Avete notato la legatura dell'ancia? Chi sa se si =E8 persino fabbricato
>l'ancia da solo? Vi =E8 venuto il sospetto che stacchi parecchio perch=E8
>il legato su alcuni passaggi sarebbe scomodo?
>
>Secondo me Coppola =E8 stato un grande.
>
>Diego
>
>(*) L'unica lode unisona fu per la flautista, anche se la violinista non
>=E8 passata inosservata :-)
>
>
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>
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