Klarinet Archive - Posting 000146.txt from 2010/06

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Why Clarinetists Love Mozart
Date: Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:37:12 -0400

More downsizing - Here is a piece from the New York Times of Oct. 1, 1971. =
I liked it at the time, but don't feel that it reads as well today. The f=
ont is cockeyed and difficult to read, but make the sacrifice anyway. I tr=
ied but failed to put it into a better format.

Dan Leeson

Why Clarinetists Love Mozart

By DON HECKMAN

=

FEW people are more familiar with the eso=ADteric problems of grow=ADing up=
musically absurd than those who decide to make careers as professional pla=
yers of woodwind instru=ADments. For me, it was the clarinet, a perfectly r=
espect=ADable instrument, one that plays an invaluable role in most post-18=
th-century mu=ADsic, and one that really hits its stride in that peculiar, =
but popular, musical hybrid, the symphonic concert band.

But despite the bland as=ADsurances we aspiring clarinet majors gave each o=
ther, we could always see, sometimes out of the corners of our eyes, the di=
sdain with which we were viewed by the more "serious" instrumentalists. The=
violinists and cellists, the pianists and the singers (of all shapes and s=
izes and pitches), looking confident and secure, arrogantly secure, that th=
eirs were the truly sig=ADnificant roles. My God, even the violists were a =
drag. After all, didn't they have the proof they needed? Didn't they have t=
he magnificent violin and cello concertos, the string quartets, the piano s=
onatas and the operatic arias and lieder, and do I have to go on?

1 had one classmate who was so intimidated by it all that he used to carry =
his clarinet around inside an at=ADtache' case and hang out in the snack ba=
r at the School of Business. Fortunately, there was a group of music that m=
ade second-class musical citizenship tolerable - the brilliant clarinet wor=
ks of Mozart. Ironically, but appropriately, it was the first ma=ADjor comp=
oser for the clarinet who created the most lasting literature for the instr=
ument.

Mozart's involvement with it was a happy historical ac=ADcident. The mechan=
ical per=ADfection of the instrument, the arrival of its first major player=
-Anton Stadler - and the artistic maturity of one of the world's great comp=
os=ADers all came together at once, a genuine example of an idea whose time=
had come. Mozart came in contact with the in=ADstrument during his Mann=AD=
heim days and used it con=ADstantly thereafter in most of ,his orchestral w=
orks. His three major pieces for the clarinet are the Clarinet Trio (K. 498=
), the Clarinet Con=ADcerto (K. 622) and the Clari=ADnet Quintet (K. 581), =
but there is also a veritable fountain of chamber music, serenades, diverti=
menti and the like in which it plays a prominent role.

*We are not lacking record=ADed interpretations of these works. Even Benny =
Goodman has taken a crack at the Con=ADcerto and the Quintet, as have most =
of the instrument's "name" players. The Trio and the Quintet are promi=ADne=
nt among Mozart chamber pieces featured on several new recordings, Mozart/S=
tad-ler Quintet/Kegelstatt Trio (Philips), Mozart Divertimenti (Philips) an=
d Mozart (Quali-tron). The last recording, a Hungarian release, features mu=
sicians from the Bart<5k String Quartet and the Hun=ADgarian Wind Quintet p=
laying the Trio (for piano, clarinet and viola), the Quartet for Oboe and S=
trings (K. 370) and the Quartet for Flute and Strings (K. 285).

The Trio/Quintet recording is a delight. Clarinetist Jack Brymer and the Al=
legri Quar=ADtet play with the balance of warmth and precision that too oft=
en is lacking in Mozart performances. Brymer has just the right touch of vi=
brato -not too much, not too little -and his tone has a burri-ness in the l=
ow register that violates the "legitimate" pre=ADcepts of clarinet tone in =
love=ADly fashion. At this point in time, of course, it would be naive to e=
xpect new inter=ADpretations of these major works, but Brymer and the Alleg=
ri have provided a per=ADformance that I find as en=ADjoyable as any I have=
heard. (The "Stadler Quintet" sub=ADtitle, by the way, identifies the work=
with clarinetist Stadler, for whom it was written; the "Kegelstatt Trio" w=
as so named because Mo=ADzart is alleged to have com=ADposed it while playi=
ng a game of skittles.)

Of the pieces included on the recording of divertimenti, two-the Divertimen=
to in E flat (K.A. 226) and the Diver=ADtimento in B flat (K.A. 227)- are o=
f questionable authenti=ADcity; only the theme from the first movement of t=
he B flat sounds genuinely Mozartian (he used it in the Benedictus of the M=
issa brevis, K. 192). The other two works, the Adagio in F (K. 410) and the=
Divertimento in B flat (K. 270) are pleasant, outdoor music of the sort Mo=
zart wrote so well, and so easily. The Adagio, scored for two basset horns =
(similar to clari=ADnets) and bassoon, is an attractive trifle that is grea=
t fun to play. The Netherlands Wind Ensemble under the ba=ADton of the gift=
ed young oboe-ist/conductor Ego de Waart plays the work with spirited 61an =
and an ensemble inter=ADaction that is too rare in re=ADcorded wind music.

The Hungarian group's ver=ADsion of the Trio is consider=ADably less memora=
ble-a work=ADmanlike run-through that re=ADveals little response to the war=
m passions that are root=ADed in the heart of all Mozart's music. The Quart=
et perform=ADances are similarly bland, and not at all comparable to the ma=
ny existing recorded inter=ADpretations.

Perhaps it's just the old in=ADsecurity of the student clari=ADnetist peeki=
ng through once again, but I have the feeling that these "small" Mozart wor=
ks (small in the tradition=ADal sense, that is - small in comparison to the=
sympho=ADnies and operas and the mas=ADsive works that are the usual test =
of a composer's genius) give us a clearer insight, a more direct view into =
the fiery core of his inspiration. Full-scale, larger-than-life artistic ef=
forts have a way of build=ADing their own momentum, while miniaturist works=
can remove all the fat and gristle from the heart of the matter. The strin=
g quartets are per=ADhaps more obvious examples of Mozart's (and Beethoven'=
s and Bart6k's) ability to zoom in on esthetic truths, but I find the works=
for wind in=ADstruments equally enlighten=ADing. Of course, as I said be=
=ADfore, maybe I'm still trying to get in the last word on all those pushy =
fiddle players.
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