Klarinet Archive - Posting 000186.txt from 2011/01

From: <kathleenwilliams76@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Analysis of Brahms
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2011 19:25:46 -0500

Folks, once I have completed my little Mozart project, I will be looking at Brahms and his clarinet works. Is it just me, or is the Quintet deeply unsettling? The music of course is sublime, but emotionally Brahms engenders in my psyche an almost unbearable sense of longing that it is almost a physical pain. His symphonies especially, but I had the incredible experience of seeing and hearing Jonathan Cohler play it at the New England Conservatory in 2002 and it messed my insides up so much I still get butterflies mentally reliving the experience.

And the two Sonatas are so emotionally different from one another! Some sources say there are comparisons to be made between the Reger and Brahms Sonatas, some Brahms influences in Reger's music, and when I get to know the third Reger Sonata a little better and have a look at the Quintet I will explore that on yet another video.

Dan, do not be intimidated by a musician who sees music in a far different light to yourself. That was never my intention. Actually, my teacher Brian found so much more depth to Reger than I could and far from being intimidated or discouraged, it has inspired me to delve even more deeply into the work, and as I mentioned yesterday, explore the other works, especially organ, by the composer. I suppose it could be compared to watching a film and quite liking the performance of a particular actor, so you watch other movies that actor has done. I do the same, and luckily, I have pay TV and TCM feature a different star a month and I never cease to marvel at the elasticity of characters from some actors and come across rare gems, such as recently a Humphrey Bogart film where he played the zombie assistant of a mad scientist.

And a further question I raised the other day, though I did not see the reply, is, as teachers, do we insist that our students only learn our interpretation of a piece, or do we give them a choice to find their own voice with the piece? Perhaps for younger students this is not an issue, give them too much choice and they couldn't handle it. My teacher in England did not like my tendency to seek other opinions with regard to interpretations, although I believe he did not appreciate the compliment that once I had 'shopped around' as it were, I followed his advice to the letter...

that's my contribution for the day, happy playing
Regards, Kathy
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