Klarinet Archive - Posting 000270.txt from 2011/03

From: K S <krsmav@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Stanley Drucker Master Class, 3/25/11
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:51:35 -0400

On March 25, 2011, Stanley Drucker gave an interesting and unusual
master class at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ.

In the first part, he gave the premieres of about a dozen new
compositions for clarinet and piano by members of the college's
composition class, who were there. Each piece was two or three pages
long, some tonal and some atonal. He got about half the pieces
beforehand and sight-read the others. He had had no prior rehearsal
with the pianist, who was the head of the composition department and
played very well. He often had questions for the composer about what
s/he wanted, and the exchanges were informal and relaxed. Each piece
was well written for clarinet, and he gave complimentary comments to
each composer. Some of the ones he sight-read called for his famous
virtuosity, and one had instructions numerous instructions, such as
"Play the upper line if you're a cat person, and the lower line if
you're a dog person."

He's still got it at age 82. (He refused to state his age, saying
"Look me up on Wikipedia if you're interested.") He was remarkably
youthful and vigorous, his fingers were blindingly fast, and his tone
was rich and clear. He made music out of each piece. He said that
this was a new experience for him, and that he had never been asked to
do anything like it before.

-------------------------------------------------

In the second part, he played Luciano Berio's Sequenza for Clarinet.
His control was perfect, and he tossed off the ferociously difficult
passages with great panache. He stopped at the end of each page to
slide it over. I'm not sure whether that's what Berio instructs. As
in the new pieces, he made music rather than simply playing the notes.

-------------------------------------------------

The third part was a standard master class. As usual, Stanley did not
play during the class, possibly because his intensity would simply
blow away any student. The college had had trouble recruiting
students to play for him, so the participants were the clarinet prof
and three local high school students.

-------------------------------------------------

The prof played the Bernstein Sonata, accurately but without much
personality. Stanley began by noting that he had recorded the sonata
twice - once many years ago and again quite recently.

The first movement begins mezzo piano, but must still be played with
substance and personality, giving the same effort as if you were
playing forte. You need to relax at the end of the second phrase.

The next phrase must not be too staccato. It should be playful and
cheeky. The descending sequences are single phrases.

The low-note passage needs to maintain a pulse. At letter O, you need
to get all the way back to the tempo primo. It's not slow.

Don't lengthen the final note of the movement. Hold the embouchure
and just let the air stop, in tempo.

In the second movement, the ascending pairs must go together as a
single phrase, not three.

In the third movement is jaunty. You're having fun with the
alternating 2s and 3s. It's a dance.

The soft section needs to be relaxed, but you must still maintain the
line, with the same depth of tone you would have at forte.

Maintain the sound at letter K. Don't let it drop off.

At letter O, it's relaxed and easy but must stay rhythmically precise.
"Quasi echotone" means "shadowy."

-------------------------------------------------

The first student played the third movement of the Mendelssohn
Concertpiece #2, with his mother on piano and his brother on bassoon.
The pianist struggled, as did the bassoonist, but the clarinetist was
quite good for a high school player, though they took a very slow
tempo.

Stanley emphasized that even on phrases with feminine endings (where
you decrescendo to the last note), it's important to play the final
notes full-length. At measure 107, the clarinetist and [basset horn
player] must listen hard to play as one.

-------------------------------------------------

The second student played the finale of the Crusell Concerto in F
minor, op. 5. He had learned this entirely in the practice room and
said he would be most comfortable playing alone. For a high school
player, he had good tone and technique.

Stanley told him to remember that he is the soloist and must sing to
the audience. Keep the depth in the tone, even when you're going
fast. Don't let your support drop.

There are many passages in sextuplets, which must be kept precise.

Play the notes marked with accents in context. They're spice, not hammer blows.

-------------------------------------------------

The third student played the first movement of the Devienne 2nd
Sonata. He had not practiced it with piano before, but the head of
the composition department sight read the piano very well.

Stanley's main effort was to have the student play more sostenuto,
arching phrases over longer lengths.

-------------------------------------------------

I've been told by Stanley's students that he takes only very advanced
players and works with them almost entirely on orchestral solos.
However, he was amazing good at taking the players where they were and
making precise suggestions that helped them play better. He praised
the good things and gently urged them to take the next step, and each
player, from the prof to the high schoolers, improved noticeably under
Stanley's coaching.

Throughout the sessions, Stanley made motions as if he were playing
violin. He told the students to think like string players. For
exasmple, you stay "on the string" rather than "dropping the bow down"
for accents. Staccato dots over notes in running passages are not
accents. Rather, they're the same sort of articulations that
violinists make when changing the direction of the bow.

He told some interesting stories.

In 1988, Luciano Berio arranged the piano part of the Brahms First
Sonata for orchestra. He had intended for the European premiere to be
played by a violist friend in Rome, but at the rehearsal the viola
couldn't be heard over the orchestra. He quickly called Stanley, who
arranged for a three-day absence from the NY Philharmonic (the concert
was to be repeated twice). When Stanley arrived in Rome, Berio (a
huge, bear of a man) greeted him at the airport and roared "I have
good news and bad news." Stanley said to give him the bad news first.
Berio said that the orchestra was on strike to get pay parity with
the La Scala orchestra, so the concerts were cancelled. The good news
was that the orchestra, out of respect for Berio as a great Italian
composer, had agreed to give a single concert. Stanley would be paid
as if he had played all three.

He confirmed the story about the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1
that was slightly different from the version published in the New York
Times <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/05/arts/music/05druc.html?scp=1&sq=drucker%20violin%20concerto&st=cse>.
Mark Nuccio, who was scheduled to play principal, had a scheduling
mixup and didn't arrive. Stanley glanced over the part, which he had
last played over 50 years earlier, remembered how it went and nailed
it.

This was an outstanding afternoon, with Stanley at his best.

Ken Shaw
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