Klarinet Archive - Posting 000275.txt from 2011/03

From: musigal317@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] Stanley Drucker Master Class, 3/25/11
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:21:26 -0400

Yes, thanks especially for the notes on the Bernstein. I saw him perform that piece--one of my favorites--last year and he was wonderful.

Lori
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: Shannon McNeely <smcneely_01@-----.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:38:42
To: The Klarinet Mailing List<klarinet@-----.com>
Reply-To: The Klarinet Mailing List <klarinet@-----.com>
Subject: Re: [kl] Stanley Drucker Master Class, 3/25/11

What a wonderful description of what must have been an outstanding
day. Thank you for taking the time to write it up so beautifully.

Shannon

On Mar 29, 2011, at 7:51 AM, K S wrote:

> 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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