 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: BobD
Date: 2008-12-18 09:41
....but keep your bags packed anyway,Blummy, just in case.....
Yo-Yo's latest Christmassy cd is great too.....with Paquito D'Rivera on clarinet...
Bob Draznik
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Author: NorbertTheParrot
Date: 2008-12-18 14:09
"Program participants were chosen by Obama, Biden and [Senator] Feinstein [...] performances from violinist Perlman, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Gabriela Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill"
Yo-Yo Ma is an utterly unsurprising choice. He is world famous, and although not US born has lived in the US since he was a very small child.
But the other three seem to me to be a good deal less obvious:
Gabriela Montero I'd never heard of. And she is Venezuelan.
Anthony McGill I'd scarcely heard of, and he's certainly not a household name.
Perlman is very famous, no doubt about that, but he's an Israeli.
I wonder whether any political point is being made by this selection - Perlman to say "we are friends with Israel", Montero to say "we'd like to be friends with Venezuela", McGill to say... well, I've no idea.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2008-12-18 14:29
Anthony McGill is amazing -- the next big reputation in the making. He's received the Avery Fisher Career Grant, became associate principal in Cincinnati at age 21, joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at 24 and is now the principal. He's made several appearances on Performance Today and St. Paul Sunday, blowing me away each time. He has a gorgeous tone, the best staccato in the business and wonderful phrasing.
He's also African-American, which doesn't hurt for a performance in honor of Obama. See, for example, http://www.leblancclarinets.com/artists/bio.php?aid=917
Ken Shaw
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Author: BobD
Date: 2008-12-18 14:40
"I wonder whether any political point is being made by this selection "
Not on this side of the ocean.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2008-12-18 14:50
BobD wrote:
> "I wonder whether any political point is being made by this
> selection "
>
> Not on this side of the ocean.
I can't believe the artists selected are 'at random', but are carefully selected to make particular points. I might not understand the point, but someone else (sensitive to political implications) just might.
Very little is done at the highest levels of government that is not a signal to some group or other.
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Author: NorbertTheParrot
Date: 2008-12-18 15:04
Now I understand why Anthony McGill was chosen.
And a very worthy and appropriate choice it seems to be as well.
I'm sure the choices have not been made "at random". But the alternative is not necessarily that they are political. It may be that they truly reflect the listening tastes of Obama and his colleagues. I'm not taking a position either way; I'm not an American, so don't really understand how these things work in the US.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2008-12-18 15:05
NorbertTheParrot wrote:
> I'm not
> an American, so don't really understand how these things work
> in the US.
You think we do?
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Author: NorbertTheParrot
Date: 2008-12-18 15:11
Now be fair, Mark. The last time I made a quip about US politics, you deleted it. (I was referring to the lady recently lampooned in the New Yorker as Haras Nilap.)
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2008-12-18 15:15
NorbertTheParrot wrote:
> Now be fair, Mark. The last time I made a quip about US
> politics, you deleted it. (I was referring to the lady recently
> lampooned in the New Yorker as Haras Nilap.)
There's a difference in intent.
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Author: CPW
Date: 2008-12-18 15:53
The point Obama is making is obvious.....he wishes to signal to one and all that students of Don Montanaro have good phrasing. Nothing more and nothing less (read the new issue of Clarinet Magazine, just out).
Of course I would not say that AMcG has "that classic Philly sound," but that is another matter, and likely has been discussed at the highest levels at McLean(sic) Va. or Quantico. (The CIA and FBI have very distinct ideas about spinning the tone)
Against the windmills of my mind
The jousting pole splinters
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Author: BobD
Date: 2008-12-18 22:02
I heard that Bruce Springsteen was considered but didn't make the cut......some say politics but I suspect it was music.
Bob Draznik
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Author: CPW
Date: 2008-12-18 22:41
I wonder who would be playing if McCain had won?
My guess is that they would all be wearing a pair of Tony Lama boots and decorative belt buckles. Geee Hawww
Against the windmills of my mind
The jousting pole splinters
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2008-12-18 23:07
CPW wrote:
> I wonder who would be playing if McCain had won?
> My guess is that they would all be wearing a pair of Tony Lama
> boots and decorative belt buckles. Geee Hawww
>
And people wonder why "classical musicians" are looked at as snobs?
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2008-12-19 00:28
>>And people wonder why "classical musicians" are looked at as snobs?<<
It's always so refreshing to see how "open-minded" some of us musicians can be, eh Mark? ![[whoa]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie10.gif)
I can imagine the howls of outrage we would have heard if someone had made a similar disrespectful guess about whom Obama would select, prior to the actual announcement!
I am a member of another (non-musical) enthusiast BBS, where they specifically discourage posts of a political nature which have little or nothing to do with the core subject of the BBS. Personally, I think that might be a good idea. Discuss politics if and when it relates to music, but otherwise, it would be much nicer if we all just celebrated the fact that a classical clarinetist will be featured at the event, rather than take cheap potshots at political figures. ![[frown]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie2.gif)
Jeff
“Everyone discovers their own way of destroying themselves, and some people choose the clarinet.” Kalman Opperman, 1919-2010
"A drummer is a musician's best friend."
Post Edited (2008-12-19 01:05)
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2008-12-19 01:50
JJAlbrecht wrote:
> Discuss
> politics if and when it relates to music, but otherwise, it
> would be much nicer if we all just celebrated the fact that a
> classical clarinetist will be featured at the event, rather
> than take cheap potshots at political figures.
It would be nice, and this BBoard also discourages (and deletes) most "cheap shots", but ...
politics, religion, and music are are irretrievably intertwined. Who you invite to your inaugural does mean something. If only we were privy to the rationale ...
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Author: JamesOrlandoGarcia
Date: 2008-12-20 17:26
DC in January.... Do you think that Anthony will perform on his traditional set up or perhaps a green line type would be a good move? Personally, I would never take my clarinets outside in the dead of winter, even for the President of the United States.
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Author: NorbertTheParrot
Date: 2008-12-20 19:03
"Yo yo's cello is also a consideration"
If it's that cold, I would have thought the proper functioning of Yo Yo's fingers would be a more immediate concern than his cello.
Ditto Perlman and his violin.
I'm not familiar with Presidential Inaugurations, but does the budget not stretch to putting the musicians under some sort of canopy, with a patio heater to take the chill off? Not very eco-friendly, I know.
..........
Presumably the whole thing will be relayed to the public over loudspeakers, in which case they might just as well pre-record it in comfort, then mime the "live" performance on any old cheap instruments that come to hand.
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