 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Keil
Date: 2003-04-03 00:10
can i just say what an inspiration he was and continues to be through his recordings. Upon listening to him play the Brahms' Quintet and Beethoven's Septet with the BSO chamber players i totally found a renewed sense of purpose and desire to pursue music at its highest and most prestigious level. I recommend his recordings to any and all who wish to hear beauty and refinement with such a command of the clarinet. He was a conssumate performer able to bring the technical with the lyrical and create such a synergy of beauty, depth, and a sense of quiet repose and refinement. He is most definitely my top choice for this century's most influential musicians if there were such a list. By today's comparison there aren't many who possess his sense of oneness with the music and manages to bring out the most infintessimal of nuances. I would have to say that after hearing Ricardo Morales, Scott Andrews, Frank Kowalsky, and Ethan Sloane his style of playing has definitely, in one way or another, permeated the delicate pyche's of today's most influential players. Amen to Harold Wright!
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-04-03 12:14
I had good fortune to study with Mr. Wright for 3 years and can say he was an inspired teacher as well who understood clarinet technique thoroughly. I have always loved his Mozart Quintet as one of the staples of my own musical records that I can't weary of.....his work in the Boston Symphony from 70-71 to 92-93 is also a time where the whole woodwinds of this orchestra had an integrated playing style so hard to define.
With mr. Wright's passing I felt a great loss due to example and excellecy of his playing. He left a many thankful students like myself who believe music must come from the heart. My studies with him represent the high point of learning in my musical life.
David Dow
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-04-03 15:37
Wright's primary teacher and influence was Ralph McLane...GBK
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Author: CPW
Date: 2003-04-03 18:04
When Hans Moenig was asked who were his favorite clients he said that he liked Mclane's impecable phrasing and Wright's sweet tone...then Hans said it was time for a pipeful, lit his pipe, and refused any further comment.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-04-03 18:15
I had the opportunity to try Mr. Wright's A clarinet which he got from Ralph McLane... I can honestly say it was the most incredible instrument I had ever played on....it was a very mellow warm instrument. Where it ever went I have no idea. Maybe another student inhereted it from Mr. Wright.
In lessons Mr. Wright would demonstrate (once in a while) a given passage, and I can honestly say up close his tone was electrifying. It was both dark and round with a fullness throughout the compass no other clarinet player I have heard ever had.
Recently in our orchestra (in September)the conductor made a comment asking me if I ever studied with Harold Wright....I said "yes", somewhat confounded .. then he went on to say he was a student of Harold Wright's for seven years. After rehearsal we went out to swap stories. I had no idea that Mr. Wright's playing could be detected in mine, but here is a strange exapmple of how deep an influence can be heard in one's playing. It was an incident that left me feeling very proud to be a clarinet player and thought of as having a sound even remotely akin to such a great example....
David Dow
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2003-04-03 19:10
I heard Wright play the Brahms Quintet on McLane's A clarinet many years ago. It was the most gorgeous sound I've ever heard. I still remember where I was sitting, and I carry that sound around in my head as my ideal.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2003-04-03 19:17
"It was both dark and round with a fullness throughout the compass no other clarinet player I have heard ever had."
I love the fact that his tone also had such a sweetness and such a full range of harmonics that it had a remarkable color that is dark without ever being stuffy or dull. Combine that with his wonderful sense of phrasing, sensitivity and lyricism and the ability to play with an endless variety of colors. His playing was so supple that it was more vocal-like than any player I have ever heard. Every player out there should have his recordings in their library. It is great that Boston records has so much available. I was thrilled to see that after many years absence, DG has (finally) released the BSO chamber players Strauss Waltz transcriptions and Stravinsky chamber works on CD. I hope that Nonesuch or someone else will eventually re-release the Schubert Octet, Brahms Trio and Beethoven Septet.
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Author: buddyjr
Date: 2003-04-04 07:22
I thought the newbie should put his first post in the most appropriate thread...All hail Harold Wright....
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