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Stoltzman Recital

Author: William
Date: 2003-04-11 15:50

Last evening , I attended a recital given by Richard Stoltzman in the Memorial Union Theater on the campus of the University of Wisconsin--Madison. The Theater seats about 1,600 and there were only a few empty seats. Richard's accompanist was Emanuel Ax.

His program: Fantasy Pieces for Clarinet and Piano--Schumann
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (Movt 3)--McKinley
Sonata in Eb, Op.120, No.2--Brahms
Commedia--Wyner
Sonata in F, Op. 120, No. 1--Brahms
(no encore)

In the beautiful, long legato melodies of the above repretoire, Richard was in total control and play magnificiently. He was particularily impressive in his performance of the Schumann, in which he was in complete control of all musical and technical aspects. Often, during the other numbers, however, his small--and sometimes, thin sound--was drowned out by Emanuels brillietly played, but often "too loud" Steinway (& Sons). They did not seem to be in artist sync with each other with Mr Ax often over playing and Richard underplaying. I waited the entire evening for Richard to fill his clarinet with sound, and it never seemed to happen. He actually left me, at the end of the evening, with the impression of a truely gifted clarinetist and musician, who was simply "out of shape" and not capable of the quality performances evident on his many recordings.

His best performance was the Schumann--his worst, the Commedia which opened with some very fast wide interval technique quite roughly played. It seemed, through the entire work, that he was just playing the notes and had not yet fully learned its musical content. Based upon his performance, I did not like the piece.

The McKinley was a remarkably beautiful performance and showed Richard for what he may be best at--the ability to play long and impeccably "connected" legato phrases, seemly effortlessly. But, there was always "Mr. Steinway" to often obscure some of Richards subtile phrasings. Too bad.........

The two Brahms were performed as if, "here we go, again." They just lacked entusiasum and spark. In fact, after some joking between pianist and clarinetist about Richards need to use cigarette paper under his side Eb key--as well as some attempt at comedy by RCs emphatic nodding to signify he was ready to begin--Richard made his most serious and obvious errors of the evening shortly after the beginning of his final selection the Brahms #1. He seemed to be playing the entire recital (except the Wyner) from memory, only using the music as a safety net. However, in the last Brahms, he had a momentary lapse (probably only noticed by clarinetists in the audience) where he substitued some of his own improv for Brahms original notation. For Richard, it was clearly a mistake--but when I do it, it's "artistic license."

Generally, Richard Stoltzman (I think) emmulates singing through his clarinet with beautiful and gracelful stylings. His vibrato is that of a singer--mostly tasteful, but sometimes overdone. (All other wind instruments use vibrato--even some tubists I've heard--so why not clarinetists??) But his small, light, etherical sound was no match for the Steinway (with the lid in its highest position) of the very brilliant Emanuel Ax. His accompaniments simply required a more powerful clarinetist, or at the very least, one who was "in shape" and inspired to play the gig.

At the end of the recital, the audience, however, showed their approval requiring the duo to take three bows. During the third bow, someone to stage left in the audience stood up to put their coat on, and almost immediantly, the rest of the patrons (sheep?) rose to give them a standing ovation. Although knowing better, I also stood. After all, Richard Stoltzman is a deserving clarinetist and musical recording artist--but perhaps a bit over-rated live and in person. (April 10th, 2003--Madison, WI)