 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-08-27 05:26
I'm sure all of us at one time or another heard one special live clarinet performance or recital that was so impressive, you were left literally speechless.
It might be interesting for each person to list the ONE (please, one only) live performance (or recital) that left the greatest impression on you and still stands out in your mind - to this day.
The rules:
You must have been in attendance for the live performance.
Radio broadcasts or recordings do not count.
If you remember the date of the live performance, as well as the location, please list the information.
I'll start:
Ricardo Morales - July 1992
Morales (then 21 years old, and relatively unknown) performs at the 4:00 pm recital at Clarinetfest '92 in Cincinnati and stuns everyone with a breathtaking (memorized) performance of the Nielsen Concerto. At that moment we all knew that this was someone very special. Many in the audience just shook their head in disbelief at what they just heard.
Ten months later he was hired by the Met...GBK
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2003-08-27 06:08
Karl Leister- Easter 1997
It was at the Salzburg Easter Festival. Leister played Mahler 2nd Symphony with the Berlin Phil, and then rushed off to ply the Brahms Quintet in the second half of a chamber music concert on the same evening! As he played the opening bars of the Brahms Quintet, I couldn't believe that SUCH a beautiful sound could come out of a pice of wood!
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Author: bob49t
Date: 2003-08-27 06:38
Back in the early 60's, The Scottish National Orchestra gave short concerts for school kids on the afternoons of the regular evening concerts. Literally busloads of musical kids would be "shipped" from all over the county to the Caird Hall in Dundee to experience live music of a high standard. They always featured one of the orchestra principals as soloist and for many of us these concerts could be life changing.
Then principal clarinet Keith Pearson was the soloist on the day I "saw the light" playing Weber's Concertino. The music and his playing moved me like no other had until then. Realising that I wouldn't let go of my desire for a clarinet, Mum and dad took me to the Larg's music shop (now long gone) that next Saturday and we bought my first clarinet, A B&H "sonorite" Regent for the princely sum of £20 10s 6d. (pre 1971 decimalisation.)
Sadly these concerts (every month) were ceased due to the expense of transportation but my word, what a wonderful way to introduce children to the world of live music. I feel privileged to have been involved in these early adventures and of course, have never stopped playing since.
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Author: LeWhite
Date: 2003-08-27 07:09
Sabine Meyer, Copland Concerto, Melbourne Concert Hall, with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, 2002. I always knew the clarinet was a beautiful instrument, and the Copland concerto just as beautiful, but what she did that night...
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Author: ron b
Date: 2003-08-27 07:19
ONE of the many superb listening experiences stands out in my memory at your prompting, GBK, probably because I also knew the performer somewhat personally.
San Francisco, Club Hangover, 1955 or '56 and George Lewis is playing there. I was fresh out of USAF basic training and had been assigned to the band there (Parks AFB, outside Pleasanton). I managed to get into 'The City' to hear George. I was tooling around on an old Matchless motorcycle in those days. The whole ensemble was playing superbly then and George seemed to be at his best too. He was playing phrases and nuances I'd never even imagined possible. I realized that recordings, even the best ones, were no comparison to a live performance (duh... remember, I'm still just a kid) - and a truly memorable time that was. I had no words to describe it then and I have none to adequately do so now. The melodies, the images, the sights and sounds of it all were and are beyond my ability to put into words.
When I mentioned it to George much later when we had a little time together, how much I'd enjoyed that time, he said something like, "Yeah, I guess we was playin' pretty good then... (smile) ."
I never heard him brag like some folks are a bit prone to do but I sure heard him 'toot his horn' 
- r![[cool]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/cool.gif) n b -
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2003-08-27 09:00
I shall completely ignore GBK's instructions and list the two times in my life that I have gone to hear a piece I'd never heard before and been rocked back on my heels by how wonderful it was:
Bach B minor mass, London Proms, John Eliot Gardiner, circa 1974.
Britten Peter Grimes, English National Opera, 1999 - and same again the following week.
-----------
If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.
To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2003-08-27 12:19
Hi,
I know this does not count but a friend loaned me a videotape in about 1980 or so of a jazz concert he had taped. The concert was outdoors and took place in Chicago early on a summer evening. There were long sunset shadows and the city lights were just coming on.
It was at the Petrillo Stage (I think that is the name) and featured a jazz quartet led by Herbie Hancock. All the performers were wearing white suits which was cool anyhow but when they kicked off the first tune,
I was just completely knocked out by the brand new trunpet player. A young kid named Wynton Marsalis; I knew he was going to be something special. I had never heard the trumpet played that way before. He was an absolute gas.
HRL
Post Edited (2003-08-30 00:35)
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Author: janlynn
Date: 2003-08-27 13:28
in 1986 richard stoltzman came to play with our dinky little state band in N.H. ... i didnt even know who he was at the time lol - - he played his rendition of Rhapsody in Blue with our band as his back up ... HIS performance left me speechless.
JL
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Author: William
Date: 2003-08-27 13:45
I played a gig last year with the Bill Terry Sextet at a local assisted living facility for a residents birthday. One of the residents was the former tenor sax player of our group, now quite frail and mostly confined to a wheel chair and unable to travel and play in the many different jazz groups he used to perform with. Unable to even carry his sax case and assemble his own instrument, Bill (Wild Bill) Kornaman positioned his chair right in front of the band as we kicked things off. As chance had it, his daughter was visiting that afternoon and brought him his old beloved Mark VI from his room and his eyes lite up as he took it into his old hands. He immediantly began playing along with us from memory and played all of the sax solos that afternoon--I just listened in awe and amazment. His tenor had not lost any of its power and passion as I, at first, just stood there--and later sat down and just listened to this old jazz master do his "stuff". I think that I probably played two solos that afternoon until I was replaced by Wild Bill's big tenor. His renditions of the old tunes with his old band that afternoon, just left me literally speechless. A truely memorable listening experiance which I will not soon forget--nor I am certain, will he.............
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-08-27 14:17
The most incredible concert I ever saw was in Berlin in 84 of Mahler 9 under Karajan .....unreal the way this orchestra plays....
The other was a performance of the Histoire d' Soldat with Pascal Moragues playing clarinet....flawless! I can't understand why he is not more popular!
David Dow
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Author: Brandon
Date: 2003-08-27 14:50
Mine has to be a concert that was perfromed on April 3, 2003. The Rotterdam Philharmonic was supposed to play at Carnegie hall that night under Maestro Valery Gergiev. At the last moment(to me at least), found that the Kirov Orchestra from the Mariinskt Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia would be performing instead. Now let me say that I have heard many what would be considered top orchestras in the US. With a program that consisted of several overtures, and the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Ov the program right there was superb. After intermission came the highlight of the evening. The orchestra performed Tchaikovsky 5. With encores coming from the Nutcracker, the program was intense and the orchestra played just brilliantly. The moral the story? I have never heard a US orchestra that could come close to touching the Kirov. Carnegie Hall should make every group sound better, but when is the last time you have heard an orchestra concert without hearing a horn crack a pitch? I do not remember the name of the fellow who was playing principal clarinet, but he was one of the better clarinets I have heard. If you ever get the chance to go hear a European orchestra, it will be hard to go and listen to American string playing(and horn) ever again.
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2003-08-27 15:43
Dennis DiBlasio, October 2000 at Rowan University performance center.
Maynard Ferguson comes to perform (Dennis toured with them, and did a considerable amount of arranging for the band for some years.)
Maynard's group sets up a blistering pace for the first set.
In the second set, Maynard gets to speak a little (squeak a little) into the mic about "This cat" who used to tour with them, and had settled down.
With a little staged coaxing, he gets Denn to step on, Bari and flute in tow, for a few licks. This goes on through a chord progression, up to Maynard's High G (I think he has compressed Air in his pockets) and Denn is following along over the changes.
Denn fakes a pensive look, and begins to tool up through his horn...
and blows a solid, piercing G above the staff in the Altissimo range.
They looked at each other immediately thereafter, I suppose the way Baron von Richthofen did with his worthy adversaries... with competetive respect.
A regular set followed, but it was an illustration of glee in playing difficult music for an appreciative audience.
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Author: William
Date: 2003-08-27 15:50
On the "other hand", I heard a performance via NPR radio by the "winds and brass" of the Vienna Philharmonic under the direction of Andre Previn, that was terrible (with a capitol T). The intonation was so unstable--expecially in the clarinets--that I (not hearing the performance from the beginning) was guessing the performing group to be of high school or small college origin, certainly not a major professional performing orchestra. One can understand having "one of those concerts" if performing live, but to produce and preserve such an inferior effort on a recording is uncomphrehensible to me (and my ears). But, I would like to think that this was not one of their better recording sessions and that subsequent performances returned to their usual high quality of excellance.
Also, now that I am "on a roll", I recall hearing the usually supurb Chicago Symphony Orchestra play a less than impeccably musical performance under Martino (spl??) in Milwaukee's (WI-USA) Pabst Theator some years ago. A very lackluster, unemotional performance indeed--I almost asked for my ticket money back. But logic prevailed--I was subconciously comparing that performance to their usual high quality efforts in Orchestra Hall and they were actually far better than any local orchestras around at that time would have been. Just having "one of those nights", I guess--which we all have from time to time (and I like to forget about).
Bottom line, your "substitute" orchestra was probably having one of those *good*--perhaps unforgettable--nights, and I think that it is quite unfair to characterize all other orchestras (American or any nationality) as being inferior or "hard to listen to ever again".
(however, you were luck to "catch" a good one and I wish I had been there as well to catch it as well)
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2003-08-27 16:10
Does it have to be clarinet? I've never heard a live clarinet performance that wowed me. Recordings are another matter...
Sometime in March 1993
Jones Auditorium
Texas A&I University (now Texas A&M University-Kingsville)
Kingsville, TX
At my university, in 1993, we booked trumpeter Arturo Sandoval to perform at our annual jazz bash. We actually booked him a year in advance for a very reasonable fee. But in that year between booking and the gig, he became very famous (and his price presumably increased geometrically), so there was lots of anticipation. For only $5 admission I finally got to hear firsthand the differe nce between a merely great player and an absolute supernova. From his first note we were blown back into our seats with ear-splitting power and jaw-dropping technique. Trumpet players in the aduience told me they were stupefied at his ability to play notes they didn't even know were possible, namely low notes. It was a short performance, only about 4 pieces (had he not become so famous in that year span, it may have been a longer program), but he electrified that audience in a way I'd never seen before (except for chemically-enhanced crowds during my heavy metal days).
Kids, lemme tell you, the gulf between merely great players and superstars like Arturo Sandoval is wide indeed.
›
________________
Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.
- Pope John Paul II
Post Edited (2003-08-27 16:11)
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Author: javier garcia m
Date: 2003-08-27 16:59
not clarinet, by guitar,
it was a concert by Narciso Yepes, who played the "Concierto de Aranjuez" of Joaquín Rodrigo in Santiago, with the Philarmonic Orchestra. It was wonderful. Then, he played three encores, I remember "Recuerdos de la Alahambra" delightful.
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Author: marcia
Date: 2003-08-27 18:10
A performance of Carmina Burana. I have a recording of it and have listened to it many times. I had also heard the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Vancouver Bach Choir do it at the Orpheum Theatre. By this time I had listened to it so often I could hum along with almost the entire piece. I heard it again after this and it was the West Coast Symphony (a very good, but amatuer orchestra) with the Coastal Sound Choir. For some reason this performace had me on the edge of my seat from the opening note!! I did not want it to end.........
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Author: ken
Date: 2003-08-27 18:24
When I was 13, (1970) my parents and I vacationed to New Orleans for Madi Gras. The night after the day of the big parade, we took in Bourbon Street and went to see Pete Fountain at his original club in the French Quarter. For some reason, the club wasn't at all crowded and my dad was able to successfully slip the doorman an extra $20 to get me in. We were ushered to a front row (family style) table. The show started, Pete came out and his bell was literally 15 feet from my face and pointed right at me.
The band opened up with "His Eye is on the Sparrow". At that moment I caught a powerful chill that I'll never forget and have never felt since. I was "speechless" and totally memorized the entire show. I knew from that very first tune and hearing that silky smooth sound that playing music on clarinet was what I was born to do and a musician what I wanted to be! v/r Ken
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2003-08-27 18:25
Dave Brubeck with Phila. Orch doing pension fund concert circa 1965
Second half of concert was all Brubeck.
Paul Desmond blew me away....I spoke with Anthony Gigliotti, who stayed to watch the all-jazz performance after the orchestral part was done...his comment was "Man, that sax player is sooo smooth!!"
Same venue...this time with Andre Previn conducting and doing piano.
Clarinet section of limited size orchestra consisted of Raoul Querze. Tone like mahoghany...awesome. At intermission I spoke with him in the green room--I gained access since my friend was son of a Phila Orch. bassist.
Mr Q was pleasant and casual and even taught me a glissando trick.
Great memory.
Fast forward to 2002...Beethoven Pastoral at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh. Jansons conducting. Rusinek et. al. on clarinet...what ensemble playing is all about. Inspiring.
BTW... ditto on Maynard Ferguson....Robin Hood Dell in Philly. New Vintages LP about to be released, or timing thereabouts. He was great, but his band and soloists knocked yer sox off.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-08-27 19:13
Alright, I'll relate one more, but in a more contemporary vein:
1966 - I am a teenager on Long Island (NY) playing tenor saxophone and electric guitar with 4 friends in a garage rock and roll band (we really wanted to be the American version of the Dave Clark 5). We finally thought we were good enough to "audition" for the one summer gig in our area, at the local community pool.
It is a "Battle of the Bands" as bands from the neighboring towns would vie for the "prestigious" job. We go on and do our thing, and the crowd claps (and the girls even scream a little). Next to go on is a 5 piece rock band called "The Hassles". I remember not only were they spectacular, with poise and great showmanship, but the keyboardist (who sung) was like nothing I had ever heard. We all watched dejectedly, knowing that OUR band could never be that good, ever ... The crowd goes wild as they win.
I later discovered that the young kid on the Vox organ was Billy Joel.
Skip ahead 30 years and I am playing tenor sax in a society gig in the Hamptons. Billy Joel is in attendance. At one of the breaks I find him and tell about my "brush with greatness". He laughed, as it brought back teenage memories to him as well.
He did remind me, however, that his band was far better than any other that was there that afternoon in 1966.
Thanks, Billy... I needed that... GBK
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2003-08-27 19:56
I haven't seen to many clarinet performances, but I think seeing Dmitri Ashkenazy play the Copland Concerto with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic was the most memorable in my mind.
It was just great... That's all there is to say.
Don Hite - theclarinetist@yahoo.com
PS - I know you said one performance, but when Stoltzman played "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" as his recital encore, it was pretty breathtaking as well.....
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Author: hans
Date: 2003-08-27 23:14
Tom Colclough playing in "Forever Swing" four or five(?) years ago in Toronto. I have looked for recordings by him ever since but have never come across any, which is hard to understand.
Hans
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Author: DAVE
Date: 2003-08-27 23:27
A few years ago I played a concert with Jesse Norman singing Wagner. At the rehearsal she faced us and sang her part. I could not keep my eyes off her. At a moment like that you realize just how special some people's gifts are and how average you are in comparison. But the best was the encore of the performance where she sang the famous aria from Samson and Delila that I can't at this moment remember the name of. She was amazing.
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Author: diz
Date: 2003-08-28 01:10
Forget clarinetists ... never heard one who inspired me like Dame Joan Sutherland when she sang Lakme in Sydney in 1979. The second she opened her mouth and sang I knew what perfection was (shame it was such a silly opera and such a silly story).
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Author: wyatt
Date: 2003-08-28 02:00
Giora Feidlman--fest 2003--salt lake city.
Ave Maria--he played it so soft you had to strain yourself to hear. i have never heard anyone play that low. there wasn't a sound in the house. (except his playing)
even though it was Ave Maria Giora still called it Klezmer.ˇ
bob gardner}ÜJ
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Author: Andy
Date: 2003-08-28 03:01
Michael Collins playing the Finzi Concerto in London in December 2002. Utterly amazing.
Daniel Barenboim's solo piano recital at Royal Festival Hall in November 2002, this was the most deeply personal and musically satisfying performance I have ever been honoured to hear.
Andrew Marriner playing the coda of the 1st movt of the Brahms Eb Sonata. Although it was in a masterclass, he recieved extended applause from a bunch of critical clarinettists after they had already sat there listening for 4 hours. That description doesn't do it justice however, it was easily the best brahms sonata I have ever heard.
Paul Dean, brahms quintet, Canberra, 2001!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rach Symph No 2, Melbourne Symphony, slow movt solo played by David Thomas. After the performance the conductor brought david out the front of the orchestra to take a bow as it was THAT GOOD.
now, on a slightly critical point, Sabine Meyer's MSO Copland? really, i went to two of the three concerts and was left unsatisfied both occasions. She didn't project over the orchestra and made a couple of slips on both nights. IMO she wasn't on form in those concerts, her tuning was also fairly awful, although that isn't uncommon in performances of the copland. Her Weber two years earlier though was stunning.....
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Author: Tim2
Date: 2003-08-28 03:04
In 1974 (I think) a violin recital was to be given at Michelson Hall at UW Stevens Point, WI. I couldn't get a ticket because they had all been sold out. Asked if I could buy a ticket and sit on the steps in the hall (maybe a no-no now a days). They let me. Then on stage comes the soloist, Itzhak Perlman. I really didn’t know what I was in for.
To put it directly, his playing did "leave me speechless". I never dreamed I would hear anything of the likes of what I did that evening and I'm not sure I ever have since. He played three Paganini Caprices that I do not have words to describe and won’t even try.
On a higher level, being there to hear Itzhak Perlman live gave me strength to know that one's disability should never stop one from having a life and pursuing one's aspirations. Being a young disabled man of 19 at the time, it gave me even more confidence and strength to do what I needed to do for my life. Even more than musical goals, he changed my life permanently.
Man, GBK, I feel the same churning on the inside I felt that night. Thanks for the thread. And thank you, Itzhak Perlman!
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Author: george
Date: 2003-08-28 03:52
Carmen McRae, in Boston in 1954. I was still a would-be musician and had gone someplace to hear a tenor player, Wardell Gray, I believe it was. At the time I didn't much like vocal music--I was all caught up in instrumental technique, etc. Sure, I had heard (on records) Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald and "knew" they were good, but I had never listened, I guess. Anyway, this female singer I had never heard of comes out and sings and it was something I had never experienced before. A true epiphany--I had been thrilled and excited by music but never before had something affected me so emotionally. It was to me absolutely incredible--I loved it, I loved her, and I can still remember it as if it were last night.
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Author: Michael
Date: 2003-08-28 05:07
Many to choose from, but here are my top two:
Another posting for Andrew Marriner.... In the fall of 2001, I had the opportunity to hear him perform the Brahms Clarinet Quintet Live at the Barbican during and all-chamber music concert by the LSO chamber musicians. While I was accustomed to regular interaction with his playing (I was his student at the time), it was truly an inspiring performance and the best live performance, bar none, of the Brahms Quintet that I have heard.
In a close second is the last recital of a three part series on the "History of the Clarinet" given by Michael Collins at Wigmore Hall, which included the Beethoven Trio, Bartok Contrasts and finishing up with the Messian Quatour Pro La Fin Du Temps! While the Beethoven and Bartok were of the utmost musicality, the Messian was in a class by itself and utterly spectacular. I have never seen tears flow as freely from an audience as did happen when the violinist finished her solo in the final movement. An unforgettable reminder of not only the quality of the performance, but the power of music to move members of an audience to tears.............
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Author: R13A
Date: 2003-08-28 06:26
early 60's, Eastman Sch of Music. Eugene Zoro. As a Frosh, sits next to Stan Hasty as 2sd in the Rochester Phil.
As a soph, completes his senior performance requirements by performing the Nielsen Concerto to a 10 min standing ovation.
In the audience........2 of his classmates: Peter Hadcock and Larry Combs.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2003-08-28 07:26
i never saw a clarinet concert that really impressed me.
actually, the concerts i liked the most weren't the best ones musically. my favorite concert was didie lokwood (don't know how to spell that) trio. he is a violin player. he played an electriv violin and put a delay effect and improvised a song that was just amazing. the music was really good too but not the best i've ever heard live.
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Author: ned
Date: 2003-08-28 08:57
Don't know about speechless, as I was shouting out a lot in amazement when I heard Rasahan Roland Kirk with a quartet in Melbourne [Aust that is, not Florida!].
He was playing at the Dallas Brooks Hall in about 1973 or so and his concert was ELECTRIC - people we getting up and dancing in the aisles too and this was at a sit-down CONCERT!
He had that blind man's lack of self consciousness [I guess it seemed to me at the time] and was swaying from side to side and back and forth and I was hoping that he did not fall off the rather high stage with his gyrations as he was perilously close to the edge most of the time.
The music was absolutely stunning though. He was playing a number of different saxes plus clarinet and if anyone reading this has any of his records, you will know that he would frequently play two instruments simultaneously and sometimes three. It's awesome to listen to him on recordings and astounding to see and hear live! Every now and then I attempt to blow two at once, just for the heck of it, and can barely make them squeak let alone play a melody - it serves to remind me of his genius.
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Author: LeWhite
Date: 2003-08-28 09:47
Andy RE: Sabine - I guess I was there a different night to you...
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2003-08-28 11:49
John Kelly,
I also heard Roland Kirk but much earlier, about 1957. Kirk was from Columbus, OH and I lived about 100 miles N in Sandusky. I was playing regularly in a spot in town and we were off a week for a group from Columbus to come in. The sax (as well as the nose flute, a number of strange saxophones, flute -which he kept in the bell of his tenor), siren, etc was Kirk. He was pretty much unheard of at the time but as a young jazz player, I was awe struck.
This had to be one of my most remembered performances. Not clarinet but ....
HRL
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Author: graham
Date: 2003-08-28 11:52
A performance to remember (not quite speechless) was when the London Symphony Orchestra came to the Fairfield Halls in London in the early 1970s, and delivered a stunning account of Tcaik's 4th Symphony under the baton of Karl Bohm. It was all the better for the fact that the Mozart Symphony in the first half had been a dull affair and rather scrappy. It struck me that much of Bohm's conducting went on under the conductor's stand (I don't think he did it from memory) so it might have been difficult for the players to see him. But they must have sorted that in the rehearsal because the tightness of the ensemble was electrifying. The Fairfield has a strong acoustic and the LSO in those days was very loud (in an effortless and balanced kind of way). When Howard Snell led in the reprise of the fate motif on the trumpet I froze to my seat (enhanced by not knowing the work well enough to be expecting it). I think the recording they did of it a week later is still available. It is the most exhausting and dramatic symphonic concert I have been to.
Jack Brymer played that day and very beautiful it was too. The tune that goes: de dum, de dum, de dum-de-dum-de daaaaaa, da daaaaaa, da daaaaaa, diddly dum, was as good as it can be.
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Author: William
Date: 2003-08-28 14:56
OK--"one more (speechless) time"--I heard Presidential Candidate Bill Clinton play tenor sax on the Letterman show.....................
But the performance I mean to relate was heard late one evening while driving home after a gig. I was listening to our WERN's late-nite jazz "archieves" show as the announcer introduced his next pick, "Summertime" featuring a tenor sax solo. I listened and imagined who it might be--Lester Young, Zoot, Stan Getz--just some of the names that came to mind as possiblilities. At the end, he announced that it was the Prez, and I was honking my car horn at coming up with the mystery sax player's name. But wait-- he continued.........."the prez, (then) President Bill Clinton with his college jazz band". I stopped honking..........but continued to wonder at the many "who's" I thought it was.
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Author: Matt Locker
Date: 2003-08-28 15:36
Not a clarinet moment & very far from classical:
Went to see the guitarist Roy Buchanan at the Michigan Palace - a fairly small place that seated maybe 500-700. Since Roy Buchanan wasn't super popular few tickets were sold so I got to sit about 3 rows back. The opening act was a group I had never heard of before but figured they'd be a blues act or something to fit with Buchanan's style.
The opening act came on stage and absolutely blew everyone in the audience away. They were so totally unconventional in the rock world - most of their music was in odd meters and rarely ever hit the R&R 4/4 rut. Amazing vocals & harmonies, and instrumentally absolutely amazing. They were loud but every voice & instrument came through crisply & clearly. After they were done I thought "I should just leave now. Noone can follow that." I was right - the headline act couldn't hold a candle. The name of the opening act - Kansas! After that they hit the big times, got WAYYYY too loud, and eventually lost their way. I saw them a few more times and it was never the same. But the night at the Palace was so absolutely amazing that I will never forget it.
Clarinet wise - this summer at the Vermont Mozart Fest. The Festival Winds playing the Mozart Grand Partita (along with other works). It was truly a special night. It was hotter than !@#$, a thunder storm forced the festival into the rain site which had no AC. Despite all, the music was special. The give & take between the musicians, both Melvin Kaplan on oboe & Allen Blustine on clarinet playing exquisitely, supported by a dozen or so amazing wind instrumentalists. It was an incredible performance.
These times are why I pay to see live music. The best audio system in the world can not recreate the feel of a great concert.
MOO,
Matt
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Author: RM
Date: 2003-08-28 15:40
Frank Cohen playing Brahms quintet at the Cleveland Institute, 97. It was the most beautiful magical clarinet playing I have ever heard.
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2003-08-28 16:01
Ivo Papsov, October 2002, University of Chicago.
I had heard the recordings, and was blown away by them...
Live is another matter! And the kaval (flute) player he played with also blew me away!
Ivo "is getting old" (according to my Bulgarian musician friends), but I didn't notice it last fall!
Katrina
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Author: rbell96
Date: 2003-08-28 21:07
I went to a piano recital last week. It was given by Martin Roscoe (ex-head of piano at the Royal Academy of Music).
Amongst other things he performed the Beethoven Appasionata Sonata. I have never been so gripped to a single performance. It was incredible!
Rob
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Author: Andy
Date: 2003-08-29 01:09
This posted has again proved to me that:
Some of the people have some taste some of the time,
Some of the people have no taste some of the time,
Some of the people have great taste some of the time,
Some of the people have no taste all of the time,
Some of the people have some taste all of the time,
Some of the people have great taste all of the time,
but most importantly, many of the people have no taste all of the time!
Which one do you fit into??????????????????????
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Author: Henry
Date: 2003-08-29 01:42
And Andy,
In which group would you put yourself, if we may ask?
Henry
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Author: Bob Schwab
Date: 2003-08-29 02:51
About a year an a half ago, I went to the Eastman School of Music where one of its faculty, Zvi Zeitlan the principle violin faculty member, put on a performance with the principle piano faculty member, Barry Snyder, as his accompanist. To top it off I was sitting about 40 feet away straight in front of them, practically at eye level (the seating rises rather steeply). I have never witnessed/experienced such excellence in my life. There is nothing I can do, however mundane, that could match the excellence of that performance. I can’t even take a crap with the excellence these people displayed.
Bob Schwab
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Author: ned
Date: 2003-08-29 04:35
Andy,
Are you some kind of perfectionist perhaps that we should all know about? And maybe you would like to evaluate all of the responses so far and classify us individually and - we might be keen to know your appraisal of us as I suspect, you apparently seem keen to give.
Hey, maybe this is just your version of an intellectual gag? In which case I say heh, heh, heh - good old Aussie humor - yer just can't beat it can yer?
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Author: Andy
Date: 2003-08-29 14:06
John, thank christ somebody can understand a joke. My sister actually posted this under my name as my details are always at the bottom of the screen on this site when reading posts on the family home computer, so all credit (if there is any) to her! I'm pretty sure she did it to stir us all up a bit, which it seems she did to some effect.
To the topic however, I would say to Henry that I have some/great taste some of the time. Of course taste is a purely personal oppinion as I may think Askenazy is a wonderful interpreter of Rachmaninov (as I do) while you may think it sucks. The whole process of evaluating oppinion, IMO is usless.
(there have also been many times when my taste has been appaling, you only need to look at some of the disasters in my CD collection to prove that! they always seem like such a good idea at the time.)
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2003-08-29 14:56
Hi Andy,
Your reply to my email to you was a keeper. You really did take off the kid gloves.
HRL
Post Edited (2003-08-29 21:31)
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-08-29 16:23
Semantics has just got the head start....
David Dow
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Author: Brent
Date: 2003-08-29 17:43
In looking at the entire thread i would have to say that in most cases being left speechless was an involuntary response to the music. In a few, perhaps it is more a civilized person's choice to refrain from response...
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-08-29 18:14
I have always loved the Zen thought that can one hear the sound of one hand clapping?
David Dow
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Author: Keil
Date: 2003-08-29 20:30
Honestly, every faculty recital or concerto i've heard here at Florida State has proven to be quite a testiment of the quality of education and musicianship experienced here. I like to think of us as the Eastman of the South... but better ;-)
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Author: quido
Date: 2003-08-29 22:43
OMG!!!! Right after I graduated highschool my friend who worked at a radio station got me backstage passes to see N'SYNC's PopOdyssey tour at Comerica Park in Detroit in June or July of 2001. After the performance I got to meet J.C., Justin, and Lance! Holy crap I just about died. The experience changed my life forever!
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Author: CPW
Date: 2003-08-29 23:39
Way off in a different direction Butt........
Sigfried and Roy in Vegas....I was not prepared to even ejoy the show but 5 minutes into it ..it hit me...this is show biz in top form by top drawer entertainers...it was a night to marvel at. Showmanship par excellance.
Against the windmills of my mind
The jousting pole splinters
Post Edited (2003-08-29 23:57)
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2003-08-29 23:55
Some vocals.... submitted for your approval (apologies to rod serling)
A young Pavarotti in recital in Phila circa 1975. My first real introduction to songs rather than arias. His control was astounding...esp sotovoce pianissimo. I actually saw people in the audience cry.
Ditto for Dietrich Fischer-Deschau c. 1977.
Sherrill Milnes recital Pittsburgh Carnegie Mellon U. music hall.c. 1985
Beverly Sills with summertime Philly orch at the old robin hood dell. A duet with trumpeter Gil Johnson...Bach I think....and Anna Moffo did the same duet a few years earlier...both superb. Sung as the sun set over the Schulkyll river...visually perfect, the air was still and the music perfect.
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Author: John J. Moses
Date: 2003-08-30 05:23
John Coltrane, 1958 or '59, at the Minor Key jazz club in Detroit, unbelievable!
Buddy DeFranco, Eddie Daniels & Ronnie Odrich at the Newport Jazz Festival.
Miles Davis at Checker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit, unreal!
Playing with Frank Zappa at Aspen at the Mother Lode, very out!
Sorry I couldn't keep it to one, these guys were all so great.
JJM
Légère Artist
Clark W. Fobes Artist
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Author: jack
Date: 2003-08-31 04:52
Paquito d' Rivera and Paulo Sergio Santos together on a medley of mostly Pixinguinha "Choro" compositions at the 2000 fest at Univ of Oklahoma. I wasn't alone as the entire hall erupted in thunderous acclaim.
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Author: clarinet87
Date: 2003-08-31 20:07
Mike Cemprola performing on clarinet with the Atlee High School Wind Ensemble at Atlee High School in the spring of 2000. What an incredible sound he had!
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Author: Ed
Date: 2003-09-01 02:28
Two that come to mind are:
Drucker performing the Corigliano around 1982. Incredible.
Sonny Rollins at Caramoor a couple of years ago. Sonny ended the show with one of his calypso tunes- Duke of Iron. He went on chorus after chorus, must have played at least 15 minutes worth. Every time you thought he was at his peak, he would drive it to the next level. His band went right along driving each chorus. When he finally finished, the crowd exploded. He is one of the most amazing improvisers ever. His inventiveness is endless.
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Author: charlesmunden
Date: 2003-09-01 04:16
clarinet87 I was at that concert to, Mike is a good friend of mine, glad to see someone else enjoyed that concert.
charles
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Author: donald
Date: 2003-09-01 10:42
i've got to say that the most moving classical performance i've experienced was a perfomance of Shost 10th... but i was playing so wasn't really objective- i do admit to crying at the end of it all.
next to that (and sorry it's not a live performance)- i'd have to say that on the Hairy Jazz album by Shel Silverstein (also known as Uncle Shelby) clarinettist Joe Muranyi plays some mean licks.... i distincly remember the first time i heard "Go back where you got it last night" (at the age of 10) and was stunned by the clarinet solo. Many years later i have that same record (i rescued it from the public library when they dumped all the old vinyl) and to this day love that solo (indeed, the band for the whole album are great).
i have never heard anything else from Joe Muranyi, but his playing on this album is incredibly musical and stands out above performances by a lot of famous guys who bored me.
donald
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Author: Brianj
Date: 2003-09-03 00:41
The person who performed that "piece" for clarinet and tympani at the clarinetfest this year comes to mind. It left me, and many others, speechless, but not in a good way.
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Author: donald
Date: 2003-09-03 11:01
re the performance Brianj mentions- as a member of ICA it was embarrasing that members of the audience talked loudly during the performance. It seems that the rich have no shame (the people involved donate lots of money to clarinet events). Parade your ignorance if you must, but at least have the class to show that you're a "grown up" (and don't act like a 12 year old)
donald
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Author: Brianj
Date: 2003-09-03 12:41
Actually, my wife and I noticed that many people talked throughout many of the performances, inclulding James Campell's and Larry Comb's. I admit I was quite shocked. The one I mentioned earlier, I myself, was speechless. All kidding aside, I am not trying to mock the performer, who showed great technique, but multiphonic flutter toungueing on to a tympani head to me is not showing the clarinet in its' best light.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-09-03 13:41
Eddie Daniels with the Bartlesville Symphony 2001. David Shifrin with the OK Mozart orch and strings, BOTH the Mozart Concerto and Quintet !! 2002, [separately] . Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: john gibson
Date: 2003-09-04 03:55
Attachment: eddie daniels 013.jpg (60k)
The Who.....Filmore Auditorium....a month before Monterey Pop. Me and 200 other people in San Fran just watched in awe. I was elbow to elbow with Jerry Garcia (an old friend) and we just looked at each other and said..
"This is the greatest %^(^*%* performance ever!
Also........Eddie Daniels. I was amazed at his "range". February 2003. My daughter (31) took me for my birthday. I had my digital camera and said take a picture of me shaking Eddie's hand. She did!
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Author: john gibson
Date: 2003-09-04 04:16
Okay....one more.
I'm a talk show host in Phoenix. Five days after 9-11, KFYI sent me to NYC to "report"..."be there"....and do "shows". I'm there ten days at the New York Hilton....52nd and 6th. I'd have to check the date, and don't want to, but I think it was the 22nd September 2001. A memorial to "those"........
Shea Stadium.......I'd just started my talk show,.......and "had" to go to commericals because as I watched.....and listened in "one ear"....I heard the most beautiful voice I'd ever heard! The most beautiful song ever.
I had no clue who this bald headed guy wth the big ears was....just that I needed to find out. Did when I got back home. Asked listeners "who was that Guy?" RONAN TYNAN. The song "The Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears".
I finally found a copy of him singing it with the Irish Tenors. Then bought his book. I've never been so impressed with a human being in my life.
Great voice....wonderful attitude.....no legs.....and.....get the book.
john
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Author: Todd W.
Date: 2003-09-04 18:00
john --
Great picture! Love your hair. (But the makeup's a little much).
Todd W., ROTFLOL
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The Clarinet Pages
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