 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Graham Elliott
Date: 1999-11-24 12:19
The prompt for this list if recordings came when Mark commented the other day on an Elgar recording from 1926 featuring impressive orchestral clarinet playing. Although it is probably uncertain whether the player was Charles Draper, that is the most likely attribution, and this might encourage people to check out the solo recordings of this magnificent player.
I will list the CD recordings such as I know them, followed by the recordings in my shellac collection which seem not to have made it to CD. If anyone knows differently, please let me know.
CDs:-
Mozart Quintet/Brahms Quintet 1928 with the Lener Quartet. Available on Pearl (GEMM CD 9903). Draper was just short of 60 when he recorded these.
The next two are compilations of many players of which Draper is only one.
The Clarinet Historical Recordings Vol.1
Mohr: Air Varie 1908
Weber: Concertino (abridged) 1906
Available on Clarinet Classics (CC0005)
Don't be put off by the early dates. The transfers are superb. The Mohr reveals the gutsy sound he could produce when required. The Weber is anarchic but brilliant tone.
The Clarinet Historical Recordings Vol. 2
Brahms Quintet (abridged, two movements represented) 1917
Home Sweet Home variations 1901/3
Sound on these is very poor in both cases, so this disc is really for the Draper devotee (apart from all the other players who may interest you, of course).
Shellac but not CD recordings:-
Schubert Octet complete, with Lener and others. This is the most wonderful playing I have ever heard, and it is a crime it is not on release.
Beethoven Septet (Lener and others). Perhaps a little idiosyncratic, but gives a good insight into Draper's personality.
Ravel Introduction etc, for Harp, clarinet etc. A very subtle account with some fantastic lower register tone.
You may gather that I am enthusiastic about the playing of Charles Draper. I urge you to give it a try.
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Author: ted
Date: 1999-11-24 12:55
I have both Historical Recordings CDs. I assume you also like Kell. My teacher responded after listening to my CDs that Draper's playing was much like Kell's.
Actually my teacher was most impressed with Frederick Thurston. He commented that Thurston's tone, intonation, and technique were excellant. (My teacher is very sensitive to intonation problems especially with pros). He enjoyed both Hamelin's and Goodman's Premiere Rhapsodie. Though not a Kell fan, he thought Kell's playing in the piece with the soprano (the name escapes me at the moment) was great.
I am curious concerning your opinions of some of the other performers on these CDs.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 1999-11-24 13:25
I personally do not like the few Kell recordings I have heard; however, recordings may not do justice to his music making abilities.
Graham,
What are the dates on the shellac recordings? There's a possibility that they are public domain if they're very early ones.
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Author: Graham Elliott
Date: 1999-11-24 14:17
I will try to find out the exact dates of the shellac stuff, but they are all electrical recordings which puts them later than 1925, and my guess is they are late 20s/early 30s.
I like Thurston's playing, although there seems to be so little of it on record (even shellac). He is heard at his best in the 1930s/40s BBC Symphony Orchestra recordings in my view.
I also like Kell, but his style is quite a departure from Draper and Thurston in my opinion. Draper plays with a very sustained sound, whilst Kell moves the sound around alot, and of course uses vibrato, unlike Draper.
The soprano recording is probably Shepherd on the Rock. I have the later version on shellac and the earlier one on CD. I agree with Ted that this is a marvelous account, but whilst I do admire Kell a great deal, it is Draper that I like the most.
Of the other performances on these discs I like a good deal and find quite a bit disappointing. Goodman in the Premier Rhapsody is lovely, and Cahulzac (right spelling?) is spell binding.
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Author: Dee
Date: 1999-11-24 23:58
Also at one time, recordings of compositions that were already in the public domain could not be copyrighted. However that changed a couple of decades ago.
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