 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2005-11-04 20:28
Hi all,
I just thought I'd share my latest clarinet related experience with you. So Stoltzman is in town (Pittsburgh) to play a new concerto written for him and the PYSO by David Stock tomorrow. So he came over to our school (CMU) and conducted an hour masterclass. The first player, a friend of mine prepared the Rossini and Stoltzman really had is way with him (he played it well, but Mr. Stoltzman really gave him a LOT of good advice). The second player is a first year grad student who is here studying with Mike Rusinek. He did his "undergrad" at Curtis. Phenomenal player. He played the Bassi Rigoletto (I think that's it? A real virtuoso piece). What an amazing performance! Stoltzman only commented twice. One was about his movement, how he shouldn't move around so much when he played (innapropriately with the music) and the second was that he should breathe more because he would take big breaths that were kind of distracting. Come to find out he was circular breathing. It was an amazing performance and Stoltzman seemed a little stunned. To be perfectly honest I was a little taken aback that they didn't let someone else who could use his input more play something for him.
What struck me most about Stoltzman was the fact that he was so candid and laid back. He didn't really show arrogance or an overbearing mentality that he knew he was one of the masters of the 20th century (albeit the discrepencies in his tone among the clarinet philology).
What a great experience. Got him to sign my copy of his CD with the Copland, Stravinsky, Corigliano and Bernstein on it. Nice guy. Looking forward to the concert tomorrow, if I can make it. If anyone else is going to be there, shoot me an e-mail!
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2005-11-05 02:31
Great report.
thank you.
I did a master class with Reginald Kell --he didn't perform anything, but demonstrated on his Boosey-Hawks. In one hour, I learned to play pianissimissimo!
Keep a look out, all; and do these.
Bob Phillips
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Author: Bellflare
Date: 2005-11-05 12:46
What did the faculty think of the class?
Stoltzman is doing a premier by composer Stock, right? (read it somewhere) It is being done with a youth symphony. How did the youth symph land RS? Hows come one of the PSO playahs not doing the honors. Hmmmmmmm.
Where is Grissom from CSI when ya need him?
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Author: vjoet
Date: 2005-11-05 13:24
Wow! Had I known Stoltzman was in Pittsburg, I'd have driven the 8 hours to attend the class and the premier. When Lester was touring the various schools earlier this year, I was so involved with work that there wasn't a chance of getting away. But that's different now, so if we can have advance notice postings about such on this BB, that'd be helpful.
Who was the grad student whose playing pleased Stoltzman? (I could be a name worth watching for.)
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-11-05 14:52
vjoet wrote:
> But that's different now, so if we can have advance notice
> postings about such on this BB, that'd be helpful.
Check the calendar on the upper right for upcoming events ... if someone sends an announcement to announcements@woodwind.org it'll get posted there (it gets updated about once a week, so send in the announcements early).
Upcoming events go in the calendar, not on the BBoard.
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Author: FrankM
Date: 2005-11-05 16:03
I envy you attending Stoltzman's master class. I heard him do the Copeland last month and his command and musicality was something to behold. He played from memory, and it gave the feeling of a jazz concert....as if he was improvising all of it ! He gave a short talk to interested audience members before the performance and he seemed like a friendly personable guy. I also envy someone with the ability to stand up and play for someone of his caliber is a room full of...well, lets say, a group which is probably a little more critical than the average audience !
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2005-11-05 16:12
It was indeed a great experience. The audience consisted of myself, about a dozen other clarinetists (all of the grad students and, I think, all of the undergrads too), the two players with the PSO, Mike Rusinek and Tommy Thompson, and the minor teacher, Diane or Diedra or something like that. The grad student's name is Martin (he's Russian; accent on the second syllable)...I don't recall his last name but when I do find it out, I'll post something (the next time I go to an orchestra concert and get a program). The Fantasia di Concerto was played amazingly. There were times that he'd be playing and I'd laugh to myself because I don't know how he did it....it was that good.
Beats me how the PYSO landed Stoltzman. Nor do I know why Rusinek isn't playing it. It's not like he can't handle it, the man soloed on Nielsen when he was 16.
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-11-05 23:06
Stoltzman is a draw, Rusinek though a better player (imho) isn't nearly as much.
Also Michael did solo the Copland with Pitt just a couple of years ago!
Stoltzman is world renounded - Rusinek is known to Clarinetists worldwide (I'd hope), but not a concert draw like Stoltzman is.
Stoltzman is the most well known Clarinetist alive to the public.
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2005-11-05 23:51
Well put. Well, I went to the concert today and it was...umm....something. David Stock's piece, the Clarinet Concerto, was very "Corigliano-esque," at least that was my first impression. Then I thought about it and the concerto was very much like that of Elliott Carter. A lot of jumping around all of the registers with a lot of altissimo jumps in some odd places. The piece was played extraordinarily. The accompaniment was decent, I suppose. But as you may be able to tell from the tome of this message, I wasn't all that fond of it. If you've read some of my earlier posts, you know that I love new music: I love Bassett's music, Corigliano, Carter, Takemitsu, Blank, Muczynski, et al. But the concerto, while not a dissapointment by any stretch of the mind, was another contemporary concerto. If you put someone in a room and asked them to tell the difference between this and Carter, they wouldn't be able to. I was talking with a friend of mine who played the bass clarinet part in the PYSO and we decided it was a 7 out of 10.
The reason that they were able to get Stoltzman to come and do this is because Stoltzman is a very (25 years) good friend of Stock. Stock is the resident composer for the PSO (in some capacity) and that connection was enough to get him here...plus he champions new music and youth performers and this is right up that alley.
Yep, your right, David, Rusinek is, imho, a better player (Better tone, et al.) but again, as you say, Stoltzman is about the most well recognized clarinetist alive. Nice reputation to have, I must say. Rusinek is doing Mozart this season. Looking forward to that (albeit the fact that it's Mozart...again).
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2005-11-06 07:40
Sabine Meyer is much better known than Stolzman in Europe (thank heavens!)
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Author: BobD
Date: 2005-11-06 15:50
Sabine is not as world renounded as Stoltzman is.....or Lester either, for that matter.
Bob Draznik
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Author: BelgianClarinet
Date: 2005-11-06 18:10
Liquorice,
don't argue. When reading this BB I get the impression that Van Doren already decided long time ago that the US don't count.
They only send their low quality reeds to the colonies, and keep the best for us ?
:-)
Peter
PS.
I knew both Stolzman and Sabine, but ... for some reason (European ? :-) ) preferred Sabine.
Post Edited (2005-11-06 21:20)
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