 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2005-12-05 13:50
I have a wonderful recording of Rachmaninov's 2nd symphony with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons. It was recorded in 1986. The clarinet playing is EXQUISITE! Anybody know who the clarinetist was in that recording?
And I might as well ask... what's your favourite recording of the clarinet solo in Rachmaninov's 2nd symphony?
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Author: toney
Date: 2005-12-05 15:18
I believe the clarinetist at the time would have been Michael Collins, as he held the principal clarinet position around that time period..........
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2005-12-05 16:57
toney, thanks for your reply. Strangely, I don't think this recording sounds like Michael Collins at all. I like Mr Collins's playing, but this is a very different sound. Who was principal in the Philharmonia before Michael Collins?
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Author: LarryBocaner ★2017
Date: 2005-12-05 17:25
I think it was Jack McCaw. I had the pleasure of meeting him when the Philharmonia played here in Washington at the Kennedy Center. His playing style was much more "true Brit" than Michael Collins'.
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Author: rbell96
Date: 2006-01-20 12:29
Hey
Sorry to bring this posting up again. I had a listen to the recording, which is excellent.
I had a word with my teacher, Michael Harris who was playing bass on the recording and he is pretty sure John McCaw was playing 1st clarinet. He said Rach 2nd is one of his party pieces!
Hope this helps,
Rob
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2006-01-20 12:51
Thanks Rob. Having listened to Mr McCaw's Mozart/Nielsen CD, I'm pretty sure it was him on the Rachmaninov recording. What a wonderful clarinetist. It's a pity he didn't make more solo recordings. Do you know of any other Philharmonia recrodings where he is featured?
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Author: toney
Date: 2006-01-20 17:53
John McCaw is , in my opinion, a very underrated clarinetist, be it in terms of British clarinetists or overall. His recording of the Mozart and Neilsen concertos are quite good, and many do not know that the recording of the Neilsen (at least to my knowledge) was done in just one take due to the fact that there was minimal recording time for the orchestra.
While I never had the opportunity to study with him (due to age difference), my teacher did and alsways spoke glowingly about both his playing as well as teaching itself. I do know that he has more solo recordings, possibly some chamber as well, but they are quite hard to find, and most are on ancient LP's whose labels may have been discontinued. They do however, pop up from time to time in the vast majority of London's used record shops, so if your resourceful enough to go look, you may find some more gems...........
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2006-01-20 18:47
Here is another one
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=4715
Just one song though:
La forza del destino: O, tu che in seno agli angeli
-S
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2006-01-20 20:59
McCaw did a great clarinet solo on a recording I've got of Nielsen's 5th Symphony. Wonderful sound and style! I really miss the old British sound back when they all played large-bore B&H clarinets.
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Author: kenb
Date: 2006-01-20 22:31
Dave, I think McCaw got his 'old British sound' on a set of R13s ....
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2006-01-21 01:06
Well, I guess if I were going to be wrong about something, I should be completely, 100% wrong! One of my favorite "Brit" players is a New Zealander, and got his "old British sound" on R-13s..........
![[frown]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie2.gif)
Guess I'll go crawl back into my cave now...............
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Author: Phurster
Date: 2006-01-21 01:56
I had the privilege of playing in a Master Class for him. He was a really pleasant old -school gentleman, with no trace of ego. The Clarinet he used was an R13 but he did play it with a large sound and a musical vibrato(for some reason he didn't like calling it vibrato) much in the style of some English players.
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Author: JessKateDD
Date: 2006-01-21 06:48
I generally don't buy recordings just for the clarinet playing. My favorite recording of Rachmaninov Sym. 2 is the 1956 mono recording of Kurt Sanderling with the Leningrad Philharmonic. I just put it on, and the clarinet tone is quite nice, though the high D isn't perfectly smooth on the big solo. Of course, back in 1956 they didn't do so many audio tricks that make modern players appear to be better than they actually are.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2006-01-21 07:25
"Of course, back in 1956 they didn't do so many audio tricks that make modern players appear to be better than they actually are."
Modern tricks that make players appear better than they are? What do you mean by that?
Even with the tons of use of EQ and, reverb, or any other effect, I always think players sound better live than on recordings. I've never heard a recording where the players sounded better than they sound live, but heard a lot where they sound worse.
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Author: JessKateDD
Date: 2006-01-21 08:45
Obviously I was speaking about eliminating technical mistakes. My apologies for your confusion.
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Author: crnichols
Date: 2006-01-21 09:42
I have to agree with clarnibass here that recordings don't help players sound better, actually the contrary. Until I heard German clarinet playing live, I thought it was ok, now I don't know why everyone doesn't want to sound like that. Also, until a few years ago, I'd only heard Ricardo Morales play on a recording in the MET orchestra under Levine, and I thought, he sounds very good. Then I heard him play the Brahms quintet at the Library of Congress, and a year later in the Philadelphia Orchestra (he played the 2nd Rachmaninov symphony, and I have to say that he's one of the best American clarinet players I've ever heard in person. After I first arrived over here to start working in Germany, I had only occasionally heard great orchestral concerts live. Now that I have periods of time where I'm not terribly busy, but still getting paid the same, I have the opportunity every week to go hear the Bamberger Symphoniker, and I'm still floored every week at how exciting it is to hear a live orchestra play. There was a point that I was having difficulty listening to recordings, as I was so used to the experience of the sound at a live concert, and that cannot be captured on a recording. Sometimes things may be a little out of tune, or an entrance not quite perfectly together, but feeling that sound envelope you, and really being drawn into it is so different from a recording.
Christopher Nichols
1st Infantry Division Band
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