 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2005-12-16 14:06
There are people who have contributed great things to the art of playing the clarinet and to the instrument itself, so I was thinking we should mention some of them. I'll just mention a few and then let you guys mention (or ditto) some more.
Frank Kaspar--obviously for his mouthpieces, and then there would be the people of our generation who are also making great contributions to this field like Gregory Smith, Brad Behn, Walter Grabner and Morrie Backun.
Then there are up and coming barrel makers like Alseg, Kudos, Allan. And, of course, there's Morrie Backun and his work with barrels.
Post Edited (2005-12-16 14:14)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: vjoet
Date: 2005-12-16 14:55
I'd like to add to this list:
1. Thomas Ridenour for his ATG reed system.
2. Omar Henderson for his Power Barrel. (Personally I think its name is a misnomer: Resonance barrel is a better description. I tried 14 barrels from many makers, and this one is positively wonderful, in resonance, intonation and tone quality.)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-12-16 15:06
Brenda, you are taking on a big job to try to detail our many clarinet "contributors. With little thot, I'd suggest categorizing, possibly by centuries, as Al Rice has done via Baroque, Classical, and [hopefully] "modern" and Rendall, History TO and FROM 1800. Other authors have prob. done similarly. Of more recent vintage, 1950 +?, I'd suggest Carree, L Leblanc, Stubbins to start with. More? Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-12-16 15:12
To keep this thread strictly on track:
Name, short description of why you think they should be on the list.
No 'I agree with [ whoever ] ' posts; if you disagree, describe why.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: mnorswor
Date: 2005-12-16 15:30
Kal Opperman - player, pedagogue, barrel maker, mouthpiece maker, master craftsman and dear friend
Richard Stoltzman - player, teacher, pioneer, thinker outside the box that is most clarinet playing, and dear friend
Morrie Backun - player, master craftsman, good friend
Kari Kriikku - player, pedagogue, defender and advocate for the music of our time
Elsa Verdehr - player, pedagogue and dear friend
Mike Lowenstern - player, pedagogue, thinks outside the box and advocates for new possibilities with his many wonderful projects and thoughts on bass clarinet palying.
Tony Pay - player, pedagogue, friend and helper to countless thousands on the klarinet pages and list
Just to name a few,
Michael
http://www.michaelnorsworthy.com
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: GBK
Date: 2005-12-16 15:49
Dr Omar Henderson - for combining science and research to improve the clarinet and its related products.
Tom Ridenour - for outlining the principals of clarinet playing and compiling a comprehensive fingering text
David Hite - for mouthpiece design and the re-publication/re-editing of important clarinet study material
Stanley Drucker - for setting the standard for longevity and consistancy of orchestral playing
...GBK
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-12-16 16:40
Mark Charette for hosting this board and the Klarinet Newsgroup thus expanding the Clarinet dialog worldwide in a "live and real time setting".
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-12-16 17:38
Tictac, - Isn't that George Bundy, and Vito Pascucci, cant recall Buffet's B series maker or Yamaha's. Important patents, [and their products] were issued to Rosario Mazzeo, Zinner-Hall, Yamargo of Yamaha and many others. No end of contributions, guys ! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: larryb
Date: 2005-12-16 18:18
Mozart - for establishing the clarinet as an orchestral, chamber and solo instrument and composing its greatest music
Post Edited (2005-12-16 18:19)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: FrankM
Date: 2005-12-16 18:42
Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman for making the clarinet a popular instrument
Eddie Daniels, Buddy Defranco and Ken Peplowski for keeping the flame alive
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David Peacham
Date: 2005-12-16 18:44
Acker Bilk. He may have contributed nothing to the art and science of the instrument, but he deserves to be on the list just for making people listen to the clarinet, and want to play it. I am truly sorry to write that, but it is probably true. (And before our moderators say so, let's not turn this thread into a Bash Bilk Fest.)
-----------
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.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2005-12-16 18:50
I was thinking "modern" people, so we don't go way back to Mozart--although why restrict? So whenever they lived or live, mention them. And, since we're mentioning Mozart--MOZART!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ned
Date: 2005-12-16 18:52
''Eddie Daniels, Buddy Defranco and Ken Peplowski for keeping the flame alive''
Dodds, Lewis, Bigard, Simeon, Nicholas...et..al...for lighting the flame in the first instance.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2005-12-16 19:18
Gustave Langenus: Player and teacher; his methods, transcriptions and pedagogy.
Bob Phillips
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Gandalfe
Date: 2005-12-16 20:59
Pete Fountain: A pied piper for some of us...
Jim and Suzy
Pacifica Big Band
Seattle, Washington
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2005-12-16 21:07
Hi,
Three individuals (Mazzeo, Stubbins, and McIntyre) share the honor IMHO of trying to find a better Bb.
HRL
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Iacuras
Date: 2005-12-16 21:44
Don Byron- for keeping the jazz clarinet flame going
Steve
"If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate you, you probably have a very easy job. The kind robots will be doing soon."
"If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly."
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Alseg
Date: 2005-12-17 00:43
Larry Guy....for compiling and making available the great sounds of Bonade and McLane, who set the standards.
Kudos to those whose great playing is heard by broad audiences... Julian Bliss (the next generation of soloists), Martin Frost, Sabine Meyer (as Rampal did--and Galway does --for flute)
Unsung heroes who recently passed... Abe Galper, Herb Blayman, etc.
Teachers who have trained the present generation..David Weber, Don Montanaro
Those who inspire orchestrally in the present day: Burt Hara, Mike Rusinek, Mark Nuccio, Todd Levy. Some who may not be known widely, but who have influence or will have influence. MEC and RM --you know who you are.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: RodRubber
Date: 2005-12-17 06:07
Anthony Gigliotti - one of the best of all time.
Johny Blee-Johnie - a forgotten master, one of the best sounds i have ever heard. His joint recitals with brother terence are legendary throughout rural france. Their playing could really put sheep to sleep.
Best -
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-12-17 15:31
For those that are wondering where their posts have gone - let's keep this one thread serious, shall we?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: clarnibass
Date: 2005-12-17 17:21
Mentioning only clarinet players here, I thank the ones that are the most inspiring to me, and listening to their music leads me into new musical ways and finiding my own musical way. They are Giora Feidman, Benny Goodman, Eric Dolphy, Louis Sclavis and Ned Rothenberg.
Post Edited (2005-12-17 17:23)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Katrina
Date: 2005-12-18 16:40
Ivo Papazov: for sheer technical skill combined with some of the most amazing music ever!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ClariBone
Date: 2005-12-18 16:54
Someone above mentioned Carree, but not his contribution. So,
Carree - polycylindrical bore
Clayton
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Brandon
Date: 2005-12-18 17:03
How could we go for so many threads and not have:
Karl Leister- arguably the finest clarinetist of the twentieth century.
Fritz and Herbert Wurlitzer- designer of the world's finest clarinets(imho).
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Liquorice
Date: 2005-12-18 22:42
"Karl Leister- arguably the most boring clarinetist of the twentieth century."
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Merlin
Date: 2005-12-18 22:57
Steve Fox - for actually implementing Benade's theories
Jimmy Hamilton - one of the best, but least lauded jazz clarinetists
Eric Dolphy - for putting the bass clarinet on the map in jazz
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: CPW
Date: 2005-12-19 00:05
Harold Wright, who proved that vibrato ain't all that bad.
Aker Bilk, who proved that it is.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tom Puwalski
Date: 2005-12-19 00:37
Author: Liquorice (---.adslplus.ch)
Date: 2005-12-18 22:42
"Karl Leister- arguably the most boring clarinetist of the twentieth century."
Ok, this is totally off base. Liquorice, have you heard his "Solo" CD, where he plays just about anything unaccompanied that has been written for the clarinet in the last 100 years. He plays the crap out of everything on that CD. Pieces I bet 3/4s of the list readers haven't heard, let alone played. So I would like to pose a these general questions to the readers of this list, to answer if you will, before you say something so blatantly ignorant.
1. What pieces have you performed lately, not in a practice room, not for your teacher but for an audience of more than 5 people not biologically related to you
2. What pieces have you recorded, and are willing to share with world. solo, with piano or any larger ensemble, let alone major orchestras around the world.
3. What ensemble have you played with for 30+ years where you worked with great musicians and conductors.
4. what outstanding contribution have you made to your own playing lately, lets forget anyone else's.
A performer like Carl Leister is perfectly capable of playing any piece of music any way he wants to, I wish I could say that about my own playing, can you say that about yours? AND he does it an Ohler system, that to quote Ginger Rogers when compared to Fred Astaire said that she did everything he did, "Backward and in heals". Posting something as ill considered as you did, is more of a reflection of your knowledge, artistry and skill on the Clarinet than it has to do with Carl Leister's clarinet playing.
Tom Puwalski, former soloist with the US Army Field Band, Clarinetist with Lox&Vodka, and Author of "The Clarinetist's Guide to Klezmer"and most recently by the order of the wizard of Oz, for supreme intelligence, a Masters in Clarinet performance
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Brandon
Date: 2005-12-19 00:39
"Karl Leister- arguably the most boring clarinetist of the twentieth century."
If boring means playing every note evenly with class, then give me boring any day. If boring means never playing hide and seek within an ensemble, then give me boring. If boring means not pinching the sound, then give me boring. Some clarinetists forget that they are "class"ical artists first. Too bad class has become the exception rather than the rule.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: bass9396
Date: 2005-12-19 00:45
Tom is exactly right Liquorice. Next time you want to call someone boring, make sure you're better than them first.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: larryb
Date: 2005-12-19 00:56
Donald Martino, for his many new compositions for clarinet as well as publishing old Italian opera transcriptions by the likes of Lovreglio, Cavallini, etc.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: super20dan
Date: 2005-12-19 00:59
henry questa -for making watching larwence welk with my grandmother bearable. arnold bhrilhart -for the rico metalite clarinet mpc-take that you asleep at the switch sound man!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-12-19 03:21
Tom Puwalski wrote:
>
Tom,
Calm down. Just because there's someone you happen to admire doesn't mean everyone has to admire them. Neither does everyone have to "prove" they are the equal of that person to have their own personal thoughts. It's just an opinion, for gawds sake; they're not taking anything away from you. If we all held the same opinions it would be a boring world indeed.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-12-19 03:22
bass9396 wrote:
> Tom is exactly right Liquorice. Next time you want to call
> someone boring, make sure you're better than them first.
That's BS. I think Warhol is a boring painter. I'm not better than Warhol. So what?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: mkybrain
Date: 2005-12-19 03:40
I agree with Harold Wright. I am stunned every time I listen to him.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tom Puwalski
Date: 2005-12-19 04:03
Yea warhol isn't my cup of tea when looking at painting. But on a thread for Outstanding contribution to painting, is saying so a contribution? I would argue that on such a forum a serious discussion of the merrits of his style, tenique and subject selection would be a worthwhile endever.
I think in any creative activity, there is this circle, to get into it you have enough control, technique, tonal flexibility and for lack of a better word "artistry", to play a piece of music exactly the way you hear it in your head. When Leister plays, to my ears, he's in that circle, he isn't the only one, but he's not fighting the clarinet, reeds mouthpieces and all the other stuff we discuss, he plays. It's my hulucination that he understands music on a core level and executes it exactly acording to his plans. If I would chose to do it differently then we could discuss what those differences would and should be, based on what emperical evidedance we would chose to use.
If Leister's recording of the Mozart Concerto is "Boring", how do we describe the Marcellus version? Sublime?
Tom Puwalski, former soloist with the US Army Field Band, Clarinetist with Lox&Vodka, and Author of "The Clarinetist's Guide to Klezmer"and most recently by the order of the wizard of Oz, for supreme intelligence, a Masters in Clarinet performance
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Liquorice
Date: 2005-12-19 07:31
Sorry- my comment was a bit flippant- I wrote my post late last night after a few festive beers.
But I do find Leister musically boring. I remember hearing his Brahms Quintet live in Salzburg. When he started playing the first ascending arpeggio my mouth dropped, because I couldn't believe that it was possible to make such a beautiful tone on a clarinet. Unfortunately he used this same tone for the next 40 minutes, and I nearly fell asleep.
Regarding the "Solo" CD of Leister, I disagree that he plays "just about anything unaccompanied that has been written for the clarinet in the last 100 years." There is a notable lack of any really difficult pieces from the 20th century. He plays no Stockhausen, no Boulez, no Jarrell, and the Berio piece that he chooses is the easiest that there is. Just another piece to show off his gorgeous tone.
I feel no need to defend my own "knowledge, artistry and skill". My own recordings are also available if you're really interested in listening. Besides which, it's just my own opinion, although I know several other famous clarinet players who would agree with me!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Phurster
Date: 2005-12-19 11:20
Antony Pay: Brilliant on a modern instrument. Amazing on a "clas sical" one.
Robert Caree: Great Bore designs.
Karl Leister:An Idillic conception of Clarinet tone.
Charles Niedich: Unusual tone, lightening but different articulation, weird interpretations, and yet i find it interesting.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Sylvain
Date: 2005-12-19 11:52
All unknown high school clarinet teachers who have inspired so many to learn and better their skills on the instrument. They are the true contributors.
Bonade and McGinnis who are the ancestor teachers of so many professional in the US.
The Paris Conservatory for so many inspiring teachers and the "solo de concours" pieces
Robert Spring for showing us that circular breathing and multiple tonguing is not restricted to brass players.
Goodman for commissioning so many great works.
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tom Puwalski
Date: 2005-12-19 12:13
Licourice, email me the names of your CDs. I have been listening to tons of clarinet stuff, and since retirement and graduation, I will find and I will listen.
" I know several other famous clarinet players who would agree with me!" I know a few that wouldn't.
I have opinions on stuff, I actually prefer Frank Cohen's recording of the Mozart, to Marcellus's. To MY ear it's more expressive and I really like his take on extended clarinet parts. I know I speak heresy here. I can hear it now, how could anyone possible think that? If I were stuck on a desert island and I could only have one CD of K622, It would be Colin Lawson's, because he makes it sound "Fun", to me. I wouldn't go so far as to say, "he's a fun player"
"But, that's just my opinion America...." the words of Dennis Miller, before being seduced by the dark side.
Tom Puwalski, former soloist with the US Army Field Band, Clarinetist with Lox&Vodka, and Author of "The Clarinetist's Guide to Klezmer"and most recently by the order of the wizard of Oz, for supreme intelligence, a Masters in Clarinet performance
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-12-19 12:27
--------------------------------
Liquorice wrote:
My own recordings are also available if you're really interested in listening. Besides which, it's just my own opinion, although I know several other famous clarinet players who would agree with me!
----------------------------------
Ok Liquorice, who are you so I can check out your recordings 
ya got a link?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-12-24 02:40
I just bought at ITUNES Capriccio Espagnol with Lorin Maazel and Berlin - I'd thing that it would have been Leister playing it, and it was WEAK.
was very surprized by it actually - figured he would have nailed the solos much, much better.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ed
Date: 2005-12-24 13:05
Everett Matson- set the standard for quality mouthpiece work. He was not just a refacer, but a true artist and master craftsman. He was one of the great heros of the clarinet mouthpiece. His wealth of knowledge on the effects of the dimensions of the baffle, bore, and chamber was amazing. He worked on mouthpieces for the top clarinetists including Stanley Drucker, Harold Wright, Eddie Daniels, Ron Rueben, and scores of others as well as countless amateur players and unknowns. He was generous with his time and knowledge and would share what he learned in years of crafting. You will not find his name on a mouthpiece, yet his work and influence is everywhere. Countless craftsmen today learned some pearl of wisdom from him. Many commercially available mouthpieces owe elements of their design to him. In addition, he was a wonderful person and true gentleman. He was someone with whom you could enjoy sharing a good story, a laugh and a glass of scotch.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: sherman
Date: 2005-12-25 02:41
I think of four great contributions to the clarinet, all tfour having advanced the technic, the capability and the expressive power of the instrumentAlban Berg for "Vier Stucke, a wonderfully neo-expressive work;Arnold Schoenberg for "Pierrot Lunair" in which many 20th century tecnics are expressed with both clarinet and bass clarinet; Bela Bartok for "The Contrasts", long considered one of the more daring works to perform: Olivier Messiaen for "La Quatour Pour La Fin du Temps", taking the clarinet further into the realm of birds and extreme dynamics within a work written in the most trying circumstances.
For clarinetist, of course Benny Goodman, who commissioned many classical works for the instrument (including "Contrasts", and the Copland Concerto) basically a jazz player who delved deeply into classical music, played it, studied it,commissioned for it and loved it.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ghuba
Date: 2005-12-25 12:13
A few more, not mentioned yet, or in my view deserving further mention ...
Sherman Friedland for sharing the insights of a lifetime of playing and teaching clarinet using writings that illustrate common sense, a love of continuing exploration, and the joy all can experience from the instrument.
Benny Goodman for being the first American popular music superstar and cultural icon (and STILL on the cover of The Clarinet, as we see this month!).
Dr. Michael White for continuing a wonderful New Orleans tradition of the instrument as a storyteller and improvising "voice" of the most joyous and most sorrowful of emotions.
That unmentionable Internet auction site for equalizing access to the historical horns -- the old Buffets and Leblanc LLs and Selmer Ks and Balanced Tones and Centered Tones and metal clarinets and Mazzeos and Stubbins and McIntyres -- and the mythical mouthpieces and odd ligatures. This permits all of us to learn the history of the equipment by experiencing the instruments of an earlier era.
Mazzeo, Stubbins, and the McIntyre Brothers for applying ingenuity and a love of the clarinet in the attempt to develop a more perfect design; may others continue the development with their passion.
Contributors to this and similar web sites who share insights, experiences, history, and a joy of playing with all readers in a way that removes artificial boundaries of geography, experience level, age, income, level of performance ability, and other access issues. May the sharing continue.
George
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Alseg
Date: 2005-12-25 17:16
Yes. Dr. White.
He played the invocation at my son's graduation from Tulane. It was A Closer Walk With Thee....not a dry eye in the house.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: thechosenone
Date: 2005-12-29 03:27
ricardo morales...no one is more inspiring, elevating the art of clarinet playing
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bassie
Date: 2006-01-03 10:47
- Mozart, for giving the instrument respect
- Benny Goodman, for playing it
- Sax, for doing work on the Bass, for expanding the range of the single reed without hurting its original incarnation too much, and also just for being a *real* famous Belgian (Poirot and Tintin don't count)
- Crusell, Weber, and all other composers who've understood something of what the instrument is about, beyond just being an unusual flavour in the bag of jellybeans that is the modern orchestra.
- The various Vandorens, for their mass-production of decent reeds and mouthpieces, just as full of character, quirks and frustration as any others despite their rigid uniformity :-D
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
