 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2006-12-10 18:32
I just got my Nuccio CD, available on Dorian label.
Mozart and Brahms quintets.
The recording is from a live concert, but I was not aware of an audience until the close of the Mozart. I would have guessed it was a studio recording, so the mic placement and venue environment are quite good.
The program notes refer to the autumnal nature of both pieces. This mood is conveyed, but the Mozart is of course bouyant with joyful portions poking up all along the wooded pathway.
Nuccio's sound in the lendler portion is especially ringing. A cheerful clarion with added brightness but no brashness. His low tones are full, focused, with no huffiness. The interplay with the strings suggests close relationships and mutual understanding. The string players represent top members of the NYPhil. Obviously ensemble play is paramount....and well achieved.
The Brahms is deeper than deep. Resolve, resignation, but a glimmer of satisfaction......Brahms drank the fine old brandy....it is gone, but the memory sustains him. I suspect there was much agonizing over how to convey this. It is also easy to lose the clarinet line in this work, or worse, to overstate it.......here, the balance is spot on. It is totally cohesive and emotionally draining.
I once heard that Eskimos have 21 different ways of describing snow....whether there is a glaze, or crunch, or powder, etc.
We do not have that type of language to convey a clarinet sound.
Using words like dark or bright or fat somehow does not mean the same to all of us.
To remark on Nuccio's sound it is important to note that he exhibits different qualities at different times. The clarion in the Mozart is different in Brahms. Clearly he is flexible. Darkish...yes, but not without some flash in the sound. Clearly you can hear the Marcellus heritage, but I never heard these works done by Marcellus, so how do you compare?
I think the words rich, warm, focused, burnished, and glowing are as good as I can summon and leave it at that.
Great recording. Worth having in anyone's library.
Would also go well with a VSOP and a Cohiba.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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