 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bill
Date: 1999-03-16 20:39
The Spring issue of the English magazine, International Classical Record Collector, has a good article on Reginald Kell and his recordings.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 1999-03-17 02:45
In a liner note of his CD,I read he spoke 'If Hefetz can fly,I do!" In a liner note of a Harold Wright a violinist said "Heifetz is a Harold Wright of violin."
In Kell's days,UK was abundant with Kell(Leon Goosens(oboe) and Dennis Brein(Horn).
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 1999-03-17 02:46
In a liner note of his CD,I read he spoke 'If Hefetz can fly,I do!" In a liner note of a Harold Wright a violinist said "Heifetz is a Harold Wright of violin."
In Kell's days,UK was abundant with Kell(Leon Goosens(oboe) and Dennis Brein(Horn).
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Author: Bill
Date: 1999-03-17 17:30
The article states how Kell was highly influenced by the vocal playing style of the LPO oboist, Leon Goosens. In the same issue, Jack Brymer writes that listening to Goosens brought a revelation that a wind instrument could be as flexible as the human voice. Kell developed a cantabile style, unprecedented in classical clarinet playing, that "involved a judicious use of vibrato, colour, rubato, and inflexion." I think this ties in, Hiroshi, with your posting about practicing arias.
BTW, I hadn't known that Kell gave private lessons when he moved to the states and one of his pupils (for a while at least) was Benny Goodman.
Bill
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 1999-03-18 19:08
Bill wrote:
*** BTW, I hadn't known that Kell gave private lessons when he moved to the states and one of his pupils (for a while at least) was Benny Goodman.
Bill -
I am told that Benny Goodman idolized Reginald Kell. When Kell came to the U.S., Goodman took some lessons from him and even converted to the large-bore Boosey & Hawkes clarinets. B&H used smooth bands on the barrel, the top of the lower joint and the top of the bell. I have a Goodman album where the cover photo shows those smooth bands.
Everyone who has spoken about the subject says Kell was only a middling teacher. Everything came so easily to him that he never had to think it through so that he could describe it in detail, and he could not understand how anyone could have trouble with what was easy to him. Also, he much perferred to go fishing. He apparently took some beginning to intermediate students. I was in college with one of them, and he played the B&H instruments -- not particularly well, as I recall.
Kell apparently retired completely and sold his instruments before he came to the U.S. (although I later read that he had returned to England and joined a new orchestra, the Virtuoso Orchestra of London). I met him at an MENC convention in Charlotte in, I think, 1960, at the B&H exhibit. I asked him to play something, but he said he didn't play at all any more. Actually, he did noodle a bit, but only pianissimo.
I learned most of the basic repertory from Kell's recordings. I listen through the mannerisms and appreciate his incredible expressiveness and technical perfection. His Weber Grand Duo is the only recording that, IMHO, captures the lusty, out-of-doors, operatic quality of the piece, and his Debussy Rapsodie is the standard by which I measure all others.
No flames, please. It's my opinion. With so many poker-faced finger-jocks around, who haven't played a note of music in their lives, I prefer to listen to someone who plays real phrases and expresses real emotions.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 1999-03-24 01:30
Ken:
He was like Ravel.He also extinguished his power(not talent,I think) when he became old(maybe 60's).
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Author: Lani
Date: 2005-12-08 23:56
Hello,
I've just read through all the old posts on Reginald Kell I could find.
Looking for some feedback.
I've listened to samples of the major clarinet repetoires he's recorded (6-CD Decca Album - via Amazon).
He has a lovely musicality and makes the clarinet sing ("don't mention vibrato, I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it" to re-quote Fawlty)
... but my teacher would kill me if I 'interpreted' the timing so freely and loosely, especially on these classical pieces.
Any thoughts?
I would love to buy the CD pack because it covers so many pieces that are hard to track down but I don't want his interpretation, especially timing and vibrato, to put me off playing it 'straight' ...
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Author: BobD
Date: 2005-12-09 14:44
During my youth in the late 30s Reginald Kell was "it" as far as classical clarinet was concerned. I've always admired his playing and still do. I also admire Ken's final comment above.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Bob A
Date: 2005-12-09 15:41
Bob D & Ken Shaw--Boy are you 'older' guys getting touchy!. Ha! HA!
I also thought Kell was the greatest and while in England tried to play like him. Soon gave up as could never master it.
Bob A
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2005-12-09 16:06
Lessee,
I don't know my Kell bio too well, but he did give a masters' class at Sacramento State College in like 1960.
I recall him talking about having a great technician to keep your clarinet working in top form. Then, he dissassembled his B&H and tossed the sections into a briefcase and left the room. I had just bought my Buffet F/B and was appalled.
Biggest thing I got from that class was the motivation to play pppp. That was very difficult for me.
Bob Phillips
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Author: David Niethamer
Date: 2005-12-10 03:41
< With so many poker-faced finger-jocks around, who haven't played a note of < music in their lives, I prefer to listen to someone who plays real phrases and < expresses real emotions.
Aw, c'mon Ken - stop beating around the bush and tell us how you **REALLY** feel!!! ;-)
The 6 CD DG set of Kell is really great - all of his American recordings, beautifully remastered in one set.
There is also a neat CD from Clarinet Classics which I just reviewed for "The Clarinet" - "Swing Low Sweet Clarinet: Reginald Kell and his Quiet Music" Some duplication of the DG set, but a lot of broadcast stuff from WWII and just after that is very charming.
DN
David
niethamer@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/index.html
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Author: graham
Date: 2005-12-12 10:54
If Kell played a B&H it was only for a short period and never when in his prime. He generally played a Hawkes & Son instrument which had a much narrower bore than a 1010 (probably 14.8 or 14.9 mm).
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-12-12 20:01
The Clarinet had a cover story on Kell several years ago. I haven't read it lately, but I remember it said that Kell's clarinets were probably "False Martels," and that he was never satisfied with anything else when they wore out, though he played B&H as the closest thing he could find. Certainly he worked for B&H around 1960. For more, see http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=49050&t=48962, where it's noted that the False Martels were stenciled "Hawkes."
A later multi-part biography in The Clarinet said that Kell suffered from Alzheimer's for several years before his death.
David - As for players who never make a mistake and never make a note of music, I can think of a major symphony player who's unapproachable in the orchestra but an unsatisfying soloist. If you like, email me privately and I'll name the name.
Ken Shaw
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Author: graham
Date: 2005-12-13 10:35
I think the "false" relates to the "Martel" aspect. Post WW1 Hawkes instruments were probably made by Hawkes themselves and are not reckoned to be as good as Martels. The Hawkes stamp on these later instruments describes the company as a "maker" which it does not do in the pre WW1 era. I tried out one such myself once and it was no were near as good as my Martel. However, I bought a single piece full Boehm cocus wood Hawkes from the same period and it plays very well, and I suspect that this one was indeed made by another maker and not by Hawkes.
Kell's clarinets are now in a museum in Scotland.
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