 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jsc
Date: 2009-03-23 05:56
I've recently had some great musical moments. At times like this, I feel an urge to really dig into my practicing (maybe close to what it was in college in intensity, if not in hours) and really develop a better sound and technique. What artists do you listen to and set as examples for your own playing? I've also, just listened to samples of Kalman Bloch. Wow! Great stuff.
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Author: Dr_Klarinette
Date: 2009-03-23 09:14
There are many clarinettists who have great tones on his/her instrument...
My favourite is Harold Wright, and David Shiffrin is also great.
Ja ja Herr Karl Leister, no question.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-03-23 13:40
Dr. Klarinette, you just mentioned three players that have totally different tone qualities. All very nice, I agree, but totally different. I don't have a favorite players tone quality, there are a great many that I like and many of them are different as well. However, there are several that I really dislike but I will not mention those names. The tone quality that I do like the most though is when I'm playing, I love to hear myself when the clarinet is in my mouth. I think that should be everyones goal. ESP (Peabody/BSO) http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: russjm
Date: 2009-03-23 15:22
Favourite sound is so personal to your own ears, you'll get many different answers to this, but for me, on clarinet, the tone Don Byron gets, especially on his bass clarinet is to die for. Those low notes get the hairs on the back of my neck up, but then I'm an electric bass guitar player, so the low end does it for me.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2009-03-23 16:00
Well...you gotta remember a clarinet in concert is much nicer than old or even new cd's etc. I heard Alfred Prinz in recital live and fell in love with his playing and sound to a great degree.
I studied one summer with Herbert Stahr and thought his sound was the best of all..but overall on the Boehm my main teacher Harold Wright I thought had the greatest sound. Which may I add in person was truly specail..
... Recordings don't really yield the fullest impression as live performing..
Sadly the Marcellus Mozart clarinet concerto is poorly recorded..great playing and good tone but to hear it remastered would be even better. CBS sound on some of those lps were dreadful.
David Dow
Post Edited (2009-03-23 16:02)
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Author: sinkdraiN
Date: 2009-03-23 16:12
My favorite tone is Carbonare's.
The tone I love to hear but would not like to have myself is Artie Shaw's
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Author: Clarimeister
Date: 2009-03-23 16:55
Another +1 for Harold Wright. By far the best, most amazing tone I've ever heard. The world misses this guy.
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2009-03-23 17:36
I might as well earn some points.....I like Blumberg the most.
Freelance woodwind performer
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2009-03-23 17:41
My two favorites are Paquito D'Rivera, and Andrew Marriner. That' of the ones I've heard (not that the others aren't great, just that those are my favorites)
Alexi
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2009-03-23 17:58
I'd say for sure that hearing a player live makes a big, big difference.
There are nuances that you just can't hear on a recording that come out in a live performance. And I don't mean the dancing on the stage either.
There was a time way back when you could tell where a performer was from by his sound.
That time is well past as tone is now quite a blend of styles. It was getting like that when Dan Leeson wrote his article on styles.
Now we have one Univ. advertizing the "French Germanic" Tradition ............
I remember hearing Ricardo play at the 92' Cincinatti ClarFest in the afternoon playing the Nielsen Concerto. It was amazing, but I thought that his sound was a bit on the bright side. That same night I heard him play the Weber Concertino with the Pops and his sound wasn't bright at all. Furthermore, when I heard the tape recording of his Nielsen it wasn't bright at all. So either the place that I sat was not ideal to pick up his sound that afternoon, or heck if I know..... But the tape sounded great.
http://www.SkypeClarinetLessons.com
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Author: mrn
Date: 2009-03-23 18:32
Well, if you've read some of my other posts, you know I don't like thinking in terms of "personal tones," but rather, in terms of tone used in a musical context.
Nonetheless, I used to have a recording that was a real favorite of mine at least partly on the basis of tone--I might even go so far as to call it "personally influential," at least in terms of the way I hear music written in that style (for better or for worse, I suppose). It was a recording of the "Concerto in Eb" by Stamitz (the one published by Sikorski, not the Schirmer one) with Hans-Rudolf Stalder as the soloist playing with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra under Helmut Mueller-Bruhl. I think it's out of print now. I haven't heard it in years, but I used to play it a lot when I was a kid--that and Jost Michaels' Mozart, but I probably listened to the Stalder Stamitz recording more, truth be told.
Whenever you're listening to recordings, though, keep in mind that tone is a "musical variable," not just an unchanging characteristic of a particular player. It's something you (and the person you are listening to) can manipulate for musical effect, even within the same piece.
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Author: Neal Raskin
Date: 2009-03-23 18:45
I like Jon Manasse's and Burt Hara's sound. I also enjoy hearing Anthony McGill play.
I like a very pure tone.
www.youtube.com/nmraskin
www.musicedforall.com
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2009-03-23 18:53
The great clarinetists have many beautiful tones. Listen to Marcellus in the Mozart Concerto, Wagner excerpts, Capriccio Espagnole and the Brahms symphonies. He's four players, no two sounding even remotely alike.
See http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=94788&t=94788.
My favorite modern sound is Wright's Brahms Sonatas with Peter Serkin, http://www.amazon.com/Brahms-Sonatas-Schumann-Fantasy-Pieces/dp/B00000G22R/ref=pd_bxgy_m_img_a, where he has an ideal combination of sweetness and resonance. Even more beautiful was a mid-1970s Brahms Quintet at the 92nd St. Y, where he played McLane's A clarinet. There have been recent broadcasts of old concerts from the Y, so it's barely possible that a tape exists.
On an equal footing are Ralph McLane http://www.amazon.com/Artistry-Ralph-McLane/dp/B000C6NNZQ/ref=pd_sim_m_1 and Daniel Bonade http://www.bostonrecords.com/servlet/the-119/Daniel-Bonade/Detail.
Louis Cahuzac had my favorite historical sound, on an, alas, out of print CD http://www.amazon.com/Grands-Maitres-Clarinette-Vol-1/dp/B00000G2BP/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1237833134&sr=1-14, Clarinet Historical Recordings Vol. 2 http://www.amazon.com/Clarinet-Historical-Recordings-Vol-2-Goodman/dp/B0000044D6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1237833099&sr=1-3 and the Hindemith Concerto http://www.amazon.com/Hindemith-Concert-Concerto-Clarinet-others/dp/B000J20W5W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1237833099&sr=1-1.
Also Bela Kovacs, Jack Brymer and Reginald Kell.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2009-03-23 18:57
I recently heard a performance (cello and piano) playing the Arpeggione sonata by Schubert. The performance was so fantastic, and the way the cellist phrased and changed his tone colour, dynamics and vibrato to match the harmony in the piano was breath-taking. It has inspired me to go and find out how I can do that on the clarinet.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2009-03-23 18:58
James Campbell's sound in person is absolutely stunning..I also regard the recording of Ravel Ma Mere L'Oye suite with the clarinet of my teacher Mr. Wright unbelievable..that one was with Ozawa.
David Dow
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2009-03-23 19:02
Han Rudolf Stadler did a great job on the Gran Partita disc on Teldec with Harnoncourt...that is one fanatic clarinet section there with Vienna school playing caught very nicely. Whether this recording made it to CD is another story.
David Dow
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Author: katzer
Date: 2009-03-24 08:32
The recordings that I will never forget:
1) Joseph Balogh. Mozart Clarinet Quintet, Naxos label. I actually met him once and asked him about how he produced such sound, he laughed and said "I just played a cocobow clarinet, old german clarinet i had". Amazing guy.
2) There is a recording by DG of Tchaikowsky Ballet suites with Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. It is from the mid 60's and the clarinet playing in the nutcracker suite, esp in the first movement left me shocked the first time I heard it. Might be Karl Leister.
3) Tchaikowsky Symphony #5 and Rimsky Korskaov Russian easter fesitval. DG recording of the Philharmonia Orchestra with Sinopoli. The Clarinet solo in the Rimsky Korsakov piece is superb. I have no idea who is the player in that piece.
Erez
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Author: George Stalle
Date: 2009-03-24 09:51
1) Gervase de Peyer: for his style, no one has quite done it like him.
George Stalle
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Author: Phurster
Date: 2009-03-24 12:50
With sound for me it’s a matter of “horses for courses”.
The sound that works well for the Nielsen is probably not the best tone for the Brahms.
That being said I have a few favourites:
For Spohr Concertos, and Chamber Music I love the sound of our own Tony Pay. It conveys the appropriate mood of the music and has enough variation in colour to keep your interest.
Karl Leister’s Brahms has a gorgeous sound.
The tone Gary Grey has is attractive in his recording of the Copland Concerto.
I’m not sure that it’s Marcellus’ sound I like or is it the light, clear articulation coupled with tasteful phrasing. The end result in the Mozart recording is outstanding. What a shame he didn’t record more chamber and solo repertoire.
I’m glad some of you can enjoy your own tone. I had a particularly bad reed day today. I must have produced at least twelve different “tones” in the one day. Some days the sound feels right and on others it is the most frustrating aspect of the instrument.
Chris.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2009-03-24 19:11
Mitchell Estrin and Burt Hara have great sound. John Bruce Yeh is one of my favorites right now..his sound is so rich.
David Dow
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