 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Curinfinwe
Date: 2009-12-28 16:56
Hi! I got an iTunes gift card for Christmas, and I'd like to stock up on some clarinet repertoire that I can't get from my local library. One of my favourite pieces (to listen to; I've never tried to play it) is the Copland Concerto. Looking at iTunes, the available ones are:
Charles Neidich
David Shifrin (the "rather fast" is album only, and I'd like to stay away from buying the whole album)
Martin Frost
I particularly would like to have the slow movement, so which of those recordings would be best?
Also, it would be great if you could just throw out recommendations of good recordings. I particularly like Sabine Meyer.
Thanks!
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Author: Neal Raskin
Date: 2009-12-28 17:54
I would try to find the recording by Jon Manasse. Its my personal favorite. He is phenomenal, the orchestra isn't the greatest, but its a good recording.
www.youtube.com/nmraskin
www.musicedforall.com
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Author: Joarkh
Date: 2009-12-28 19:24
My favorite is Martin Fröst. He is not trying to "jazz it up" with swing eights like some clarinetists do with this piece, and what is more, he executes what is written perfectly. In addition, his first movement is incredibly soft and expressive, and in the beginning incredibly pianissimo.
Joar
Clarinet and saxophone teacher, clarinet freelancer
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Author: weberfan
Date: 2009-12-28 21:26
Both suggestions so far are good. Here's another:
Richard Stoltzman playing Copland on a CD titled 'The Essential Clarinet."
Other pieces on the album are by Corigliano, Berntein and Stravinsky.
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Author: mrn
Date: 2009-12-28 22:31
I haven't heard David Shifrin's recording, but of the other two, I would recommend Martin Fröst's recording over Charles Neidich's. As Joarkh noted, Martin Fröst's recording is probably the truest to the score of any recording I've heard (I have yet to hear any recording I feel is 100% true to the score, though).
Neidich takes a lot of stylistic liberties I don't necessarily agree with. Also, what he plays is not the published piece, but his own reconstruction based on Copland's original sketches (which were made without the benefit of Benny Goodman's knowledge of the clarinet). At the time, at least, I don't think Copland really had a good understanding of how to score for clarinet, and his original sketches reflect this, as they expect the clarinetist to produce what were clearly pianistic effects (Copland composed at the piano), but unrealistic for a clarinetist to produce as Copland apparently envisioned. Neidich's recording reveals why Copland's revisions made after Benny Goodman found the original draft too difficult to play were a good idea--the rapid tonguing in the stratospheric reaches of the altissimo is quite difficult to do cleanly, and Neidich doesn't really pull it off to my satisfaction.
Copland's not the only composer to view the clarinet in a pianistic way. I once read a quote from Stravinsky that he considered the clarinet to be the most piano-like of the orchestral instruments, and I can see where he was coming from. Still, there are technical limits to what we can do that the piano does not suffer from.
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Author: FDF
Date: 2009-12-28 22:51
I have read two different sources that say that Copeland considered the recording he made with Goodman the best. Considering that Copeland wrote the music for Goodman, he conducted, and Goodman played, their version might be what the great musicians wanted.
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Author: Curinfinwe
Date: 2009-12-28 22:56
Alright, thanks! I'm leaning toward the Frost recording. And, are there different recordings on the US and Canadian iTunes? Because I only see those three.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2009-12-29 14:48
The fact that Copeland wrote it for B.G. is irrelevant AFAIC. The Neidich is my favorite.
Bob Draznik
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Author: mrn
Date: 2009-12-29 17:57
FDF wrote:
<<I have read two different sources that say that Copeland considered the recording he made with Goodman the best. Considering that Copeland wrote the music for Goodman, he conducted, and Goodman played, their version might be what the great musicians wanted.>>
What I read said that Copland thought that the recording he made with Benny Goodman was the best recording he (Copland) had made. I'm not sure Copland necessarily considered it the definitive interpretation of his work (or that Copland would consider any interpretation definitive).
My understanding of Copland's feeling about the work was that he was quite open to different performers' individual interpretations of the work (which is probably one reason why none of the recordings out there follow the score all that strictly.) For instance, listen to this little 30 sec. clip of Richard Stoltzman describing his conversation with Copland about the piece. (I just discovered this--very interesting.).
http://www.prx.org/pieces/15715-virtuoso-voices-richard-stoltzman-copland-s-jaz
Stoltzman's recording is a good one, by the way, especially for the first half. It isn't how I'd interpret the piece, necessarily, but it's skillfully executed and represents a good perfomer's rethinking of the piece, independently of what Benny Goodman did. (which is what all of us who play the piece should do--rethink our way through it, rather than copy what someone else did, I mean.)
John Moses, who performed the piece with Copland, has commented on Copland's openness to performers' ideas, as well.
My own feeling is that Copland put a lot of detail into the score that has been lost in most players' interpretations of the piece, so I favor an approach that gives more primacy to Copland's markings and that avoids adding too much else. I think there are a lot of interesting musical ideas inherent to the score that, if you try too much to jazz things up, become obscure. You also lose some of the coherence/continuity of the piece (where one section relates to another) by following what Benny Goodman or Richard Stoltzman or even Martin Fröst does too closely.
The Jonathan Cohler recording linked to above is a bit disappointing. The orchestra is not very good, and Cohler's intonation is a little off at times. I will have to check out Andrew Lamy's, because I haven't heard it before.
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Author: FDF
Date: 2009-12-29 22:40
"The fact that Copeland wrote it for B.G. is irrelevant AFAIC. The Neidich is my favorite." Bob Draznik
That's like saying the notes are irrelevant.
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Author: weberfan
Date: 2009-12-29 23:48
Anna,
You asked, too, about Sabine Meyer.
I'm not able to check iTunes just now, but I have several of her CD's of standard Weber and Mozart pieces and one on which she plays the Mozart concerto on a basset horn.
You might also look for her recording of Krommer's double clarinet concerto, with Julian Bliss. It also contains Spohr's clarinet concertos, Nos. 2 and 4.
Post Edited (2009-12-30 16:16)
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Author: Curinfinwe
Date: 2009-12-30 01:28
weberfan, those are the very recordings I have that I like so much! Thanks, though. Speaking of Julian Bliss, has he released any solo CDs at all?
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Author: mrn
Date: 2009-12-30 16:06
Curinfinwe wrote:
> weberfan, those are the very recordings I have that I like so
> much! Thanks, though. Speaking of Julian Bliss, has he released
> any solo CDs at all?
There's an old one of his with the Poulenc Sonata and the Messager Solo de Concours. It's not on iTunes (at least in the U.S.), but you can find it on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.ca/Music-Clarinet-Piano-Julian-Bliss/dp/B0000BWTKV/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1262191392&sr=8-3
It's on the EMI label (Sabine Meyer's label). I've never heard it, myself, but I can't say I've ever been disappointed with any of Julian Bliss's performances. I have that duo disc he did with Sabine Meyer, and it's great!
Sabine Meyer is one of my favorite players, too. By the way, she recorded the Copland Concerto, too. It's on her "Homage to Benny Goodman" album (which she recorded with her brother Wolfgang), which is on iTunes (at least here in the U.S.). You have to buy the whole album to get it, though. I haven't heard her Copland recording, so I can't offer a critique of it, but I can't say I've ever been disappointed with any of her recordings, either.
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Author: weberfan
Date: 2009-12-30 16:20
One more featuring Sabine Meyer--on CD but not, I suspect, iTunes:
It's an EMI release of Carl Nielsen's clarinet and flute concertos (the flutist is Emmanuel Pahud). It also includes Nielsen's wind quintet.
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Author: mrn
Date: 2009-12-30 16:25
weberfan wrote:
> One more featuring Sabine Meyer--on CD but not, I suspect,
> iTunes:
>
> It's an EMI release of Carl Nielsen's clarinet and flute
> concertos (the flutist is Emmanuel Pahud). It also includes
> Nielsen's wind quintet.
It is on iTunes. I bought it that way. Great recording.
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