 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: TomD
Date: 2011-01-21 13:14
I purchased the Music Minus One for the Mozart clarinet concerto. It has a repitched version for Bb clarinet. The accompanying symphony is not great but it's ok. My complaint is that the first movement chugs along at 126 and sometimes close to 132. I'm sure this is no problem for advanced players. I can keep up with 126 for the most part when I play alone with a metronome but trying to do it without a conductor when playing along with the CD is tough due to subtle changes in speed along the way. Does anyone know if there are any other companies that make play along CD's that might have the Mozart?
Also, IMHO, the Adagio is too fast to extract maximum beauty from it. To me, the gold standard as far as the orchestra goes is the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell on the Marcellus recording.
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Author: srattle
Date: 2011-01-21 13:24
There's a recording with Denitsa Laftchieva playing clarinet that also has the orchestra backing alone
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QZSGGO/ref=dm_sp_alb
I don't like the orchestras playing very much, but maybe it works better for you?
I would say this one sits pretty much around 120, even 118
Goodluck!
Sacha
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2011-01-21 15:36
I much prefer the flexibility and production values of the Dowani TreTempi "minus one."
The orchestra is transposed to Bb, as is the demonstration track. The sonority of the orchestra-alone phases of the 2nd movement are amongst the best I've ever heard.
In addition to the orchestra back up, the CDs include two shower accompaniments with piano alone.
Also, the TreTempi recordings have quite convenient stopping places, helping one to work on short segments of the piece.
Bob Phillips
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Author: John Peacock
Date: 2011-01-21 16:03
If you rip the CD onto a PC, you can then easily use a free package like Audacity to resample the data, which will give you a version for A clarinet (to be preferred, assuming you have one), while simultaneously getting about 5% slower - i.e. 126 becomes 120. If you don't have an A, you can actually change the speed of any track without altering the pitch (as was done on the infamous Joyce Hatto piano CDs). The sound quality isn't as perfect as resampling, but for speed shifts at the 5-10% level, it's really hard to notice any artefacts.
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2011-01-21 17:36
The Marcellus recording is considered the standard and I once was able to talk to him about it. He said the tempo for the first movement was at 112. We didnt get into the other movements.
This was also varified by a few of his students. I won't list their names.
I have the recording and 112 is very close. A few parts slow up and speed up, but not much, in fact you probably won't notice.
Another fantasic recording is with Dave Shrifrin, playing a Selmer with an extended lower joint, done, built very well by a guy named Lenny Gullatta. Lenny extended the lower end of the Selmer so Dave could play the piece the same way Mozart wrote it. This is a really wonderful recording. Now alot of music companies are extending the clarinet, but Dave was the first to record the concerto the way it was written.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
Post Edited (2011-01-22 01:44)
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Author: TomD
Date: 2011-01-21 18:07
I have the Shifrin recording and it IS excellent. I am a huge fan of David. His recordings of Weber's various works are just excellent. However, I'm so used to hearing the concerto the modern way, I can't warm up to the low notes using the bassett clarinet. The notes almost don't seem to belong to the same instrument. It may just be that old habits die hard. In terms of speed, I know that some of today's up and coming stars speed things up, I guess to show that they can but to me, it diminishes the beauty of the music. Just my opinion.
My old clarinet teacher was a Marcellus student and he told her that George Szell was so demanding, such a perfectionist, that his rehearsals were absolutely brutal. When they were done, apparently the players would break open cases of beer and pretty much collapse. I think it payed off though.
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2011-01-21 18:48
If you want the accompaniment to help you learn the concerto rather than to create a "fantasy" performance, another option is to download a midi version of the concerto with orchestral accompaniment. Oliver Seeley has a good one available from his site:
http://www.csudh.edu/oliver/clarmusi/clarmusi.htm
(Mark used to have a mirror of this site here and it is still listed under the "Music and Midi" link from the Woodwind.org home page but when I clicked on it just now, I got a "Not Found" error message.)
You can then load the file for each movement into a music editing program. If you don't have one, there are probably some free ones available on the internet and there have been a number of threads on them in the past on this bulletin board. I use Finale PrintMusic, which can be had for about $75. Once the work is in the music editing program, you can mute the solo part, transpose the music for a Bb clarinet if necessary (Oliver's versions are for clarinet in A) and you can set the tempo wherever you want it. One advantage, from a learning standpoint anyway, is that the tempo will be rock solid. You don't have to learn the idiosyncratic tempo variations on the MMO disk.
Another advantage is that there are free midi versions available for many other clarinet solo works.
The downside is that the midi accompaniment will sound like ... well midi.
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2011-01-21 18:54
Jack Kissinger wrote:
> (Mark used to have a mirror of this site here and it is still
> listed under the "Music and Midi" link from the Woodwind.org
> home page but when I clicked on it just now, I got a "Not
> Found" error message.)
Oliver & I started a REAL mirror now in preparation for the day that his personal site goes away:
http://www.oliver-seely.woodwind.org/
I'll fix the link.
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Author: concertmaster3
Date: 2011-01-21 21:26
http://maestromusician.com/music/MozartClarinetConcerto.mp3
I made this myself (using my own instruments, and Finale for the cello, bass and horn parts). It's not perfect, and I'll probably go back and re-record some things (like splitting the violin chords, volume of the bassoons, etc.). it's at quarter=120. I put in an extra measure of rest at the fermatas as well. It's just the first movement right now, so let me know what you think. (anyone is welcome to comment).
Ron Ford
Woodwind Specialist
Performer/Teacher/Arranger
http://www.RonFordMusic.com
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Author: TomD
Date: 2011-01-24 13:45
As a kid I had the Marcellus recording on LP. It was for 'A' clarinet and I had a Bb so I had to speed it up on my turntable to play along but the speed was too difficult for me.
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