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Stanley Drucker Master Class, 3/25/11

Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2011-03-29 14:50

On March 25, 2011, Stanley Drucker gave an interesting and unusual master class at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ.

In the first part, he gave the premieres of about a dozen new compositions for clarinet and piano by members of the college's composition class, who were there. Each piece was two or three pages long, some tonal and some atonal. He got about half the pieces beforehand and sight-read the others. He had had no prior rehearsal with the pianist, who was the head of the composition department and played very well. He often had questions for the composer about what s/he wanted, and the exchanges were informal and relaxed. Each piece was well written for clarinet, and he gave complimentary comments to each composer. Some of the ones he sight-read called for his famous virtuosity, and one had instructions numerous instructions, such as "Play the upper line if you're a cat person, and the lower line if you're a dog person."

He's still got it at age 82. (He refused to state his age, saying "Look me up on Wikipedia if you're interested.") He was remarkably youthful and vigorous, his fingers were blindingly fast, and his tone was rich and clear. He made music out of each piece. He said that this was a new experience for him, and that he had never been asked to do anything like it before.

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In the second part, he played Luciano Berio's Sequenza for Clarinet. His control was perfect, and he tossed off the ferociously difficult passages with great panache. He stopped at the end of each page to slide it over. I'm not sure whether that's what Berio instructs. As in the new pieces, he made music rather than simply playing the notes.

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The third part was a standard master class. As usual, Stanley did not play during the class, possibly because his intensity would simply blow away any student. The college had had trouble recruiting students to play for him, so the participants were the clarinet prof and three local high school students.

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The prof played the Bernstein Sonata, accurately but without much personality. Stanley began by noting that he had recorded the sonata twice - once many years ago and again quite recently.

The first movement begins mezzo piano, but must still be played with substance and personality, giving the same effort as if you were playing forte. You need to relax at the end of the second phrase.

The next phrase must not be too staccato. It should be playful and cheeky. The descending sequences are single phrases.

The low-note passage needs to maintain a pulse. At letter O, you need to get all the way back to the tempo primo. It's not slow.

Don't lengthen the final note of the movement. Hold the embouchure and just let the air stop, in tempo.

In the second movement, the ascending pairs must go together as a single phrase, not three.

In the third movement is jaunty. You're having fun with the alternating 2s and 3s. It's a dance.

The soft section needs to be relaxed, but you must still maintain the line, with the same depth of tone you would have at forte.

Maintain the sound at letter K. Don't let it drop off.

At letter O, it's relaxed and easy but must stay rhythmically precise. "Quasi echotone" means "shadowy."

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The first student played the third movement of the Mendelssohn Concertpiece #2, with his mother on piano and his brother on bassoon. The pianist struggled, as did the bassoonist, but the clarinetist was quite good for a high school player, though they took a very slow tempo.

Stanley emphasized that even on phrases with feminine endings (where you decrescendo to the last note), it's important to play the final notes full-length. At measure 107, the clarinetist and [basset horn player] must listen hard to play as one.

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The second student played the finale of the Crusell Concerto in F minor, op. 5. He had learned this entirely in the practice room and said he would be most comfortable playing alone. For a high school player, he had good tone and technique.

Stanley told him to remember that he is the soloist and must sing to the audience. Keep the depth in the tone, even when you're going fast. Don't let your support drop.

There are many passages in sextuplets, which must be kept precise.

Play the notes marked with accents in context. They're spice, not hammer blows.

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The third student played the first movement of the Devienne 2nd Sonata. He had not practiced it with piano before, but the head of the composition department sight read the piano very well.

Stanley's main effort was to have the student play more sostenuto, arching phrases over longer lengths.

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I've been told by Stanley's students that he takes only very advanced players and works with them almost entirely on orchestral solos. However, he was amazing good at taking the players where they were and making precise suggestions that helped them play better. He praised the good things and gently urged them to take the next step, and each player, from the prof to the high schoolers, improved noticeably under Stanley's coaching.

Throughout the sessions, Stanley made motions as if he were playing violin. He told the students to think like string players. For exasmple, you stay "on the string" rather than "dropping the bow down" for accents. Staccato dots over notes in running passages are not accents. Rather, they're the same sort of articulations that violinists make when changing the direction of the bow.

He told some interesting stories.

In 1988, Luciano Berio arranged the piano part of the Brahms First Sonata for orchestra. He had intended for the European premiere to be played by a violist friend in Rome, but at the rehearsal the viola couldn't be heard over the orchestra. He quickly called Stanley, who arranged for a three-day absence from the NY Philharmonic (the concert was to be repeated twice). When Stanley arrived in Rome, Berio (a huge, bear of a man) greeted him at the airport and roared "I have good news and bad news." Stanley said to give him the bad news first. Berio said that the orchestra was on strike to get pay parity with the La Scala orchestra, so the concerts were cancelled. The good news was that the orchestra, out of respect for Berio as a great Italian composer, had agreed to give a single concert. Stanley would be paid as if he had played all three.

He confirmed the story about the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 that was slightly different from the version published in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/05/arts/music/05druc.html?scp=1&sq=drucker%20violin%20concerto&st=cse. Mark Nuccio, who was scheduled to play principal, had a scheduling mixup and didn't arrive. Stanley glanced over the part, which he had last played over 50 years earlier, remembered how it went and nailed it.

This was an outstanding afternoon, with Stanley at his best.

Ken Shaw

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