 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2001-02-06 00:01
I just spoke to Keith Puddy on the phone to try to get his idea about Mühlfeld and his vibrato. We both agreed on that Mühlfeld was quite unique at his time and not characteristic for any type of tradition, neither the Viennese or the traditional German school. He was a violinist and a self-taught clarinetist. He was probably more of a wonderful musician than a great clarinetist. I have never seen any comments given by any clarinetist of the time about his skills as an instrumentalist and that would have been interesting to read. Brahms didn't favor the clarinet as such and it was not until the very end of his life that he actually used it as a solo instrument. Only after hearing Mühlfeld playing. What Mühlfeld primarily was admired for was his tone, his phrasing and the musical expression in his performance.
About vibrato: Vibrato or tremolo, as it was first called, has always been used on most instruments as a tool to musically express something special or important in a phrase. Also to give life to a sustained note and to color an ending of a phrase or a movement. I am very much in favor of this kind of controlled and subtle use of vibrato that can be the nicest thing to hear.
In the 1890th, vibrato as we know it today, constant vibrato as a part of the sound-production, was not generally accepted anywhere on any instrument, including violin and flute. Towards the end of the century a movement started among avantgardists in France in the shadow of the breakdown of Romanticism to change and "develop" music making as they knew it, by introducing constant vibrato. This started a "civil war" in the world of musicians among avantgardists and traditionalists. As we know, the avantgardists won and that was good, because it pushed this art form out of the locked and severely controlled sound world of Romanticism and became the sound of Expressionism and Impressionism.
I find it very unlikely that such a conservative, middle aged and well respected man of the establishment like Mühlfeld, would catch up on such new ideas. However, stylistically he was a documented genius, so I strongly believe that he might have used vibrato in the Gypsy section of the second movement of Brahms quintet. This section is very folkloristic and here, in my opinion, we should leave the classical traditions behind for a moment as a contrast.
My opinion is, that as a musician in a re-producing artform, classical music, we have a responsibility to educate ourselves to a maximum to be faithful to both the score and to the style a piece was written in. This includes a very delicate use of vibrato in music written in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Alphie
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"But before involving myself in a course on which my future was going to depend, I estimated that it was absolutely necessary first to establish my tonal technique on solid foundations and to develop my musical knowledge to a maximum".
(From "The flute and its problems", the chapter about vibrato.)
Marcel Moyce
flute guru
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"But the other class of violinists who habitually make use of the device—those who are convinced that an eternal vibrato is the
secret of soulful playing, of piquancy in performance—are pitifully misguided in their belief. In some cases, no doubt, they are,
perhaps against their own better instincts, conscientiously carrying out the instructions of unmusical teachers. But their own
musical values ought to tell them how false is the notion that vibration, whether in good or bad taste, adds spice and piquancy to
their playing …"
Leopold Auer (The violinist who Tchaikovsky wrote his first concerto for, and who first performed it.)
From: "Violin playing as I teach it"
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-02-06 13:14
Alphie -
Thanks for the good work. Did Keith Puddy have anything to say about the mouthpiece on Muhlfeld's instrument showing signs of his having used vibrato?
By the way, Auer was the dedicatee of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, but he pronounced it unplayable, and the premiere was given by Adolph Brodsky. Auer later relented and performed the concerto frequently. See http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/tchaikovsky_violin_con.html, which also prints the famous critic Eduard Hanslick's diatribe against the concerto.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2001-02-06 16:39
Hi Ken! Sorry about the Auer bug. I guess I just took it for granted that the concerto was dedicated and first performed by the same person. Without dubble checking I trust you.
In fact Ken, I couldn't take the issue about the vibrato in the mouthpiece enough seriously to ask about it. I played Stephen Fox Ottensteiner copy a few days ago with a copy of a similar mouthpiece and to discribe it, it looks like something in between a classical and a modern German mp. Like a modern but smaller.
The original Mühlfeld mp is made of wood and has a silver plate for the teeth so it's pretty sure that he played with a singel lip embousure. It's severely warped so it's completely unplayable. Keith had a copy made for the recording. (Maybe it warped from playing too much vibrato. Another reason not to use too much vibrato, your mouthpiece will warp. ;-)
Alphie
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