 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: RCaterisano
Date: 2011-12-29 03:42
Hello all,
I've been preparing Weber's Concerto No. 2 mvt. 3 for a few months now. Earlier today, I made a recording of it with my accompanist to submit to a few contests.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HUFhNkz4dg
Though it may be a bit late to improve my playing for the recording, I would really appreciate it if you guys could give me a few pointers for any future performances.
Thank you!
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Author: clarinete09
Date: 2011-12-29 03:55
I really like your tone! Very nice! Maybe you could make more difference with the dynamics! Just my two cents! In general I believe it's a very good recording! Keep up the good work!
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Author: DAVE
Date: 2011-12-29 04:29
On the accents at the beginning I'd like to hear a more energetic accent; think a very fast diminuendo. Be careful with the low E and F; they tend to go flat.
Make your dotted eights-sixteenths more "snappy", not rounded.
Well done. This piece is not easy in the least!
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Author: Trevor M
Date: 2011-12-29 05:25
Nice playing! There are some rough spots, but you two have a real sunny interpretation, very Gilbert-and-Sullivan. It might just be the mic placement, but you might consider a few drops of key oil or having your tech tighten things up.
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Author: Clarinetero
Date: 2011-12-29 05:56
Excellent playing!!! To me the only thing I can say is that you can be more energetic in some passages. And WOW!!!! you have a very beautiful sound!!!! Keep the good work!!!!!!
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2011-12-29 13:22
RCaterisano -
For someone in the 10th grade, this is excellent. Good tone, clean technique and tonguing and good musical understanding.
I have a few suggestions for improvement, which anyone with your talent can accomplish in the three months before the contest.
You get progressively sharp in the upper clarion, from G5 through C6, especially on C6. This will cost you in the contest judging. Fortunately, this is easy to fix by pulling out about 2 mm. at the bottom of the barrel.
Your tempo is a bit slow. It should be about 100. It's marked Polacca and has a characteristic rhythm of one eighth, two 16ths and four eighths. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polonaise It's not a fast dance, but it needs to be strongly rhythmical, with a bounce, which I'd like to hear more of in your performance.
There are mood changes, which you can make more of. For example, when you jump up half a step to F# major, do it with a wink and a raised eyebrow to let the audience know it's a little joke.
You need to take off and fly in the sextuplets at the end. Right now, you're perfectly controlled, but it needs more dash and chance-taking. You're the daring young girl on the flying trapeze, and it needs to sound dangerous as well as brilliant.
Your pianist can't slack off at the end, but must drive through in tempo to the final loud chords. Both of you should practically leap off the stage.
If you can, get the famous recording by Gervase de Peyer. Listen to how joyful he is and how he dances all the way through. http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Clarinet-Concerto-Weber-Australia/dp/B000AL8ZDS/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1325167871&sr=8-4
Good luck. Let us know how you do at the contest.
Ken Shaw
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Author: RCaterisano
Date: 2011-12-30 21:05
clarinete09 - Thank you! I'll take your advice on more dynamic contrast.
DAVE - Thank you for the advice!
Trevor M - It was probably just mic placement - the mic was only a few inches from the clarinet. Thank you!
Clarinetero - Yes, I agree about needing more energy; this was the third take and I was pooped out by then, heh. Thank you!
Ken Shaw - Wow, thank you so much for all of the excellent advice! I'll definitely be working to bump up the tempo. It would definitely give the piece that extra "wow" factor with the last section. And thanks for the reference!
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2011-12-31 07:06
>> do it with a wink and a raised eyebrow to let the audience know it's a little joke. <<
Maybe some people like to have a joke over-explained to them...?
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Author: Trevor M
Date: 2011-12-31 07:54
No disrespect to Ken, but I wouldn't try to bump up the tempo until you have the rough patches really clean- playing all the right notes at your current tempo would make a better impression than zipping along with the same amount of errors.
Personally, I think your interpretation is actually very convincing at that tempo, musically, although I do understand that in competitions judges might have other criteria. I have never liked how the Weber concertos usually end up sounding like a bunch of showoff gestures rather than actual musical lines.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2011-12-31 16:16
clarnibass -
When you switch from F major to F# major, the fingerings suddenly get complicated, yet your job is to make the passage sound easy. Also, I think that the unprepared, rock-and-roll-style, almost drunken slide upward is, in classical harmony terms, funny. De Peyer plays the passage lightly and with a smile, which, for me, is much better than than a frown and gritted teeth, which is how many people play it.
Trevor M -
I try to match my comments to the particular performance. Rhiana's playing was already clean, and I thought she was ready to go faster, to add a dance feel. If she had struggled with the sextpulets, I would have advised her to play more under control. Since she was already playing clean musical lines, I asked for more brilliance. I think that at least on the final page, you really are showing off. It's like skipping a flat rock off the surface of a pond. Of course you must be in control, but you must also be flying, approaching the edge of what's possible while still making musical sense.
Ken Shaw
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