 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ruben
Date: 2013-09-01 19:03
Does anybody know anything about the French clarinetist Georges Grisez, whose playing life was mostly spent in the US? On one recording I have heard, he sounded very flexible and lyrical and played with considerable vibrato. As he finished his life in Baltimore, Ed must know something about him.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Wes
Date: 2013-09-01 22:53
Mr. Grisez played in the Minneapolis Symphony in the 30s for several years and later went to Baltimore. It is rumored that he died of a heart attack after playing Rhapsody in Blue there.
Mr. Grisez taught my first main clarinet teacher, Earl Handlon, also of the Minneapolis Symphony. Mr. Handlon also was the first teacher of Robert Marcellus who referred to him as a serious teacher. Vibrato was never mentioned.
There were several works for two clarinets that were arranged by Mr. Grisez, including Beethoven's third and fifth symphonies. I have copies.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2013-09-01 22:55
There's a biography of Georges Grisez at http://www.stokowski.org/Philadelphia_Orchestra_Musicians.htm. There are a couple of mistakes. When I studied with Alexander Williams, he told me that he had been the Eb player in the NY Philharmonic, and the NY Symphony and NY Philharmonic list do not name hi as principal. Augustin Duques was principal in the NBC Symphony for most of its existence. Williams succeeded him for a few years and stayed on when it became the Symphony of the Air. Steve Hartman, who was a Duques pupil, can tell us more.
For much more on historical principals, see http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=20&i=1437&t=1437.
Please let us know the label and number for the recording you heard.
Ken Shaw
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Author: ruben
Date: 2013-09-02 07:25
The recording I heard-just a few bars actually-was made with the Boston Symphony around 1910. I heard it on an interview with Harold Wright that is on the Internet. Mr. Wright commented on Grisez's vibrato, which is there for all to hear, and which is not what one would expect from a French player.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2013-09-04 02:17
Ruben -
Please give us the web address for the Wright interview.
Thanks.
Ken Shaw
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Author: ruben
Date: 2013-09-04 16:38
Harold Wright-Backstage with Brian Bell -former BSO Clarinetist. -a nice interview with the much-admired clarinetist.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: ruben
Date: 2013-09-04 19:20
That's the one! As a technophobe, I have never learned how to send a link. It's a wonder I can do anything at all. There are only a few bars of Grisez in this interview, but I thought the interesting thing is that it destroys the stereotype of the French school of clarinet plaing (e.g; nasal, reedy). Actually, there were quite a few different styles of plaing and the tone could be quite different. Guy Deplus didn't/doesn't play like Jacques Lancelot, for instance.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2013-09-04 21:10
Ruben -
Mark has made it easy. To post a link, you put < before the URL and > after it, with no spaces.
Ken Shaw
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