 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ruben
Date: 2017-02-02 02:50
We have recently discussed/ are discussing Louis Cahuzac on this board. I would like to recall the great Italian clarinetist, Luigi Amodio, who played with the La Scala Orchestra. He also had a wondrous tone. I imagine he used Italian equipment: an Italian clarinet. Buffets caught on in Italy rather late: in the sixties, I would say. Like Cahuzac, he must have played with a double-lip embouchure. Everybody in Italy did in those days.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: bassclarinet101 ★2017
Date: 2017-02-02 03:20
I am not familiar with Mr. Amodo's tone. Is there a recording you would recommend?
-Daniel
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2017-02-02 06:48
He plays the Mozart Quintet - Youtube. Horrible recording. Amazing sound, one of the very best...
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: bassclarinet101 ★2017
Date: 2017-02-02 07:50
I do love the way that the tone feels like it is overflowing out of the clarinet. I would have loved to go to a performance of his.
-Daniel
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Author: ruben
Date: 2017-02-02 13:44
Dear Bob,
It's amazing the way his tone shines through-glowing and mellow-in spite of the very primitive recording. I also find his interpretation of Mozart very "modern"; whatever that means. -very Classical and no schmaltz. Do you have any ideas about his equipment? As I said, his instrument had to be Italian. I haven't tried out an Italian clarinet for over 30 years, but would like to (the old vintage models, namely a Guasti, handmade by the maker of the same name).
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: wkleung
Date: 2017-02-02 16:20
Does anyone think the clarinet bore was in general smaller back then? Perhaps thinner wall also?
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2017-02-02 20:49
Hi Rubin, no, I was just very impressed with his amazing playing. Not just his sound, but the whole Mozart recording. I wish I knew more about him, his background, his instrument setup, all of that. Every note he played had a meaning, they were not just notes.
It would be fun to find some students of his and learn more about him. He's surely one of the very elite players of the world. Maybe one of his students reads this board. Hope so...
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2017-02-02 22:25
The first violinist in the string quartet also has a wonderful way of phrasing, emphasizing certain notes to bring out the sweetness of the melody without becoming too saccharin. Amadio dovetails with the violinist perfectly.
Among contemporary Italian clarinet makers, Patricola is notable for making important improvements and tweaks on its instruments frequently. At their best, the recent Patricolas play with a very light, tightly focused sound that avoids both the extremes of heaviness and shrillness found in many other brands. Listen to Lugi Picatto in the Mercandante Clarinet Concerto on YouTube as an example.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSKW85B0oRg.
Or Fabio Maini playing the Rossini Intro, Theme, and Variations
on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/results?q=Introduzione+tema+variazioni+por+clarinetto+Fabio+Maini,
Post Edited (2017-02-03 02:00)
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Author: ruben
Date: 2017-02-03 03:55
Dear Bob,
He seems to have used a Paolo Del Pistoia clarinet (full- Boehm? probably. I can't find any record of this instrument anywhere.), which is now part of the Luigi Magistrelli collection. Magistrelli teaches in Milan. I'd never heard of this clarinet- maker before. I studied in Italy for a while, before I was promptly and duly kicked out of the conservatory, and they expected you to use a full Boehm and transpose A-clarinet part. None of the students of the clarinet studio had an A clarinet.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2017-02-03 06:36
Wow Rubin, what an interesting story! I feel honored and envied to know you and you were able to study in Italy. I'm sure it wasn't easy. There is surely something magical about studying music in Europe. Even if you were only there for a short time I'm sure you gathered a wealth of experience and no one can take this away. You are a lucky man! I would have been kicked out too trying to transpose to an A clarinet. We would have been on the same plane flight home. Going to a C clarinet is OK for the most part, but even then I believe some COMPOSERS wanted players to play in the required instrument they wrote for. Mendelssohn, Beethoven are 2 whom I feel wanted that sound. with the A clarinet as well as the C clarinet. Beethoven's 9th for sure, but so few play it on a C clarinet. Maybe because it's so hard to find a good C clarinet? Don't know. I have one, but I really have no idea where it is. If I recall it is a horrible C clarinet! As with others, I transpose the parts, by the clef, not per note.
It's such an interesting story too about this instrument. I'd love to get my hands on it, along with his mouthpiece. His sound is just amazing. Frankly, the whole quintet is the best I've ever heard. I have recordings with Sabine Meyer, David Shifrin, Mitchell Lurie, and a few others. This guy and this quintet is rated right next to them as the best. Maybe one day the recording can be cleaned up and enhanced for clarity. I surely can't pick out which group is the best. All of these players offer something so special. It's like they SEE the music, not just play the notes. Mitchell's recording was pretty special in the sense that he did it when he was pushing 80 years old. He was 78. I think he had 4 heart attacks by then. His first heart attack was only at the age of 48. I'm getting sidetracked.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2017-02-03 07:20
Ruben,
It might be easier to finds records of Paolo Del Pistola as a performing clarinetist rather than an instrument maker. He recorded the Ravel Introduction and Allegro with harpist Carmela Appiani, flutist Guiseppe Peloso, and the La Scala Milan String Quartet on a 1950s 10-inch vinyl Mercury record. That was for international distribution and you still see a few (pricey) ones for sale on Amazon and elsewhere. In my state, both the University of New Orleans and Louisiana State University music libraries have copies of Pistola's Ravel recording. It's possible that Pistola did more recordings on local Italian labels for more limited distribution. Perhaps he was a pro clarinetist who made a small number of clarinets for himself and friends only?
Post Edited (2017-02-03 07:24)
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Author: ruben
Date: 2017-02-03 14:44
Bob, I'm so glad you and others appreciated Amodio's music-making. He died at the tragically early age of 40 in 1942, so there's little chance there are any students of his left. One was the fine Italian player with the Italian Radio and Television Symphony , Giacomo Gandini. Amodio was chosen to play at La Scala by none other than Toscanini, who knew a good thing when he heard it. Therefore Amodio can presumably be heard on opera recordings made in the thirties at La Scala. Maybe solos by him could make up a recorded compilation (La Taviata, Tosca, etc.). At any rate, I can't get enough of this player!
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2017-02-03 15:43
Rubin - I haven't heard the name Toscanini in a while, and what I heard about him wasn't pleasant. I guess he conducted the NBC Symphony and was hated by pretty much all of the musicians! Iggie Gennusa was there for a very short time. Probably why he drank. He liked Vodka!
Any idea of how he died? WW11 related? That is way too young. He was just getting settled in and gaining a reputation. What a shame.
Thanks for sharing all of this information. It's close to 4 AM, time for some sleep.
How do you put up recordings on youtube? I have a Mitchell Lurie recording of the Mozart Quintet and the Brahms.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: rmk54
Date: 2017-02-03 17:19
I guess he conducted the NBC Symphony and was hated by pretty much all of the musicians!
------------------------------------------------------
Wrong.
One of my teachers in college was Arthur Berv (of the famous Berv brothers, who all played french horn in the NBC Sym.). Those of us of a certain age might remember the Alpo dog food commercials with the two note horn motif - that was
Berv.
He told me that Toscanini was admired and beloved by most of the members, and stories of his mistreating of musicians was greatly exaggerated.
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Author: wkleung
Date: 2017-02-03 19:14
Bob, I read that Amodio died of cancer, two months after Deutsche Grammophon signed him.
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Author: ruben
Date: 2017-02-03 20:33
wkleung: Amodio died of lung cancer; he had been a heavy smoker since his early youth. Deutsche Gramophone was, unfortunately, in the heart of Nazi Germany at the time. Victoria Soames, who runs Clarinet Classics, has brought out some recordings by Amodio and published a booklet on him written with the help of members of his family. She will get back to me next week and I will gladly relay the information to all of you. Better still, maybe she will agree to take part in this discussion directly.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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