Author: seabreeze
Date: 2018-03-08 03:52
The recorded sound is different, the phrasing style and overall musical approach similar. Widmann may be using a crystal mouthpiece in the Mozart Quintet and an Acrylic (?) one in the Mozart Concerto. The mike placement is probably different. He does play with more edge and detailing in the sound than we have been led to expect from a Wurlitzer Oehler clarinet, but if you listen to recordings by Anthony Gigliotti, Stanley Drucker, and Mitchell Lurie from the 50s and 60s on their Buffets they are just about as "bright" toned.
One of the attractions of Widmann for me is that I can't really tell just by listening that he might be playing an Oehler. He doesn't try to dampen or muffle the upper partials; he lets them ring. As a contemporary composer as well as a clarinetist, he seems to be aiming for a sound for today that is very different from the rather featureless, hollow quality many Americans players want from their Boehms and he is a long way from the stolid mellowness of Leister.
Do we really know whether Stadler got a dark, subdued sound or a bright, sparkly one on his basset clarinet? In phrasing on the Mozart Concerto, Widmann seems as eloquent and and respectful of the long flowing line as one would expect a mature composer/performer to be. The slow movement is especially beautiful and Mozartean. And the faster movements are rhythmic and sprightly.
Needless to say, Widmann plays 21st century contemporary music with great color, spirit, and verve. His mutiphonics and other extended techniques sound like they belong in the piece rather than "unintended consequences." Thanks, Klose for the sampling. You saved me the trouble of posting those.
Post Edited (2018-03-08 07:16)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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