 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2018-03-26 23:40
A bit off-topic, though this is an excellent performance. Not a single female musician to be seen - how times change.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVaqfFxJG1c&feature=youtu.be
Seen at numerous points during play, sitting next to the bassoons, is clarinetist Rudolf Jettel. Besides having long tenures as principal with some great orchestras in Vienna, Jettel was a teacher of many excellent clarinetists, some of whom went on to hold prestigious positions of their own. He was also a fine, underappreciated composer, and for me his Accomplished Clarinetist series is unparalleled for musical value alongside technical challenge.
Jettel was one of the musicians Furtwangler supported against the Hitler regime. The Nazis ruled that all members of the VPO who were of the Jewish faith or who were married to people of that faith had to be dismissed. Jettel's wife was Jewish. Furtwangler refused the order, and Jettel and the others were permitted to stay. Such was the regard the regime had for Furtwangler.
I got the above details online some time ago, a reproduction of a book, I believe. It's probably still accessible via online search.
I had the pleasure of meeting both Rudolf Jettel and his wife in, if I recall, 1974, when I was a student in a summer program of the Vienna Hochschule für Musik, which was held in Salzburg during the summer festival there. One month of 3-per-week group lessons with Jettel. His wife was always present; she helped me get housing, and assisted the other students as well. Great memories.
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Author: dorjepismo ★2017
Date: 2018-03-27 00:38
Spent a lot of time with several of Jettel's excellent studies, and used to give them to students after they'd done some Uhl. A similar story is told about the bassoonist Hugo Burghauser, to whom the Strauss Duet Concertino is dedicated. He was the elected President of the Vienna Phil, and was married to a Jewish woman, although they were in the process of going their separate ways at the time. In 1936, he was ordered to dismiss the Jewish musicians, and refused to do so. Not long afterward, he was out of a job and on his way out of Austria. Don't know whether either or both are true. From 1933, they apparently didn't have a formal music director, but Furtwängler was the main conductor, so both are plausible. I'm guessing the Strauss dedication was at least partly a response to the incident, though: "Hugo Burghauser, dem Getreuen." He later remarked that Strauss was a lot better at conducting than at cards.
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2018-03-27 04:03
Interesting to see that Rudolf Jettel, like Leopold Wlach, Alfred Boskovsky, Alfred Prinz, and most of the other Viennese clarinetists, used a metal ligature rather than string, on their various German system clarinets, as the Ottensamers do today.
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2018-03-27 07:16
Would the other clarinetist beside Jettel be Alfred Prinz? It looks like it could be.
Speaking of old concerto recordings (I'm a member of the Facebook group "Great Historical Piano Recordings'), this one of the Philharmonia O under Karajan from 1953 features some beautiful wind playing, especially the solo clarinet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcV6EUNulhA
I'd like to learn who that might have been. If it's Kell, I'm surprised, as his sound here seems better than on his solo recordings. Excellent performance of this great concerto.
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Author: JohnP
Date: 2018-03-27 13:21
I think Kell had moved to the US well before 1953. The clarinetist on those Philharmonia/Karajan recordings was probably Bernard Walton. Of course unless you have a list of players you can never be sure who was at the recording session on the day.
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