 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: tslchloe
Date: 2018-11-09 03:44
Hi! I'm new to the clarinet BBoard but I've been playing the clarinet for a while. Often I hear people discussing about 'sounds' of performers, comments like 'he has a very 'American' sound', 'her playing is very 'French'', 'oh he sounds very 'British' etc.
To be honest I never know how to differentiate between these. Would someone please explain/ give me examples/ sources that I can look at and gain some knowledge? Thanks very much!
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2018-11-09 04:26
There are also many different opinions of what those are. Add to that the fact that different national sounds have gotten more homogenous. But if you listen to recordings of about thirty years ago, there is more definition.
FRENCH: Guy Dangain
AMERICAN: Clark Brody (Chicago Symphony under Fritz Reiner)
GERMAN: Karl Leister
BRITISH: Gervais de Peyer
...............Paul Aviles
Post Edited (2018-11-09 17:29)
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Author: Windy Dreamer
Date: 2018-11-09 06:35
Check out Evan Christoper's videos from Lincoln Center Jazz Academy for New Orleans clarinet styles.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2018-11-10 16:52
Wow Ed, thank you for that resource. I got lost in listening to the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante while reading about McLane. Great, great stuff !!!!!
.............Paul Aviles
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Author: fernie121
Date: 2018-11-10 22:43
I’m a big fan of clarinetist out of Austria. Check out Andreas and Daniel Ottensamer. Andreas has some really great stuff on iTunes.
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2018-11-11 01:59
If you want to hear the traditional classical Viennese sound then look for the recordings of the Vienna Octet.
Especially the very first Octet where the clarinetist was Alfred Boskovsky, brother of the legendary leader of the Vienna Philharmonic, Willi Boskovsky.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2018-11-11 07:15
Also good examples of how international styles have gotten muddied up a bit. As principal of the Berlin Philharmonic, is Andreas Ottensamer an example of the Austrian or German style of clarinet playing?
The positive aspect of the melding of styles is that so many more clarinetists are deemed paradigms. Now we can just go about appreciating the musicality of their performances rather than passing judgements with broad strokes as was the case as recently as only thirty years ago or so.
................Paul Aviles
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2018-11-12 01:25
But sadly there is also a negative aspect to the "melding" of international styles.
Almost at times it feels like the sounds have been developed by a committee.
(OK being a bit controversial there )
I greatly miss the wide variety of clarinet sounds and styles that still existed when I started playing 60+ years ago.
To hear those lovely Czech clarinets playing in the Dvorak symphonies for instance. And the Russians in Tchaikovsky.
I could identify the nationality of most orchestras the moment the woodwind started playing. And for UK orchestras could even pinpoint which specific orchestra.
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2018-11-12 06:18
I took ensemble class with Gervase de Peyer 45 YEARS ago. He did have quite a different tone. A fair bit of vibrato if I recall correctly. I see he passed on in 2017. Very nice man.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
Post Edited (2018-11-12 06:20)
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Author: rtaylor
Date: 2018-11-12 22:16
One additional player to listen to is Georg Peterson from the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
The current players are all very good but his particular style was the typical dutch style with the addition of vibrato as a personal touch from him.
Cheers,
Robert
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Author: Windy Dreamer
Date: 2018-11-13 18:08
The lamented loss of national and personal style may be products of the modern obsession with absolute precision verified by digital analyzers. How many posts on these forums involve laments over notes that are off by 2-4 c ? How many posters ask how to add style or art to their method of play ? What would the digital analysis of a player like Evan Christoper look like as he slides from note to note ?
You cannot play both as an art and with absolute scientific precision at the same time. Unfotunately , too many modern players choose science over art.
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Author: Windy Dreamer
Date: 2018-11-13 20:36
The Embouchure and Tone Color
Bernard Portnoy
The Clarinet
Summer 1956
This article touches upon the methods of my improv style of play. I can spend all day playing a three bar melody comprised of four notes. Slight movements of teeth and lip can create huge differences of emotional response to a simple scale melody. The same melody played over and over can take the listener on an emotional roller coaster ride. How would those subtle changes in embouchure be recognized by a digital analizer? I could not care less. Scientific precision is of no concern to me as I pursue music as a social-spiritual adventure.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2018-11-14 07:30
Quote:
Wow Ed, thank you for that resource. I got lost in listening to the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante while reading about McLane. Great, great stuff !!!!!
You could get lost for hours listening to all of the amazing perforates on there.
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2018-11-14 08:17
Hi Dreamer.
"You cannot play both as an art and with absolute scientific precision at the same time." That recalls something great pianist Artur Schnabel said at a recording session. The engineer asked him if he wanted to rerecord a passage where he'd made a technical error. Schnabel declined, saying words to the effect of "I could play it more correctly, but I can't play it any better."
Art doesn't require absolute precision, but it certainly requires some. Precision lets a performer project just what they intend to. The closer their playing matches their intentions, the better.
Precision does not hurt art, and they don't inherently exclude each other. Great musicians don't need to spend much focus on technical execution as they play - they've got it fully wired in. There are many recordings of fabulous musical performances that were technically impeccable.
They may be rather more similarly great performances with varyingly frequent mistakes. There are also some wild performances of uniquely great interpretations combined with a good deal of technical, ah, approximation. The musical values were still communicated. But the sense of difficulty can distract listeners. Of course, some music is written to be difficult just to incorporate that tension.
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Author: Windy Dreamer
Date: 2018-11-14 18:46
A few hours after writing my last post I had to concede that there are sciences to play for artistic effects.Portnoy indicates that players individual styles are often unconscious. There are many days that I enjoy an effect but cannot duplicate that effect in the following days. Now when I stumble upon an effect I am trying to consciously understand how the effect is achieved.I will also have to learn how to write music effect techniques over notes so that I can move from the worlds of intuition and mood to the world of disciplined technique. Yesterday as I studied personal technique for an uplifting effect I noticed that each note had a rise and fall in air pressure as it was played.To maintain mood each following note had to have a pressure peak at the same point of its duration.As air pressure increases , lip pressure must also increase to maintain tone. Personal artistic effects are dependant upon both science and precision.
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Author: kenb
Date: 2018-11-16 05:13
'Execution is the chariot of genius' – William Blake
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The Clarinet Pages
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