The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ruben
Date: 2019-05-11 01:44
Dear Seabreeze: From what I remember, this piece was written for Benny Goodman, who actually didn't like the piece much. I don't know whether he ever performed it. Milhaud is an acquired taste.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2019-05-11 02:47
The concerto is not often performed and has seldom been recorded. One hears it occasionally at college (usually graduate) recitals. Gabai's performance here is probably the best I've heard so far; that jaunty, blaze idiom seems to come easy for him (as it did in his recording of the Francaix Concerto).
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Author: ruben
Date: 2019-05-11 16:08
Seabreeze: Maurice Gabai was a fantastic and unique clarinetist. He played with the Paris Opera for a long time. His Saint- Saƫns Sonata interpretation is unique. He played with a very subtle vibrato and a light tone-not really French, but rather his own style of playing. As so often happens, his vibrato got a little overdone at the end of his career. (as did Reginald Kell's). God preserve us from becoming caricatures of ourselves!
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2019-05-12 22:16
It's not great music by any means--especially that weirdly-harmonized slow movement. But I'm listening to the player's deft articulation and finger coordination as pretty impressive. The piece may be worth studying and practicing just as material for those techniques. Not sure how it goes over with most audiences though. Any one of the fast movements might stand on its own as recital material. Those might be short, not too repetitive, and hold the audience's interest long enough.
Post Edited (2019-12-05 04:48)
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