 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: ruben
Date: 2026-08-31 12:45
Phil Rehfeldt was my about my first music teacher, though I didn't study clarinet privately with him. As a result of this, I was probably one of the youngest kids exposed to avant-garde music, which doesn't mean I liked it...or that I like it now. He, in turn, had been a student of Kalman Bloch in Los Angeles. He ended up teaching at the University of Redlands in California. Do any of you out there know whether he is still with us and would anybody like to share memories of him?
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
Post Edited (2026-08-31 13:01)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2026-08-31 15:22
Interesting. I had an lp of Rehfeldt playing contemporary pieces. The contents have vanished from memory, but it might have included the Martino Set. I think I also had a recording and fingering chart by him for some multiphonics. I admired that output intellectually but failed to connect with it otherwise. (Except I like the Martino.) It's too bad that clarinet multiphonics have such limited applications, sounding as "different" as they strongly tend to do.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ruben
Date: 2026-08-31 20:04
Philip, Mr. Rehfeldt championed the music of his life-long friend, Barney Childs, who was a teacher of English literature at the Univeresity of Arizona and later, at the University of California at Berkeley. Childs thought himself first and foremost a composer. In that old record which you had, there was a piece for solo clarinet in several movements by Ernest Krenek. Krenek composed a lot for clarinet; he wasn't an avant-gardist, but let's say, a modernst. I've played those pieces and they sound quite a bit like Webern. There was also a piece for clarinet and tape on that record; I can't remember by whom.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
Post Edited (2026-08-31 20:07)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: James Langdell
Date: 2026-09-06 21:40
I met Phil in the 1970s at a "Clarinet And Friend" concert he performed with composer Barney Childs. They had selected and commissioned compositions for a clarinetist (no limitations) and a Friend who could contribute by operating a tape player, playing portable electronic devices, playing hand percussion, narrating, or playing a piano not beyond the level required by the Beethoven clarinet trio (not counting 8 difficult bars in that piano part). The most memorable piece on that program was Harold Budd's "In Delius's Sleep".
There is a Soundcloud site with recordings of several of the "Clarinet and Friend" pieces.
https://soundcloud.com/phillip-rehfeldt-1
Rehfeldt wrote a number of books related to clarinet. I'm glad to see his "New Directions For Clarinet" is still in print.
https://www.clarinetallmusic.com/products/rehfeldt-new-directions-for-clarinet
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
