 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Richard
Date: 2001-09-02 15:36
Hi! Sorry this is so long, but I'm getting up on my high horse about how this piece should be played, and probbly being really narrow minded (I'm definitely in no position to say how a piece should or should not be played!) .I've been playing the Malcolm Arnold clarinet sonatina for quite a while now, and performed it in a couple of concerts. It's one of my favourite pieces, and I've just been really offended by a recording of it I heard - literally half an hour ago - by Jack Brymer. Recordings seem to be quite thin on the ground and the only one I'd really listened to before was Michael Collins's. Then I heard Jack Brymer's.
I know there is more than one way to play a piece...but Brymer used so much vibrato that it sounded like an alto or soprano sax sonatina. He played the first movement a lot slower than me or Michael Collins and pulled the tempo about so much...and totally changed the articulation.The piece is jazz influenced but is ad libbing that much ok? Plus the middle section of the 1st movement which alternates between 4/4 and 6/8 is made soooo slow and legato, it sounds all wrong....Some bits I liked, like the strong accents and the rubato in the last few bars, but still.
Then the 2nd movement was played more up tempo than I thought it should be, and Brymer made it sound like Acker Bilk playing the theme tune to some early nineties sitcom. And the third movement, marked furioso and supposedly related to a czech dance, a 'furient' which I played as such, Brymer played way slower, sounding almost bluesy. He cut the sforzandos off, making them sound like computerized beeps (I liked that touch actually, but do you think it fits with the mood of the piece?).
If you haven't fallen asleep by now (sorry I'm writing such an essay) is this the way you feel the piece should be played? Apparently Brymer was a contemporary and knew Arnold and was a good interpreter of his music, and he's a good musician (I heard him playing the Mozart concerto). Obviously you can play a piece how you like, but is this really the character of the sonatina? Did Malcolm Arnold want it to be a sort of light music style, jazzy/popular piece? My eyes have been opened by this recording, and I'd really like to know how other people think of and play this piece.
Thanks for listening to me moaning, I'm interested in peoples views on this,
Richard
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ~jerry
Date: 2001-09-02 17:18
Richard,
I know nothing about the composition you speak of (or Jack Brymer for that matter) but I am in the middle of a very interesting book that you should read. "Effortless Mastery" by Kenny Werner (pianist). Great reading and lots of adice on how to become the "total" musician that will allow you to embrace even Jack Brymer's rendition of this piece.
~ jerry
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Song and Wind
Date: 2001-09-02 19:52
I had a lesson with a teacher who was telling me his students all had gone to hear Richard Stolzman play. They commented how they didn't like this or that, and could you believe how he played such-and-such, and what about his sound, etc., ..And the teacher stopped them, and said, the difference between you and Stolzman, is that he is on stage and you are not.
With all due respect, even if you don't like the recording, acknowledge Brymer's right to artistic license, and just relax! Unless you are the composer, what fruit is there in taking such offense?
Anyway... Maybe you would like Gary Gray's recording???
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David Pegel
Date: 2001-09-02 22:56
I see your point, but remember that there are different interpretations of ALL peices, whether classic or orchestral. I listened to two different copies of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.1 and in one copy the ending was taken about twice as fast as the other one. I sat there thinking, how in the world can interpretations be THAT ambiguous and extreme?
I have advice that you won't care for: Get used to it.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Jim
Date: 2001-09-03 04:39
I have a somewhat unusual friend (an Anglophyle among other things) who collects recordings of a somewhat obscure Handel coronation anthem called "Zadok the Priest." Some years ago he had me place all of his recordings (9 of them!) onto a single cassette so he could listen to them in sequence. (I said he is unusual!) I was struck by the immense diferences in those recordings in interpretation including tempi, dynamics etc. as well as the orchestration used, boy sopranos vs. women etc. My friend professed to appreciate and enjoy them all, though he certainally had preferences. I thought at the time that was a good approach to enjoying music. (B.T.W. he is an educator with no musical training past H.S. marching band.)
I drive a blue Chevy pickup truck that suits my personality and needs very well. My brother drives a Champagne Nissan Altima sedan with sunroof. He says that it suits him well. That's why there are both Chevys and Nissans (and everything else) in this world of ours.
To each his/ her own!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: beejay
Date: 2001-09-03 07:16
I thought Arnold's piece was meant to be jazzy. It was his response to the jazz age
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Richard
Date: 2001-09-03 11:03
Sorry. I feel very narrow minded for writing all that now - I was just really shocked
and felt kind of insulted for a piece I really love. Silly I know - I don't even know why I posted all that here now anyway. I just needed to sort of vent my (kind of daft!) opinions somewhere. Did I sound really bitter?( I didn't mean to sound like a total musical snob or something, I really don't like people like that-what have I become?! [I'm 16 for God's sake], oh dear.....I'll shut up and go and practise now, sorry!)
Richard
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tim2
Date: 2001-09-03 22:34
You've just discovered for yourself how different an interpretation can be on a piece of music. That, in itself, is <b>by far</B> the best thing that could come about for you.
Now, with this newly discovered dimension in mind, when you hear other pieces played in not just the same way you think they should be, don't say flat out, "I don't like that!" but rather, ask yourself, "Why would he/she do it that way?" Look at the music closely, there may be a reason in the printed page.
In the same way, <b>you</b> also can interpret the music how you want to, with good reason behind what you do.
I wish I had gone through your experience before I went for my music major years ago. It would have opened my eyes back then. You are a better musician for what you have experienced. Use that experience and keep you mind open.
btw - there was and probably still is a double CD recording of melodies played by Acker Bilk (sp) in our Disc-Go-Round store. I almost picked it up. But I'm not sure if Acker is worth the money. Looks like tunes of popular kind. He does not play classical, I guess.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Jim
Date: 2001-09-04 04:56
A "P.S." to my post. I've found over the years that performances (and even pieces) that I don't prefer often result in more thought, growth and learning than those that please my taste.
Jim
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Azzacca
Date: 2001-09-04 14:51
Jim
I have no personal knowledge of Acker Bilk, but I have a friend who loves his music (she had me look up what was available on ebay at one point). If the price for that CD isn't too bad, you might want to consider it.
As for different interpretations - it's a shame that for the most part we can't go and ask the composer how s/he hears/heard it when s/he wrote it. But then again, isn't that why music is considered one of the "arts" - half the fun is being allowed some amount of creativity.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: David dow Sympony NB
Date: 2002-04-26 10:19
Much of Arnold's music is in the lighter vein, and the differences in interpretation really mean the peice has alot of meat to it. Example: in the Mozart Quitet there is far less one can do in terms of tempi and phrasing than in this music without becoming a little weird. That being said Jack Brymer represents the older English school and I see nothing wrong with his over the top interpretation, that being said I know that Collins is also fantastic and may approach things from say a different perspective. Vibrato however is a tool and clarinetists in some repetoire like Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue should really loo9sen it up to give the audience the thrill it seeks. Shock is good for us sometimes when it comes to interpretation... compare the Beethoven Symphonies of Furtwangler versus the Karajan style of conducting...in some moments the tempo changing in Furtwangler is disarming and yet arrests one's attention. It is here we realize that music is truly amazing and in spite of collective thinking that society imposes, we all are individuals and justification is based as much on stlye as it is on technique and artistry.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
