 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: anna
Date: 2002-01-29 00:06
i always hear bad stuff about him...well, what exactly is wrong with him?
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Author: Clairgirl
Date: 2002-01-29 00:12
The first recording of the Mozart that I listened to was Stoltzman! I wonder if i'm scarred for life now.... Stoltzman has a different sound and style than what seems to be the "norm" in clarinet playing and it just doesn't agree with some people.
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Author: sylvain
Date: 2002-01-29 00:32
If you listen to a few famous clarinet players you will notice differences, but rarely really drastic ones. However, there are a few players that have a very particular sound. Stoltzman is one of them. He uses vibrato often which is traditionally avoided in clarinet playing (for no good reason, except clarinet sounds so good it needs no vibrato ;-> ) and has a sound that people often qualify as airy and thin.
I am not a fan of his sound but I admire the player and what he has achieved. He still has impeccable technique and control of the instrument, he just plays differently than most clarinet players like.
I like his recording of the Brahms trio with Emmanuel Ax and YoYo Ma.
He also does a very free interpretation of the Copland concerto, which is fun.
Get some recordings and decide for yourself.
-Sylvain
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-01-29 02:09
Richard Stoltzman is tirelessly promoting the clarinet (and himself) in every venue possible. We need more people like him.
Unfortunately, the appetite of the general public for more clarinet artistry is hinderered by other forms of what passes these days as "quality entertainment."
There is nothing wrong with Richard Stoltzman. One doesn't have to like or agree with his style of playing, but, as fellow clarinetists, he deserves our gratitude for keeping the clarinet in the public eye....GBK
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2002-01-29 04:17
I have about 5 of his CDs and have listened to him at length. He's not my favorite clarinetist, but he is willing to do new and different things with the instrument. He has a very unique style. I sometimes find he sounds a bit like a sax player who doubles on clarinet more than a classical clarinetist who focuses entirely on clarinet. I personally prefer a more "mellow" tone--but do enjoy listening to the selections RCA has produced with him.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2002-01-29 07:25
As GBK wrote, Stolzman trys to broaden his genre outward of classic music, such as jazz or latin. James Galway(flute) is another man to do this. Yo-yo-ma too likes to play Piazzola's Tango. (Many of older people know at what places Tango was born and they would have disgusted a famous classic cello player plays a tango in the old days.) This may let some of us have a kind of antipathy to them.
However, as these two men say, I would like my music perceptions enhanced too although my playing abilities will not grow up at my age. Bach tried to broaden his music learning Italian music by arranging Vivaldy's compositions. This seems Bach was another example.Different from the ordinary Bach image that he was a very warm family man dedicated to God, he acted like a short tempered man throwing his wig to an ill performing boy singer and coming to his workplace ivresse with a young beautiful woman at night.
By playing different genre of music, one will be able to deepen the expression in playing classical musics too, I guess.
I understand above in the head, but I prefer Benette(flute), de Payer(clarinet), or Casalus(cello), rather than Galway, Stolzman, and Yo-Yo-Ma, frankly speaking.
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Author: janlynn
Date: 2002-01-29 14:19
im glad this question was asked.have been meaning to post this question myself but have been too unsure to do so. ive always been a stolzman fan but have been afraid to admit it becuz whenever he has been brought up, he gets knocked down quite a bit.
he was the first "real" clarinetist i ever heard so maybe that is why i like his style. plus, when i was in college i had a chance to play music with him. and to think i didnt know who he was back then. he came to our school and played his version of rhapsody in blue, with our colleg band as his back up. that was the most awsome experience.
anyway, am glad this question was asked and good to see the responses.
JL
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Author: Paul
Date: 2002-01-29 15:13
I really do like his slow version of the 2nd moment of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto. Paul
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Author: William
Date: 2002-01-29 15:22
I must admit that my oppinions of RS are greatly influenced by an "Artists in the Schools" appearance he made (with his personal accompanist) many years ago at my middle schools neighboring high school. At that time, he was trying to demonstrate jazz and his renditions were dreadful. He also played very flat to the rooms piano and made no effort to correct his pitch. He also failed to relate whatsoever to the students who had gathered to listen and ask questions, maintaining an disdainful, aloof, "better than thou" attitude and was clearly not the "inspirational performing artist" that he was suposed to be. It was probably RS having "one of those mornings", but still, was not a professional appearance or performance. However, I have recently heard recordings of his that are very well done, in particular, a rendition of the Copland Clarinet Concerto and some other transcriptions which I heard via PBS on my cars FM. It is too bad, however, that he left such a poor impression with our students. Most other "professionals" that I have met in person--Stern, Rampaul, Rose, Goodman, Combs--have lived up to their reputations and delivered, both in performance and personality. But RS just didn't--sorry, maybe next time. Good Clarineting!!!!!!
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Author: Bob
Date: 2002-01-29 15:35
Perhaps you're listening to the wrong people.
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Author: james
Date: 2002-01-29 18:20
lets no criticize anyone musician, especially in like a public chat room, he is a famous artist and atleast so some respect that he has gotten that far. Everyone is a unique indivisual with their own way of playing lets respect that.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2002-01-29 18:28
Nothing is "wrong" with him. It might be that he is not to everyone's taste and due to his high profile, has lots of people who feel a need to voice their criticisms. That is like saying "what is wrong with anchovies? I hear a lot of people don't like them." Listen to a lot of players and decide what you like or don't, based on your own ears and educated opinions.
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Author: Laura
Date: 2002-01-29 19:00
People don't like him because his sound is different than the standard classical sound, i.e. everyone else. This is a mark of a soloist.
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Author: sylvain
Date: 2002-01-29 20:48
To james:
If we can;t talk about famous clarinetist and wether or not we like their sound, what is this BB for?
Exchange of ideas and opinions is a very healthy activity and as far as I can see no one has flamed Mr Stolzmann (yet ;->)
Some controversy to the posting is always a good start for amazing threads, at least that's the way I feel about it. At least those are more interesting than "which clarinet to buy"...
-Sylvain
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Author: donald nicholls
Date: 2002-01-29 21:36
that's odd- i've at least 2 recordings of Wolfgang Meyer, oh, no 3 if you count him as 2nd clarinet in the Grand Partita (Hans Deinzer as 1st) and more if you count his Basset horn playing..... his tone is fine... in fact, his tone is pretty good. I've never heard him play the Molter concerti, but i think i remember you commenting on this recording before.... maybe it's not really him? maybe he was playing the D clarinet and ummmm
i'm sure you are right and this is a crap recording, i just don't think it is typical of WMs playing.
on Stoltzman- he is quite a shy person, i can't imagine him being that great at addressing a room full of High School students. Also, maybe he was having a bad day? i didn't think he usually agreed to do that kind of gig anyway, partly because he's too busy and partly because of a bad experience some years ago (at Juliard the story goes).
hmmm
anyway- i don't like his playing that much, but he sure is better than me, and he makes music damm it. boy, he CAREs about music. and he has great legato!
nzdonald
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Author: Ralph
Date: 2002-01-30 01:14
As as a few others have stated, there is nothing wrong with Richard Stoltzman - he just approaches things in his own unique way that maximizes his talents - something we should all strive for. As one who has seen Mr. Stoltzman in a very intimate setting (less than 300 seat theater) he is more than a clarinettist - he is a true performer and musician. He is also very personable - staying after the concert to meet with the audience, answer questions, and autograph. He is a true ambassador for our instrument.
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Author: Larry Liberson
Date: 2002-01-30 01:31
Laura says "People don't like him because his sound is different than the standard classical sound, i.e. everyone else."
Gee...all these years of playing and listening and I never realized that there is a "standard classical sound." And I also didn't realize that we all sound pretty much the same.
Hmmm....quite an uninteresting bunch we are, eh? 
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Author: William
Date: 2002-01-30 15:40
Ralph,
I must agree that RS possesses unique and remarkable skills as a musician and clarinetist, as evidenced by his numerous excellant recordings. My above posting was a result of "one bad day" up close and personal--"audience" of less than 50 high school and middle school clarinetists in the high school band room early in the morning--which left a lasting impression in my mind as well as those of our students. I certainly will agree that this may have been a "one time only" occurance and should not be a viewed as an indictment of his reputation as a person nor as a clarinetist musician. It does show us all the importance maintaining a high degree of professionalism at all times--no telling who might be listening in. Nuff said--Good Clarineting!!!!!!!!!
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Author: Toby
Date: 2002-01-30 15:54
I have one Stolzman CD, Aria, a mixture of different types of songs. I thought, in my relative musical ignorance vis-a-vis many of you on this list, that his tone was unique, admirable, and totally in-your-face. If his tone does not demonstrate superb "ring" then I need to learn better what that term means!
I do not aspire to play with that tonal quality, and don't think I would ever be able to anyway, but I absolutely love to hear it, especially for jazz. On that CD he uses tonal qualities close to the vowels in some of the words in some of the songs...which is one of the oldest jazz recording gimmicks. Maybe a little corny, but wizardly.
My impression is, Stoltzman is a crowd-pleaser, and therefore a natural target for brick-bats thrown by those of us with smaller crowds, eh?
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Author: Wes
Date: 2002-01-30 17:30
He is a wonderful player but I recall that I thought his "jazz" playing was embarassing and amateurish. He plays with a double lip embouchure which seems to affect his sound. At a seminar, he played the same phrase with his double lip embouchure and with a single lip embouchure. The single lip effort sounded preferable to me.
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Author: Tim2
Date: 2002-01-31 00:15
20 or so years ago, I heard a recording of Stoltzman doing the Weber quintet. My memory of that tells me that it was excellent. I remember the vibrato but I didn't think it was out of place. I remember how "alive" he made the piece seem to me.
It was at 4:30 am at the time and I just got home from work.
Vibrato has it's place, maybe not for everyone or everywhere.
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2002-01-31 19:35
Anybody making a good living playing the clarinet deserves a lot of credit, especially someone as entrepeneurial as Mr. Stoltzman. Vibrato or not, many of us have lots to be jealous of him about. He plays with the best orchestras. He has the best people on tour with him. He has new pieces composed for him, which he then performs and records, and the recordings sell. His performances bring in good houses, and he is approachable and friendly afterwards. How many people can you say this of, especially clarinetists?
It has been fascinating, over the last 20 years, to watch his continuously evolving career, from a straight-ahead chamber musicician, to much, much more. Even if I didn't like his music, he would still have to garner respect.
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Author: rmk
Date: 2002-01-31 22:44
His career has spnned almost 30 years. I remember seeing him play with the chamber group Tashi in the early 70's. Most people don't realize that Stoltzman is somewhere around 60 years old.
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Author: Sauron
Date: 2002-02-01 13:38
Sometimes it seems that Stoltzman and Mozart don't mix too well. His style differs greatly from Mozart's.
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Author: Larry Liberson
Date: 2002-02-01 20:31
Sauron said "Sometimes it seems that Stoltzman and Mozart don't mix too well. His style differs greatly from Mozart's."
Really? So when's the last time you heard Mozart play the clarinet, anyway?
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-02-01 21:19
"....Really? So when's the last time you heard Mozart play the clarinet, anyway?..."
That must have been Irving Mozart. He does the morning shift at 7-11, and plays clarinet once a month in the local seniors pops community band...GBK
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Author: Sally Gardens
Date: 2002-02-03 05:47
I like Stoltzman's rendition of the Mozart concerto, especially (as someone else noted) the second movement. I don't care to use vibrato myself, and I sometimes don't agree with his interpretive decisions in when to use it, but hey, that's his prerogative as the interpreter. :-D It's not as if the Mozart is set in stone for all eternity. Music is a living thing. To paraphrase Heraclitus, you don't play the same work of music twice.
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Author: Josh Schultze
Date: 2002-02-06 15:23
I wanted to hold out on commenting on this thread until I had heard both Stoltzman and Drucker live.
A friend of mine from Germany, a violist, went to the Metropolitan Museum to hear Stoltzman perfom the Mozart Concerto and Lutaslowsky. I positively enjoyed the performance although I did expect a little more. During the Mozart however he did miss a note. Thereafter at every opportunity he turned around repeatedly blew into a tone hole. And between movements he swabbed his clarinet and used paper to dry some more tone holes.
My German friend had heard Stolzman's name but had never heard him live nor formed and opinion. When I asked my German friend what he thought he said: "I got the impression that this big name jazz player came to play classical music. It was almost as if he was the most important part of the event and the music was secondary"
I have many of his CDs which I often listen to. And if I could hear him in concert again I would.
Yesterday evening I heard Stanley Drucker perform an all Brahms program: 120 no 1 & 2, and the trio 114. In this case Drucker played flawlessly, and had a wonderful way of singing though the clarinet. I also enjoyed the way he would come forward with some musical lines and recede into the backround with others. His whole approach seemed effortless, extremly polished yet not overly controlled or careful. Again here are my german friend's comments: "In this case, he allowed the music of Brahms to be expressed through him. For him the music of Brahms was the most important aspect and he strove to make it as wonderful as possible." If I could hear him in concert again I would.
After hearing them both back to back now I have a point of comparison. Ultimately it really is a matter of style. And it's possible to prefer one, the other or both.
Josh
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