 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: James Garcia
Date: 2002-06-04 04:17
At this very moment while I am typing this I am half way through listening to the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with Robert Marcellus and The cleaveland orchestra (i hope i got the right city in ohio). His sound... It's absolutley amazing. It's simple and sweet and just inspires me to be a better clarinetist. I'm only seventeen so oviously I wasn't around at all when he was. What was he like as a teacher? Was he the prodigy type? The best way for me to describe his sound besides simple and sweet is to say that its like hes singing. Like hes not a clarinetist but a true musican where the instrument is an extension of his very essence.
-James Garcia
Chicago, IL
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-06-04 05:24
The Robert Marcellus recording of the Mozart Concerto has recently passed the 40 year mark as one of the truly modern benchmark clarinet recordings. Since the initial recording in mid October of 1961, it has remained a staple in the catalogues, and each new generation of clarinetists rediscovers this amazing performance.
If Robert Marcellus, his life, his teaching style, etc... intrigues you, then perhaps you might find the James Gholson interview with him (shortly before his death) most informative:
http://www.clarinet-saxophone.asn.au/index_articles.htm
In addition, the Clarinet magazine published Dennis Nygren's fascinating and very revealing interview with Marcellus in the Nov/Dec 1988 edition.
The legacy left behind by Robert Marcellus - his recordings, his performances, his students, his philosophy of clarinet sound, and his teaching techniques has had an immeasurable effect on the last 50 years of clarinet history...GBK
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Author: Brandon
Date: 2002-06-04 07:58
I will agree that Robert Marcellus had a great sound. He was handpicked for the Cleveland Orchestra by George Szell. Szell was a great judge of talent. Marcellus certainly left a legacy through his students too. If you look at the ICA performers book from last year in New Orleans, notice that Marcellus is mentioned more than any other teacher. In fact, the teacher who was second was not even close. Was Marcellus just lucky enough to get prodigy students, or through his teaching curriculum was able to produce a fine crop of clarinetists? Any wonder at the Stockholm Clarinet Fest there is a session devoted to Marcellus? I am fortunate to be studying right now from a gentleman who studied at CIM with Marcellus for a number of years, and we often talk of Marcellus's teaching method. Do take a look at the Gholson interview. It can be informative if you can cleary decifer what Marcellus is saying. As a former student of Dr. Gholson's I can attest that the paper is an interesting read, and there are other clarinetists he interviews also, including Stanley Hasty, Stanley Drucker, Anthony Gigliotti, and Sidney Forrest. All are worth a read.
In pursuit of the Marcellus sound,
Brandon
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Author: David Dow
Date: 2002-06-04 11:23
Robert Marcellus was Prinicipal Clarinet with Cleveland Orchestra for some 20 years until about 71' and, this was when health factors brought his career of performing to an untimely end. Although I never had an opportunity to hear him play I did audit one of his masterclaasses, and his legacy of teaching is very strong over here in North America. Sadly there are no chamber music recordings available on the commercial market becuase his interpretation of the Brahms Quintet my colleagues told me was tremendous!! A close freind of mine was a private student of Mr. Marclellus and told me his approach to teaching was like his playing, Direct and focused with minimal fuss interpretatively. This simply was one of the all time greatest players and he brought stle to every phrase.
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Author: HAT
Date: 2002-06-04 13:49
For the record, Marcellus never performed the Brahms quintet. He did play the trio and if you go to Puerto Rico you can see a videotape of the performance with Casals and Istomin (I haven't seen it). There is also a cd of the Schubert Octet with an enlarged string section conducted by Szell which is sold as part of a large boxed cd set (worth every penny) directly by the Cleveland Orchestra.
His teaching was based on very solid fundementals of clarinet playing and strong personal principals of music making. The basics were always stressed which is why every clarinet player at every level could benefit from him. His exposure to less advanced students at the summer masterclasses was always enlightening.
In terms of orchestral playing, his skills and knowledge were comprehensive. Although it is literally impossible to teach someone everything he/she needs to know to play in an orchestra, his basic principals took me a long way toward the goal. When I started doing it, the rest came naturally and quickly.
His legacy of orchestral recordings are, to me, even more important than the Mozart concerto. For those of you who own a new SACD player, there are about a dozen releases from Sony of George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra recordings, including several works that never made it onto cd. In particular, the Schubert Rosamunde selections (out of print since the 70s). RM often spoke of this recording as his personal favorite and ALL of the playing is awe-inspiring (particularly when you learn through experience just how damn hard Schubert's music is to play well).
In any case, although listening to the recordings is not a substitute for studying with him, it's all that's left. RM himself was a huge advocate of studying recordings and trying to get that sound concept stuck in the brain permanently.
His influence on my playing is in everything I do. Especially legato and staccato, both of which he comprehensively mastered in his own playing.
David Hattner, NYC (RM student 86-90)
www.northbranchrecords.com
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Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2002-06-04 23:01
I remember reading the tributes to RM in the international clarinet magazine shortly after his death. The reminiscences from his own accomplished students, former colleagues, and luminaries from the classical musical world alike were stunningly eloquent and couldn't have been more complimentary. Perhaps one would appreciate this by personally reading these personal tributes in the magazine.
Marcellus was the clarinetist's clarinetist in an orchestra at the time consisting of musician's musicians - an orchestra perhaps unequalled to this or any other day. As a pupil of his I observed that he had the greatest understanding and was the finest teacher of the craft of playing the clarinet while always imparting a sense of conscientiousness and perspective about musical style. His in-studio demonstrations were even more incredible than the Marcellus sound and style that was able to be picked up by electronic microphones.
I personally produced a 1 hr. audio/video tribute about the life and music of Robert Marcellus that was presented at the ICA convention in Texas (1997) shortly after his death at age 67. I am honored to be presenting this tribute once again at the invitation of Stephan Harg - the director of the 2002 ICA convention during the Stockholm Clarinetfest this July.
There are many beautiful examples of his relatively short-lived orchestral playing career ('53 - '73) on LP and CD. There are also many solo and chamber performances existing on live tape (both audio and video) that demonstrate his supreme mastery of this repertoire including:
Debussy Rhapsodie, Copland Concerto, Brahms Trio, Schubert Shepherd on the Rock, Schubert Octet, Beethoven and Mozart Piano Wind Quintets, Mozart Wind Serenades, Bartok Contrasts, Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time, Webern Chamber Concerto Op. 1, and several others - mostly all in private collections.
There are few that one meets in one's musical lifetime that exude instantly and genuinely the impression of being in the prescence of greatness. Robert Marcellus was by every credible account that I know of one of those people.
Gregory Smith
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Author: elmo lewis
Date: 2002-06-05 02:06
Cleveland radio station WCLV records all Cleveland Orchestra concerts and has performances of Marcellus playing the Debussy Rhapsody, the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante, the Schubert Octet, and other pieces on tape. I think it would be a worthwhile project for the ICS or some clarinetist with influence or connections to put out a limited edition CD with some of these live performances. How about it¿
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Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2002-06-05 03:18
The musicians of the Cleveland Orchestra control all of those live archival tapes and for good reason...it represents their product and work. In agreement with other parties (including the association and with the cooperation of WCLV) they have allowed some of the tapes to be made into special release CD sets that are "in house" label. Perhaps some sets are still available. You would have to call them directly or check their website to find out.
There is no way to get access to these archival performances other than by being a member of the orchestra or hearing them over WCLV as they are allowed to be broadcast from time to time. Many of the performances clarinetists have gathered over the years have been dubs of live broadcasts from the 60's and early 70's when they were syndicated and from dubs of specially broadcast taped archival performances as part of their yearly fundraising marathon or radiothon. I'm not sure that they allow this as much anymore.
Other broadcasts were sent by telephone wire to affiliates in NYC in the 50's and 60's and broadcast locally there only to be dubbed by Cleveland Orchestra afficianados in that area.
Then of course there were orchestra members themselves like RM who taped concerts that were broadcast locally by WCLV "live" with their own home-based reel-to-reel tape recorders.
Gregory Smith
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Author: dAVID dOW
Date: 2002-06-06 15:43
According to a colleague of mine who will go nameless he played the Brahm Quintet in Banff Alberta while doing masterclasses there for the Banff Cente of the Performing Arts. Whether or not he played the whole thing he did do a demo of the peice for students...a tape was not going at the time but I am sure he was intimate with the work like any clarinet player.
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Author: dAVID dOW
Date: 2002-06-06 15:48
Addendum; The colleague of mine who was his student was with him from 1968 to 1974 and I believe if you check the records at Banff he was there.
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Author: HAT
Date: 2002-06-06 20:34
Can't argue with that. When I was a student he declined to coach the piece because he hadn't 'performed' it. But it's possible he read it up there.
David Hattner, NYC
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Author: Bryce
Date: 2006-12-22 15:59
I will be preforming the second movment of Mozarts Clarinet Concerto in the next month or so and have been listening to Robert Marcellus's recording for inspiration. One of my private teachers was one of the last people to study with Marcellus and the interview with Marcellus mentioned seemed very interesting. I went to the link included in the post by GBK but I keep getting an error on the interview every time. I was wondering if anyone new any other way to get my hands on this interview and if there were any others that would be helpfull in finding more information on Marcellus.
Post Edited (2006-12-22 16:03)
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Author: Ed
Date: 2006-12-22 16:25
Perhaps if you contact Jim Gholson directly
http://music.memphis.edu/gholson.htm
he can send you a copy
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Author: bill28099
Date: 2006-12-22 17:40
I saved the Marcellus interview as a .pdf file maybe someone would like to host it, if it's legal to do so.
A great teacher gives you answers to questions
you don't even know you should ask.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2006-12-23 22:03
I really think Marcellus is the consumate orchestral player of the last century...he had a wonderful sound and superb intonation...but beyond that such command of the clarinet.
David Dow
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Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2006-12-24 01:17
One only needs to listen to Marcellus' numerous chamber music and solo performances to fully appreciate the full compass of his consummate artistry. As all premiere orchestral musicians know, chamber music and solo playing informs orchestral performance in the most profound way.
Anyone that tells you that they don't like orchestral playing for any reason whatsoever (as one recent well known bboard poster embarrassingly did), is simply revealing their lack of knowledge for everyone to see. The finest orchestral playing is simply a "larger" version of both chamber music and solo playing.
In fact, *on the whole*, the orchestral literature for the clarinet is arguably by far the deepest and greatest written for the instrument.
Gregory Smith
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Author: hartt
Date: 2006-12-24 05:55
When listeners wear out their Marcellus CD, they can always procure one of Eli Eban or his teacher, Yona Ettinger
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2006-12-24 08:19
"Anyone that tells you that they don't like orchestral playing for any reason whatsoever (as one recent well known bboard poster embarrassingly did), is simply revealing their lack of knowledge for everyone to see. The finest orchestral playing is simply a "larger" version of both chamber music and solo playing."
This is interesting and I would be happy if you clarify it. I didn't notice the post you are talking about, and I don't understand what you mean by "don't like orchestral playing". Do you mean actually playing it? Listening to it? How does not likling it reveals lack of knowledge?
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Author: Morrigan
Date: 2006-12-24 09:24
"How does not likling it reveals lack of knowledge?"
I think I know what you mean. I'll find an unfamiliar work completely boring and I'll never like it, until I study it or play it, then it becomes incredibly intersting! This prevents me from getting to know new works though I guess.
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Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2006-12-24 13:14
Orchestral music IS chamber music. Orchestral music IS solo (passage) music - if played with fidelity to the principles that guide fine orchestral playing.
What might those qualities be?
Gregory Smith
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2006-12-24 15:17
I'm moving away from the original subject of the thread, so I hope it is ok.....
Gregory Smith - I think you are right and I agree with your last post, but it still doesn't clarify it. When you said "don't like orchestral playing" did you mean listening to orchestral playing or actually playing it?
Morrigan - what you said is actually not what I meant at all. It is, if anything, very close to the opposite of what I meant! I pretty much try to find as much new music that I'm not familiar with (maybe I have CAS, the CD variation of GAS). I am actually very obsessed with understanding every little detail in as much music as I can, including some music that many think is strange. I actually can't undersatnd why someone wouldn't want to do all this like you say you are (though most people and musicians that I know are like you).
That is why it makes a big difference whether Gregory Smith meant "don't like LISTENING to orchestral playing", or "don't like to PLAY orchestral clarinet music". The first I completely agree with, since many dismiss music because they simply don't understand it. The second I disagree with. I think it is completely reasonable, and I can think of many reasons, most are not musical, that someone can understand how great orchestral playing is, and listen to a lot of it, but still not want to play any of it at all. I think anyone should play the music that is in their nature.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2006-12-24 18:14
Great orchestral playing is simply an expansion of great chamber music playing...
David Dow
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Author: Morrigan
Date: 2006-12-24 20:51
I understand what Gregory meant. Some people are obsessed with their solo playing and believe that any other form of music, to them, is not worthy of their playing or below their standards.
I know plenty of people like this.
"...fine orchestral playing.
What might those qualities be?"
You ask a hard queston Gregory, and I'm not prepared to try to answer it without having a good long think about it...
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Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2006-12-25 04:39
Orchestral playing as I meant it means to be an orchestral musician.
The comment that I was referring to - that of a semi well known professional clarinetist who so shockingly referred to playing the orchestral repertoire in an orchestra as "boring"** - obviously doesn't know the first thing about doing so (or really could never get a full time gig with a good orchestra) since playing in an orchestra, as David Dow points out, IS playing chamber music and does, in solo passages, require the same qualities demanded of one (if only a little different) as in the solo repertory.
Gregory Smith
** I believe this clarinetist's attitude was best reflected by their statement to the effect: I am not an orchestra player by choice mind you because it bores me....
Post Edited (2006-12-25 05:16)
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