 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: graham
Date: 2002-09-27 12:32
I recently increased my collection of CD versions of SotR, by getting hold of the 1928 recording with Charles Draper, which, to my surprise, I had not known to exist until a few weeks ago. It is available on Dutton Laboratory recordings. The sleeve notes say the 78 record is rare, and I have doubts whether it was ever generally released, as the tricky bit at the end is fluffed. I suppose they may have tried retakes but with no better result. Otherwise it is a compelling reading by both Draper and the soprano. The sound is only average though. It got me thinking of the merits of the other versions I have. I particularly like the Harold Wright, Reginald Kell, and Dieter Klocker accounts. It would be interesting if anyone else has a favourite version(s) of the piece.
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Author: tom piercy
Date: 2002-09-27 13:25
One of my favorites is an old record (LP) with Beverly Sills, soprano and Gervase De Peyer, clarinet. (I'm out of the country right now and don't have the record cover with me to see who is playing piano.)
Tom Piercy
thomaspiercy.com
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Author: d dow
Date: 2002-09-27 14:01
Reginald Kell did a wonderful version of this with Elisabeth Schumann in the 30s. He may have done this is the 50s again in the USA it is well worth having a listen to. I also Like the Ameling version with Deinzer.
David Dow Symphony Nb
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-09-27 15:25
The Draper recording is with Isobel Baillie, a fine English soprano whose motto was "Never sing louder than lovely." I agree with Graham that it's not the best version. Baillie was mainly an oratorio singer and didn't have the operatic instincts for one of Schubert's most virtuosic songs, and they made a huge cut. Also, the sound is pretty primitive.
Kell's recording with Elisabeth Schumann is excellent. The two of them match nuances perfectly. Kell's second recording was with a soprano named Ritchie (can't remember her first name). It's a very different performance, with Kell again matching the nuances, but Ritchie was nowhere close to the artist that Schumann was.
Sills was a bit past her prime when she did SotR with de Peyer, but, as Tom Piercy says, it's one of the great performances. It so perfectly attuned one to the other that it sounds like they were sleeping together. Also, Sills has enough breath to take the very long phrase (going up to the high note near the end of the first section) without a break, and she has the coloratura technique to get the fast section clean and easy.
The Wright/Valente/Serkin performance is justly famous, and absolutely perfect. Wright's control is amazing, and his tounguing on the ascending run at the end has to be heard to be believed. Still, it's too operatic for my taste -- the other extreme from Baillie. Give me Sills and de Peyer any day.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: graham
Date: 2002-09-27 16:12
The only gloss I would add to Ken's comments re Kell is that I prefer the Ritchie because I do not much like Schumann. But Kell is great in both.
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Author: David
Date: 2002-09-27 17:09
Elly Hemeling and G de P were good
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-09-27 17:21
I am very fond of the 1988 version with Karl Leister, a young James Levine, and a younger Kathleen Battle.
Deutsch Grammophon #419 237-2...GBK
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2002-09-27 17:41
d dow wrote:
<I also Like the Ameling version with Deinzer.>
Worth mentioning about this recording is that this was in the early days of Early Clarinet, Hans Deinzer is here playing on a ten key boxwood clarinet made by Rudolf Tutz Innsbrück. It's tuned in A=415, one semitone below modern pich 440, as everything performed on old instruments in those days.
This is a pioneer recording for this piece on old instruments and made long before anybody else would even immagine doing it.
Alphie
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Author: Robert
Date: 2002-09-27 18:06
There is a recording with Barbara Hendricks, Sabine Meyer and Radu Lupu. I can't stand Hendricks's singing on the CD, but Sabine Meyer plays very well. The real gem on the recording is Radu Lupu's piano playing. After hearing how he plays this song, even though the accompaniment is so simple, no other piano player can do it for me!
I haven't heard Hans Deinzer's recording, but somehow I doubt it is recorded at A=415. As far as I know, most instruments were tuned at about A=430 in those days.
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2002-09-27 20:25
Robert wrote: "I haven't heard Hans Deinzer's recording, but somehow I doubt it is recorded at A=415. As far as I know, most instruments were tuned at about A=430 in those days."
"In those days", before 1980, the pitch for early instruments was always "modern" standard baroque pitch A=415. A=430 was introduced in 1982 as "modern" standard classical pitch.
Alphie
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-09-27 22:09
GBK -
I hate the Battle/Leister/Levine recording. Battle simpers her way through everything without a clue, and Leister is dull, dull, dull, IMHO. De gustibus, though, non est disputandum.
Ken Shaw
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-09-27 22:20
Ken...That particular recording is the one I grew up listening to.
Funny how a first recording sticks in one's mind as "definitive".
I'll have to relisten with new ears...Thanks...GBK
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Author: Tim2
Date: 2002-09-28 00:11
I have Sills and De Peyer and I believe Charles Wadsworth is the pianist. I love the way Sills just soars to the high B natural toward the end of the slow section, the high point. She really carries the line, ans does de Peyer and Wadsworth. I've heard other recordings. I also have Kell and Schumann but I don't like the Shumann's scooping. Kell is good. I like his sound. I wouldn't have said that 30 years ago.
Sills is the best.
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Author: d dow
Date: 2002-09-28 12:52
I also like my teacher Harold Wright's version a good deal especially the warmth of sound and the fact the recorded sound is quite nice....Serkin and Valente are pretty outstanding as well but being a Wright fan I may be biased a bit....
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Author: diz
Date: 2002-09-30 01:14
The Shepherd on the Rock is one of those priceless, romantic gems, isn't it?
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Author: d dow
Date: 2002-09-30 12:36
Its a neat piece, I may have an opportunity of doing this music soon ...
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2005-12-14 16:50
A mention of Kathleen Battle in another thread led me to search on her name.
I find this difference of opinion between Ken Shaw and GBK over her recording of SotR.
I'm with Ken, only more so. I find Battle utterly unlistenable. Schubert sung like Puccini is not my idea of good music-making.
The Wikipedia article on her - whether accurate or not I do not know - makes amusing reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Battle.
-----------
If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.
To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.
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Author: Brenda
Date: 2005-12-14 18:11
My favourite is with Janet Obermeyer - soprano, and Stephen Pierre - clarinet. It's on the "Bouquet" CD recorded by the Canadian ensemble, ChamberWORKS. What I love about it is that Janet's voice is so light and clear, unlike the heavy operatic sound I've heard on other recordings.
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2005-12-14 18:35
David Peacham wrote:
> The Wikipedia article on her - whether accurate or not I do not
> know - makes amusing reading:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Battle.
The external link detailing some of the things she's supposedly done is even more amusing!
Whether they're absolutely true or not is beside the point -- you don't have those type of anecdotes surrounding you without deserving them.
________________
Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.
- Pope John Paul II
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