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RE: Good recordings of Meyer & Marcellus

Author: Greg
Date: 1999-08-31 03:27

Becky wrote:
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Hi peoples!
I'm going to broaden my horizons a little and listen to other clarinetists besides Stoltzman. Can anyone recommend good recordings of Sabine Meyer and Bob Marcellus? I heard they're good. Also, can anyone suggest some more clarinetists I should listen to?
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Now that Sony Essential Classics makes the Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of George Szell and Louis Lane (the assistant conductor for a few years) available for a very good price on CD, there are any number of examples of Marcellus as an orchestral clarinetist as well as playing the Mozart concerto.
The catalogue is probably on the web at sony.com I imagine.

The essential "Essentials" as might be said are for every clarinetist interested in orchestral playing (as opposed to solo or chamber music playing). They are hallmarks of not only supreme orchestral clarinetistry but also of orchestral virtuosity as shown by the Cleveland Orchestra from the 1950's to the early 1970's under Szell's directorship.

Some examples might include:

Any Brahms, Beethoven, Schumann, Dvorak, or Mendelssohn Symphony. There is so much other repertorie that they recorded together.....all of it superb to the point of perfection!

One has to distinguish between the playing of someone like a Stoltzman who is a very popular soloist and Marcellus whom many consider the clarinetists' clarinetist as far as orchestral playing goes. To be used to listening to a soloist in the style of a Stoltzman and then jump to Marcellus in the orchestra are two different worlds.

Of course Marcellus' recording of the Mozart is sheer perfection for many but the awe inspiring thing to me is that one does not even need to qualify his recording as having come from the perspective of an "orchestral" clarinetist. It stands alone as an example of a great soloist. This is also evident in the many solo appearances that he made with the orchestra in different repertoire.

The Cleveland Orchestra also issued 2 different CD sets under their own auspicies or label - available if you call them I think - that include many live performances of Marcellus' playing including on 1 set a truly asounding version of the Schubert Octet for winds and strings with augmented string section. One of the Sony series CD's is of Louis Lane conducting the Ravel Introduction and Allegro with expanded strings again.

Gregory Smith

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