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Stanley Drucker Master Class at Mannes, February 24, 2006

Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2006-02-28 17:40

Stanley Drucker gave an excellent, scandalously underattended master class at Mannes last Friday. Three fine students played concerto movements and orchestral solos. He did not play, but set high standards and coached each student at his/her level.

KODALY, DANCES OF GALANTA, initial solo

Your most important goal is to find the Hungarian style. The accent is always on the first note of a phrase, and the "Scotch Snap" or "Lombard" rhythm appears constantly: a short note on the beat followed by a long note -- 16th/dotted 8th.

All ornaments must be precise. For example, after the first note of the solo, the two 32nd notes must come just before the beat, and you can't run the notes together.

This solo is difficult to keep going. You have to keep the energy up all the time. After the trill, for example, the line must continue with no drop in volume.

You can and should take time at important places, but you must come out of a held note strictly in tempo. On the trill on A, for example, you can hold it for extra time, but the on the following notes you must re-establish the tempo.

Similarly, on the rising scale up to D, you slow down on the Bb and C, play the D quite long, and then immediately be back in tempo. Subdivide on the D and on the triplets.

The character is very "folky." Keep that in mind and bring it out.

(The NY Philharmonic performed the Kodaly just last week. Unfortunately, it hasn't appeared on the broadcast list. It would be wonderful to hear Stanley play the solo.)

WEBER, CONCERTO #1, mvt. 1

On your first entry, use the fork fingering (TR X 0 0 | X 0 0) for the Bb, so you can go gracefully to the following F#.

Keep the sound level up. Remember that this is a **concerto**.

Throughout this movement, the running 16ths must have rhythmic integrity. Begin with the premise that they are metronomically even, with a bit of scherzando here and there. Make your nuances on the long notes, not the fast ones.

For the chain of trills near the end, start them at full speed and make the grace notes at the end precise but very quick.

Maintain the soloistic character on the soft entry at the end of the movement. Use the rests before it to picture the entry in your mind. Begin with a full sound on the first note, rather than building into it.

The movement is almost alla breve. The 16ths must be groups of 8, not 4.

MOZART CONCERTO, mvt. 1

In measure 2 of your entrance, keep the 8th notes even, fitting the beat exactly. Keep them connected.

In measure 3, the two descending thirds, F/D, F/D, are a single phrase. Don't be late on beat 3. End the phrase with the breath rather than stopping it with the tongue.

The G7 descending arpeggio is a single phrase, not 4 + 4, at the beginning and when it comes back. It should be precise but not "pecky." End notes with the breath, not the tongue.

Don't do too much with the trill on D at the end of the initial section. It's just one step in a scale connecting E to C.

When you have a held note, the orchestra is almost always moving underneath you. It's essential to be aware of this and draw energy from it. When you start moving, you work off what the orchestra has been doing, to continue the line.

On the chain of trills, G#, A, B, , don't worry about the early music rule that trills begin on the upper note. Here you're approaching from below and should start them on the main note.

MOZART CONCERTO, mvt. 2

Play with plenty of color at the beginning. That way, when it comes back as an epilogue at the end, you can play it as a shadow of its former self.

As in the first movement, play 16ths in groups of 8, not 4 + 4 (for example, in the descending G7 arpeggio brought over from the first movement).

BEETHOVEN 6th, mvt. 1

In the big 1st movement solo, the three motives at the beginning are a single phrase, not 3 phrases. Also, it's marked p, not ppp, and it's an orchestral solo. Play to be heard.

The arpeggios are not a lot louder. Don't blast. Also, don't play too staccato. Stop the tone with the breath, not the tongue. This is peasants in boots, not dancing fairies. There's no start and no finish. All the notes are exactly the same.

Note that the movement is marked half note = 66, not quarter note = 132. You have to feel it in long phrases with a slow tactus.

BEETHOVEN 6th, mvt. 2

The four 16ths at the beginning of the solo must be strictly in tempo. Also, they're not on a downbeat. The downbeat is on the preceding rest, and you must feel it that way.

In the second phrase, don't shorten the note before the grace notes. The grace notes must be before the beat and quick and precise. The audience must hear all of them.

The downbeat following the grace notes is an appoggiatura. Lean on it and come away to the resolution.

On most of your long notes, the orchestra is moving underneath. As in the Mozart Concerto, you must be aware of this, keep the beat going and mesh your phrasing with the other parts. The solo isn't just you. It's you and the orchestra.

On the ascending F-Bb-D, use the fork Bb.

You can stretch a bit on long notes, but never on the 16ths.

Don't drop notes before tongued downbeats. Eliminate the gaps.

NIELSEN CONCERTO

Your opening phrase is all three notes. The Ab is the important note, with the most emphasis. Don't clip the following Eb 8th, and continue the phrase through the quarter note Eb, which must not be emphasized.

In the second entrance, for the alternation between B and high D, almost everyone uses the alternate fingering for the D, with everything open. There's nothing shameful about it.

In the first short cadenza, make a distinguish clearly between the triplet groups of 3 and the 16th groups of 4.

In the next theme, four descending 16ths, descending quarter/dotted half, and the repetition with descending 8ths, the phrases are two measures, not one, and the two groups of two measures are a single super-phrase.

In the big cadenza, you begin with the ascending motive from the beginning. Once again, don't break between notes two and three. The three notes are a single phrase every time they come back.

Don't let the 16th note passages run away. Keep an even tempo.

In the pp passage, after the repeated 16ths run down, make sure that the downbeat comes on the rest.

After the cadenza, your part is accompaniment -- filigree traced around the melody in the orchestra. Make it light and precise, and don't draw attention to yourself.

The unaccompanied section at rehearsal number 10 should be light, with a precise staccato -- almost metronomic.

BEETHOVEN 8th, mvt. 3

The horns come in first. You must listen to their articulation and match it, even if they don't do it the way you rehearsed.

Don't stop the tone or the phrase before the repeated Bs, which must be perfectly even and equal.

After the big upward phrase, G-D-D, the descending scales must be even and dolce.

The standard fingering for high G, TR 0 X 0 | X X 0 Eb, is too bright and thin. Also, you have to switch your left index and middle fingers, which is a hazard. The most common alternate, TR X 0 0 | X X 0 Eb, is almost always sharp. The best is TR X 0 X | X 0 X Eb.

Another alternate for high G is TR X 0 0 | 0 0 0 plus the top trill key or the two top trill keys. It's secure and in tune, but it's still a hazard because you're holding the instrument with only two fingers and moving your right hand.

By the way, the best fingering for high F# is TR X X 0 | X X X Eb.

Drucker ended the class by saying that when he was a student, he thought he knew everything. Nevertheless, even he learned things in master classes. You can't expect to absorb everything. The hope that one idea gets through, which changes your playing from then on.

The class started half an hour late because of a fire drill and ended half an hour early because one of the scheduled students had an audition. Drucker invited anyone to play more of what they had prepared, for example the difficult solo in the Beethoven 6th, third movement, or another movement of a concerto, but no one volunteered. If I had been a Mannes student, I would have leapt at the opportunity. In fact, if I had brought my clarinet, I would have gotten up. How often does the chance come along to work with a legend?

Ken Shaw

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