 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: huff n' puff
Date: 2008-12-05 10:51
Hi, all.......
have been struggling with Massenet's little gem (in what I understand is the correct key of D-concert).
I can play all the notes, and have even tried playing them in the right order- but to my mind it still doesn't add up to much.
Whenever I hear the Meditation played on a flute or violin I wonder if I am trying to push the clarinet into uncharted waters where it doesn't really belong.
Can anyone suggest a cure?
Can anyone suggest a performer who has managed to wrest from the instrument the necessary "je ne sais quoi" to leave the audience crying into their beer?
Is the clarinet essentially a happy instrument?
I feel that I have heard what I am looking for in small doses in jazz performances---------- Early Buddy de Franco- "Deep Purple","Tenderly", and Artie Shaw's famous "Don't take your love from me"
Maybe the answer is to take a lot of liberties with the melody, (treat it almost like jazz, but try to remain true to the spirit of the piece) and avoid playing it in critical company.
Any suggestions welcome.......... H&P
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Author: BobD
Date: 2008-12-05 12:09
MY cup of tea. But, drop down to "Libertango" for an early morning wakeup.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2008-12-05 16:21
The Meditation from Thais is one of the great violin encore pieces. It's typically played with a throbbing vibrato and lots of slides, for example by Milstein http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXuzLRVi6qk&feature=related, Kreisler http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8IyoNTaeT0 and Elman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYsSrhamhb0.
The Potaschnik performances are quite good, but this really needs vibrato and a warm tone and style, like, for example, de Peyer (though I don't think he's recorded it).
If you pay the Meditation straight, no matter how accurately, it falls flat. You need to put deep emotion in your playing, or, more accurately, evoke deep emotion in your listeners. You show them a picture of relaxation and memories of love, either sweetly remembered or overwhelmingly present.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-12-05 16:38
I like playing it on soprano sax, but changes have to be made due to the range.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-12-05 17:15
It was very interesting listening to this. It's possible that I wouldn't like a lot of music in this style, but I really liked this piece, which I've never heard before. It had especially good moments.
I listened to all the versions posted here, and the one I liked the most is the first one of the clarinet player (the one with "the shirt"). The reason is that because of several things, the music had another dimention which made it more interesting. What did it was a combination of the sound on YouTube, with my not that great (but not lousy either) speakers, which made it sound a bit old, noisy and mostly trebley. Especially with the very flat (as in monotonic in a way) tone of the clarinet it was very good. Actually the piano would have been better sounding even a bit older and "worse" but it was still ok this way. This made a very interesting "electronic" sound which gave it almost a mechanical feel (mechanical in its specific sense, not as a bad thing). I doubt any of this was done on purpose but that doesn't matter anyway.
The other versions on violin sounded very good as a sort of song, but a bit plain and maybe even a little naive, in that most things the player adds sound very good but they are already obvious from the music itself. Maybe a little like telling you something and imediatley explain it, assuming you didn't understand. I wouldn't say these versions are bad, but it really depends on the type of person to realize if they like each version and see the reasons why they (or someone) would like one more, etc.
Playing this on soprano saxophone can be interesting but it is very risky also to make it too obvious. At least with all the ways and types of sounds I'm imagining this with sorpano sax, the best would be to play it mostly like it was a clarinet.
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Author: chris moffatt
Date: 2008-12-06 12:35
for a different take again, there's a copy of it on YouTube by Yo-Yo-Ma.......the deeper, mellower voice of the cello gives it a different quality from the violins. A number of the copies seem to embody a certain licence (license?) taken by the performer but mostly in good taste, so don't feel constrined by the "flyspecks". If you want to play this piece I think you need to listen to a number of versions and really get the feel of it . The quite turbulent middle section could be a real challenge as could a few notes at the end....but it seems to have been done pretty much to death so I wouldn't use this as my first encore piece......maybe we should wait for someone to do it on a baritone horn - now that'd be different
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Author: huff n' puff
Date: 2008-12-06 14:57
Hi, and thanks for your replies.
Norbert... glad to have these two performances to study. Forget playing the clarinet........... I want that shirt.
Ken......... you are quite right- it has to be played like you meant it. Strangely, it is the middle turbulent part that gives me the least concern. It is the melody and the bits where the lead is holding longer notes and it's all happening elsewhere that I find hard to give meaning to.
Also the slow winding down at the end- you must have eye contact and interaction to make sense of this.
Eventually, I reckon that it has to be up to you what you do with it- the copyright will have expired. AND do not play your own version in front of the dreaded "experts".
To me, it will be -like- where to put it the odd "twiddly bits", repeated notes and little chromatic runs, for to my ears the clarinet-like any other instrument- has things that it does best, and maybe trying to "emote" with long notes is not it's strongest point, as the flute and violin can.
Thanks again........... H&P
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