 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: eduardo94
Date: 2014-11-18 19:35
(Now with the correct link)
I would like to share with you my recording of Mozart Concerto as soloist with my university orchestra.
Suggestions and tips are welcome, because I am gonna try to audition for a degree in some university in USA, I still dont know which one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmX0iBNRi2c
Post Edited (2014-11-18 19:38)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2014-11-20 03:24
Hi Eduardo:
I'm kind of sad and suprised that nobody's yet taken the time to listen to you and comment, so I did.
I'm not a professional, and at the peak of my playing ability I played just slightly better than this, and at a later age than you. So understand that some of my suggestions are things I should probably internalize, as much as pass along to you.
Let me talk about what I liked. Although it's hard to judge in a room like the one you played in, where sound bounces off of everything, and recordings can be deceiving, nonetheless, I really enjoyed your tone and ability to keep in tune. Playing the Mozart in its entirety is itself hard enough, where good technique can flounder in the face of exhaustion. With this said, let me also point out some concerns I have as well. As you read them, don't forget, I thought this was a wonderful performance. You're not ready for the principal chair in a leading orchestra yet, but I know how much work went into making what you did possible, and I want to acknowledge that.
Rounded fingers are a means to an end: great playing. Some great players don't/didn't have them, and plenty of lousy players do. But I would like to see that right hand up close while you play. I don't care that you keep those fingers flat like a board when not using the right hand for play, but if you're doing similar things when making right hand notes, I am concerned that you're going to work harder to get to and from the right hand trills keys as a result. It was hard to see if you were.
During the first movement in particular, some of the 16th note passages got slightly off meter. I'd take them back to the metronome, at slower speed, develop eveness, and then up the metronome 1 beat per minute at a time until you can do those passages "in your sleep" faster, and in tempo, than the movement's pace calls for. I am though not blind to the idea that your meter may have been thrown off by the conductor or orchestra. An example was at 3:04.
Eduardo, to say that this was played at one level of volume would be so gross an exagerration that it would be a lie. I clearly recall differences in volume where they were suppose to be. But there is room to make this piece more your own in the area of greater degrees of you alternating the volume.
I'm not saying you didn't individualize yourself. You certainly did in many embelishments you added to the basic notes on the page. I'm saying that through more volume dynamics you will demonstrate greater command of the instrument. People have said that the late great Harold Wright was such a great player because he had mastered all the technical aspects of play, and could focus on the artistry.
I loved how you weren't shy about taking the stacato road on the 3rd movement, and did such a good job at it.
Not to get all "touchy feely," but one useful way I learned to turn a piece into my own was to sit down with the music and envision it a soundtrack to some action. When you listen, what do you see in your head? For example, when playing the group of 6 eighth notes in the 3rd movement I sometimes see to kids playing tag. In the clarinet closing of the 1st I see the King offering his final decree on a matter of conversation dicussion repeatedly through the repetition of musical theme. Paint your own picture and then play that. Tell more of a story with your play.
(Apologies in advance if your're saying to yourself right now, "you don't know how hard I worked on individualizing the work!" Nothing's quite as frustrating as your teacher critiquing the one thing you thought you worked so hard on since the prior lesson.)
So take only what's useful of my comments here, forget the rest, and know that someone else could have an entirely different take.
All the best wishes. You are a fine player!
DDJ
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-11-20 05:40
BRAVO !!!!!!! Wonderful performance.
First I have to tell a story. I recall as part of the mock audition process at a clarinet conference, Leon Russianoff spoke of his frustration as a juror at Eastman. He said that inevitably one of his fellow faculty members would pick the clarinet candidate who sounded most like a train going over a trestle to be the best candidate that day! Point being that no two jurors will hear things exactly the same way.
I heard AN ENTIRELY different performance (save for the bad acoustics which I'm sure you had no control over).
You should have no trouble at all getting into the music school or conservatory of your choice (no joke!). I'd contemplate some of the advice given by Ed Palanker on this site. He advises his students to try a double major (one music, other something practical). That way you cover your bases. There is a fantastic young (probably more, but I only heard this one) player at Yale, studying with David Shifrin. This student is co-majoring in computer science. I think he'll do alright. To that end you could also consider Oberlin School of Musice where Richard Hawkins teaches. Finally along those lines Mr. Howard Klug of Indiana University has a phenomenal studio.
Naturally there are some fine conservatories too but there you'll pretty much be vying for a music career......not that you should have much of a problem.
Vey fine, subtle playing, I enjoyed listening to you very much.
..............Paul Aviles
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2014-11-21 05:28
Eduardo,
I think yours was a very fine performance. I've heard professionals with Ph.D.s give performances that don't come close to it. I agree with Paul that it should get you into a first rate music program. I only have a couple of comments for you to consider. First, it seemed to me that you had a tendency to clip the final quarter notes of phrases when you were about to pass the music back to the orchestra. They often sounded more like eighth notes than quarter notes to me. At such times, when you finished your phrase, you seemed almost to "jerk" the instrument out of your mouth with a flourish. My preference would be to give those notes full value, if not a slight tenuto, to make sure that I didn't stop until after the orchestra had entered. I wouldn't release the instrument until a moment had passed after I had stopped playing and then I would do so more gently.
I would characterize your performance (and the orchestra's) as straightforward and perhaps a bit muscular, about what I would expect from a student performance. It might be helpful as you continue to think about this piece to remember that Mozart lived in Germany, Italy and France. For me, the best performances of pretty much everything he wrote are characterized by what he took from those countries -- German precision, Italian grace and French elegance. For me, your performance (and the orchestra's -- they and the conductor have to shoulder some of the responsibility here) would have benefited from more grace and elegance. For examples of what I mean, you might search out Lorenzo Coppola's (period instrument) performance or Andreas Sunden's (modern instrument) performance on on YouTube. Of course both benefit from much better recording equipment and from more experienced performers and, in Sunden's case, a sympathetic conductor.
FWIW, assuming you are the same Eduardo who has posted performance in the past, I am always impressed by your playing. I look forward to following your continued career,
Best regards,
jnk
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Joseph Brenner, Jr.
Date: 2014-11-22 21:56
Good job, Eduardo; you and the orchestra had to fight that concert hall's reverberant acoustics all the way. I'd just re-emphasize another poster's observations about dynamics and the late Harold Wright. Too many recordings of the Mozart and other pieces feature soloists who play at a steady mf or f; Wright, on the other hand, could diminish volume but sustain focus and core sound. Mozart's concerto is not a Weber's operatic extravaganza for clarinet, but even Mozart will accommodate subtle dynamic variations. You have a full, rich tone, which gives you a vast palate of tonal color. You can mediate the tone with subtle adjustment of volume to enhance the musicality. Congratulations to you (and to your teachers). Let us know how your future progresses.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: eduardo94
Date: 2014-11-26 21:03
Thank you, those suggestions help me alot.
- Jnk, I posted some videos here, playing Debussy rhapsodie and Brahms. I am glad you like it.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
