Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2017-01-06 21:12
Rhapsody in Blue is really a lot of fun. A few and I mean very few players can start the gliss down at the low G trill and slide all the way up over the G, A, B, and C, break to high C. I wish I could...That's the way the score was written.
Shifrin was asked to do it really slowly, when he spent 3 or 4 years or so with Cleveland and it must have been 45 seconds. Lorin Maazel was the conductor. That was the slowest I've heard it played and it was pretty cool! Very well done. 1975 I think. There is probably a recording of it somewhere. I strongly feel the trick to this piece is a slightly softer reed with a lot of air support. Not a real soft reed, maybe a 1/2 strength, because if you go too soft the high F may go flat on you.
I think some of us like different genres of music and I found the Copland Concerto to fit me well and played it as a freshman in college, but had trouble getting through some of the Rose 40 studies. The rhythms. At that age even the Weber Concertos were a problem, but again the Copland was a perfect fit.
My point is don't worry about it. Have fun with the pieces that you like most. Oh, I just did the Copland again about 3 weeks ago. I play it with that jazz feel, not fast at all. Copland wrote it for Benny Goodman and he Aaron wanted that 1940's Big Band feel as Benny and Aaron grow up together in NYC, so wicked fast fingers and triple tonguing, to me is not an accurate way of performing the piece. At the same time I'm not saying to go to sleep! The 40's jazz was exciting and the tempo did move right along.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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The Clarinet BBoard
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