Unfortunately, I don`t have the luxury of not being jackass. You see, because 90% of classical musicians play like boring, stiff bricks, A LOT of orchestras in the USA have closed in the last 3 years. Who wants to spend/give money to an institution that puts people to sleep? You better praise whoever that Charles Neidich and Richard Stolzman actually excite audiences. If it was left up to you nerds on this message board, I don`t think that anyone would want to listen to classical music at all. So, you see, it`s important for you all to know how terrible you are because otherwise you will aid in running the professsion into the ground!

Cheers!

You can excite the audience; there`s nothing wrong with that. It`s being vulgar and tasteless while doing it that the people here are objecting to.
I personally feel that exagarrating every little nuance is treating the audience as though they are idiots who are incapable of reading the emotional content of a piece without it being shoved in their faces.

Rachel,

You don`t know what touching people is until they come up to you in hoards weeping after you have just played... Has that ever happened? I bet not... You have to do a lot more to reach people than you think... And PS-before you ever label anyone as tasteless (especially Charles Neidich), you better do some serious manuscript study yourself. Shouldn`t you form your interpretation based on what the composer wrote versus some editor who molested the score his/herself?

Unfortunately, as a clarinet nerd/jock, you will never know what it feels like to be genuinely touched by musical imagination because all you can hear is the clarinet and your dogmatic ideas about what it should sound like.

Have fun sounding like doorbells, kiddos.

Wild,

"You don`t have the luxury of not being a jackass?" You also don`t have the luxury of knowing common sentence structure. Its pretty lame that you only like Stoltzman and Neidich because audiences do. Do you have any musical reasons for liking their playing or do you just follow the crowd of unmusical uneducated american concert-goers?

To clarify, I don`t really like Richard Stolzman`s playing that much, but I can find things about his playing that I like quite a bit. Even players that don`t really move me at all, I still have a choice--whether or not to focus on the positive or negative aspects of their playing.

About me following the "uneducated concert goers." First of all, be careful what you say about those uneducated concert goers. I`m sure that you are a little boy, Mike, and you don`t realize that those "uneducated concert goers" are going to help you pay your bills some day if you go into music. Why insult their opinions and tastes? You all should ask yourself "why music?" For me personally, it is important to know that I am reaching someone and communicating and creating an atmosphere when I am playing. Making that connection with people through sound, well, that`s why I do this. Therefore, I would never say belittling things about those that help me pay my rent because they like what I do.

Charles Neidich--everyone who has ever come into contact with Charlie finds him to be one of the most brilliant musicians they have ever met and heard. If you like to hear the clarinet played in a way that is evocative of singing, there is no one else to listen to other than Charlie Neidich. And yeah, he also happens to have the most fantastic technique ever...

I`m sure that all of you are very young on this board... You still hear the clarinet when you go to clarinet concerts... My advice: listen for the voice, listen for imagination coming to life through sound. Most musicians at the top don`t really hear "going over the break, more air, fingers move together".... they hear portamento or they hear a sigh... and the technique follows that.. If you make it there, well, then that`s the begining... It always starts from a point of imagination or an idea, and the technique makes it all come to life.... If any of you could hear that, then you definitely wouldn`t be deriding Neidich`s playing at all.... Even the most highly respected professionals who don`t like Neidichs playing for one reason or another, would never deny that he is a singing clarinetist. Only a total idiot would do that...

-Wild out

I was referring to Stoltzman, not Neidich.

Charles is one of the more competent clarinet i have heard...he come to singapore to give a masterclass.well he did have his own opinon of weber No.1 which he demostrated....well..different ppls have different style and character which will influence wat they play.so let say we try to steal wat you like abt a pro clarinetist and improve yourself~

Cheers~

Geez, Wild. This forum is to express opinions on various subjects, not to criticise the people who post on it and accuse them of being bad musicians just because they don`t happen to like a couple of clarinetists as much as you do. You assume that we are all young here but I`m not a child and have also grown up in my family`s music store (specialising in classical, folk and jazz) where I have listened and studied classical music (not just clarinet, by the way, but everything from Scarlatti to Schoenberg) for years. Don`t just assume that we don`t know anything about music (or that we just go to concerts to listen to the clarinet only). Everyone that has made positive OR negative comments about particular clarinetists like Stoltzman or Neidich have made valid points - they have a different sound that is not necessarily to everyone`s taste. This is not to say that these people shouldn`t be playing or that they don`t deserve their success, nor does it mean that it is a reflection upon your individual tastes.

Just don`t go ranting and raving without thinking, Wild. Attitudes like that are not welcome anywhere.

I`d be interested to learn what YOUR qualifications are, Wild, that makes you so sure that you`re any better than anyone else here.

i studied with stoltzman at nec for grad school and tom martin for undergrad there as well...stoltzman made me enjoy the clarinet so much that hearing your stupid nit picking makes me want to kill all of you!! you don`t deserve to listen to him...just keep playing your cookie cutter way and quit p****** me off!

What did he teach you rob? How to sell out and make crappy CD`s.

What did he teach you rob? How to sell out and make crappy CD`s.

It continues to amaze me at the level of ignorance that clarinetists have. Some of you are trying to compare Stoltzman to an orchestral player. That is not what he does! He is an entertainer. "Cookie cutter" playing works if that is what you want. Expressive and "unique" playing works if that is what you want. I do not know anyone who could doubt Stoltzman`s artistic ability. You may not like his version, but that is what makes him unique. I will not back off of my comments on Neidich, as I still think he compromises artistic integrity for "show". Stoltzman does this to such a less degree. But to say that Stoltzman has done crappy CDs? Don`t listen to them then! Let those who like his performances like his performances.

PS. For the record, Wild, do not assume the age or playing experience of anyone on this board. There are many high school kids no doubt. But not all of us.

Dmitri,

Sweetheart, baby, darling.... The Rossini is a SHOW PIECE. Rossini`s INTENTION in writing the piece was to create a florid, singing work that allows the clarinetist to SHOW OFF tremendous technique and charm. MUSIC IS ABOUT CREATING MOODS, PEOPLE. GO READ A BOOK, study history, use your ear. You misunderstand Rossini`s PURPOSE in writing that piece. Have any of you ever heard David Nadian or Heifitz or Kreisler play the violin? Or Yundi Li or Martha Argerich play piano? They play with TREMENDOUS technique... OH WAIT! I forgot, violinists and pianists are allowed to play with extreme virtuousity, but clarinetists are not. Rright, composers just knew that clarinetists couldn`t play that fast... How could I be so stupid?

Again, if any of you detect anger or frustration from me, it is because you don`t realize what your attitudes are doing to this profession!!! The reason why Charles Neidich has gotten to where he has is because audiences CONNECT with his playing and hear singing!!!! Please abandon your dogmatic approach to the clarinet and music. Realize that composers wrote with extreme amounts of imagination, and they want performers to play with this.

Wild(no sweetheart, baby darling, as you never called back!), regardless of what intention the composer had when writing a piece of music, you cannot sacrifice artistry! To even think of putting Neidich in the same category as a Heifitz, etc. is appalling. I have several recordings of Neidich(too many if you ask me). I indeed have this Rossini recording. It is one thing to play it with technical brillance(he does) but to combine that with no musical direction, phrasing, etc. he just completely bastardizes the piece. To say Neidich has a lovely and sensitive song like sound amuses me. Where as it is apparent that we come from two different schools of thought regarding playing the clarinet, I think we might just have to agree to disagree. As far as fitting in the mold of the American sound, I do not follow that style of playing. My teacher in college taught on a Wurlitzer and performed on a Wurlitzer. So take a guess what style of playing I have been molded into! Why do I not care for Neidich? He is so far from the school of playing that I studied and so far from my own personal preferences in sound, beauty, expression, yadda, yadda, that I don`t care to subject myself to that. If you want to hear true beauty in playing, and everything that a clarinet SHOULD sound like, find a recording of Leister, or Karl Steffens, the new solo clarinetist of the Berlin Phil. But keep me away from Neidich.