LMAO- it`s 3:50 a.m. here, forgive me but I meant dear old Wolfie- not Paul the no relation Meyer. Sorry folks

Bradley

Shame on you People! What is so great about Sabine Meyer! Why all the fuzz about Benny Goddman, bless his resting soul! I saw someone who actually replied Kenny G (although that was very hilarious). obviously nobody here has a good concept of clarinet sound. Listen Wenzel Fuchs if you want a good German Orchestral sound, as well as Karl Leister. if you want to hear the Italian master of Chamber Music get a recording of Carbonare, you blabbing ignorants! You can`t say that the German school is better than the French school technique wise. Listen to the great French masters that design our Buffets (and get a lot of money in return). Listen to all their students. Listen to the Root of American Orchestral playing, Bonade. then talk to me about technique. Sometimes people talk to make others think they`re smart. Please don`t do that. It is literally making me sick (funny how we came here after the "Who`s your favorite clarinetist question hehe ) Sincerely, Orlando Scalia

Frank Cohen is the master in my opinion. His Brahms makes me want to cry. Karl Leister, Robert Marcellus, David Shifrin and Paul Meyer are all favorites of mine. RM`s Mozart is amazing and PM`s Copland is perfect! I also enjoy listening to KL`s Weber works because it sounds as though he just sat down one day and blew through them for the recording. I`m with Orlando on Benny and Sabine though...

Who to reply to first? Well, I suppose the last post regarding Frank Cohen. Cohen is not the supreme orchestral clarinetist(or even chamber musician) some make him out to be. Listen to the Beethoven cycle done by Cleveland from the late 80s. His playing is weak and SHARP. A far cry from the recordings made thirty years prior with a guy named Marcellus in that chair. You can`t totally blame Cohen. He was put in the orchestra by the idiot named Maazel. The guy who killed the Cleveland Orchestra by making horrible appointments. Szell must have been rolling in his grave. Did you all know that after Marcellus there was this young kid named David Shifrin that won the job? He lasted a year I believe. I know I would prefer to hear recordings of the Cleveland Orchestra with Shifrin in the principal`s chair. As far as Cohen`s chamber playing, weak and sharp. I will give the man some credit. He did a HECK of a job on the recording of the Debussy Premire Rhapsody. One of the best I have heard.

Now for Orlando...Fuchs imho is the second best clarinetist in the BPO. I know that he was the clarinetist who made the recordings of the Beethoven cycle with Abaddo recently. Whereas he does have a nice dark sound, it does not project as much as a German clarinetist CAN. Listen to the 63 recording with Leister. That is some ultimate Beethoven clarinet playing. I still maintain that Karl Heinz Steffens is the best clarinetist in the BPO. He is fairly young, and can cross styles with ease. In fact, more so than Stoltzman imho. If you run across some of his solo recordings, you will be amazed. His K622 is one of the most amazing versions I have heard.

Lets see...someone earlier said that the American playing is even with the German and French? Yeah right. What about the Russian school? Or the Netherlands, Belgium, etc. American clarinetists today are far removed from having TRUE artists. I doubt that if you opened all orchestral principal jobs, very VERY few could actually win their chair back. Maybe Morales, but I have yet to hear him live with Philly. Their former player was a joke. Sam Caveizel(sp?) had one of the wimpiest sounds ever.

French players imho may have the best technical schooling overall. I believe though that German and Russian clarinetists have the best orchestral playing. To hear the principal player at the Mariinsky is just heaven. He has to be Marcellus in disguise. The finest clarinet section in the world though either has to be that of the Mariinsky or the BPO(not Boston Pops!).

Well, I hope some feathers have been ruffled tonight. I would hate to think I wrote all of this for nothing! And btw, you CAN hear Bonade. There is a CD available of his orchestral playing. AMAZING. This should be in every clarinetists library. Only then can we hear TRUE clarinet voicing. As far as my favorite American principal right now...that would be Steve Barta in Baltimore. Oh...and he`s a Marcellus student.


Dmitri

Ohmigosh! I read a post here that Benny Goodman has a recording of the Mozart concerto! Does anyone know where I can find it? I need a good laugh.

I`ve heard of all these people. I`ve been playing clari for almost 7 yrs, and its funny, I don`t think i`ve ever heard any of them, well i probably have but i didnt know it was them, where could i find a recording?

Let me say fist that I actually enjoy this bickering back and forth, there is not many people I can have a good discussion of the clarinet with. To the people who have bitterly replied to my posts let me say "I understand". Don`t think that I have simply selected Sabine to be my favorite clarinetist without any forethought and study. Believe me I have a very extensive library with at least one recording of every major clarinetist (no exception). That face of course its not simply enough for me to choose Sabine. I have great respect for the reining greats such as Leister, Shifrin, and Marcellus, but after hearing Sabine I had no choice but to reconsider my loyalty. Also let me say that I NEVER said the French School was ineffective or less effective than the German School. But if you seriously study the quality of the PLAYERS you will (may) find that they have a presence that is almost unrivaled. Before I finish let me also say that Sabine is I believe the next clarinetist who will be placed on a pedestal ,really she already has after her recordings of the Stamitz, and lastly read her reviews form well established clarinet critics ,if you are unable to see her live, to form a proper respect for her talent or browse through sabinemeyer.com

hmm.....but i think if you got sabine`s all of her records you will find out that her tonality is not really constant comaparing one to each other.but of course i have to praise her technique.maybe you can also try Sharon Kam.after learning under Charles Neidrich now,she has improved alot.but i still like leister`s performances.very stable and almost flawless for very live recording he have made.CHEeRS~

ps.if we pple can absorb the very of the advantages of all clarinetist....we will be GOD of CLARINET!!but who can throw away his dinity and accept pples critism~?if you are one of the few....CheErS AgaIn!!

Haven`t you ever heard of this name?Spyros Mourikis!!!He is just great!!!No words to describe his playing.He is greek and he has won the Nielsen Competition in 1997 in Denmark!

Hi guys,

I`m an Aussie jazz clarinetist of some International standing. I`m just writing to offer you the chance to check out a few of my tracks on

http://www.mp3.com and there are a few more at
http://www.mp3.com.au Just do a search for "Firth".
I play jazz and classical styles although I prefer jazz.

My favourite clarinetists are Karl Leister, Sabine Meyer (I had dinner with her when she was in Sydney a lovely lady and wonderful player!!!), Eddie Daniels , Buddy De Franco,(who wrote some lovely things about my 16 clarinet big band CD), German clarinetist Hugo Strasser for his superb musical taste, Artie and Benny...of course!

Sorry if I`m pushing my own barrow a bit but I just thought that you guys might be interested in a "new kid on the block".

Cheers,

Andy Firth

My favourite is Sabine Meyer - I love her recordings with the Blaserensemble and the Weber concertos with the Dresden State Orch. and her version of the Rossini Introduction, Theme and Variations is awesome. You can tell her from a mile off - she always plays everything fast.

Although I also love the French clarinettist Paul Meyer - very subtle vibrato and his versions of French classics like the Debussy Premiere Rhapsodie and Saint Saens sonata are sublime.

And the person who even mentioned Acker Bilk should be shot!!

Hey, has anyone heard the recording of Benny Goodman doing the live clarinet solo in Rhapsody In Blue where he squeaks at the top of the gliss? Its hilarious - made me more confident when I had to do that orchestral excerpt in my exam!!!

Just on the topic of favourites, I`d just like to point out who I think is disgraceful.

1. Gervase de Peyer. His version of the Paul Harvey Etudes on Themes of Gershwin is TERRIBLE. He plays as if he wouldn`t know what a syncopated rhythm was if it hit him in the butt. And his tone is atrocious. All the time.

2. Acker Bilk. Need I say more? You know, I get very annoyed when I say that I play the clarinet to someone I know and they go, `oh, like Acker Bilk`. Geez, what has that guy done to the clarinet community?!!

3. Kenny G is a soprano sax player, not a clarinettist, and we all know that saxes are inferior to the glory of the clarinet.

4. Richard Stoltzman`s version of Saint-Saen Sonata was so bad, I had to turn it off. His tone leaves a lot to be desired (the 12th leaps of the second movement are a good example - I could have farted them better)

5. The best thing that Sidney Bechet did was discover the soprano sax because he stopped playing the clarinet and saved our ears. He was ****house.

Now I`ve got that off my chest.....

Emily, that is one of the funniest posts in a long time. Unless you know these people and have out more CDs that they, I am not so sure you make a valid point. Do you think Kenny G cares if you like his playing or not? Lets remember that he is a POP artist, not a classicist. Same more or less goes for Bilk. As far as Stoltzman goes, I REALLY don`t think you have room to talk. Go hear him live(if you havent already done so). When most amateurs speak of artists in the way you are, they usually offer some reason for not liking. Using bodily functions as a way of describing a professional clarinetists playing shows what limited knowledge you must have. Record the literature in the way Stoltzman has and lets talk.

Emily- you have no tolerance for different styles, and that`s makes you seem extremely ignorant.

Stoltzman`s Saint Saens was actually my favourite recording I`ve ever heard him play except for the Brahms Trio with Yo Yo Ma and the pianist whose name escapes me at the moment ( Ax or something like that). He has a different style, but is truly one of the most versatile players around- his interpretations are always different, whether you and I like them or not.

Gervase dePeyer also has a different (to me more englishy) tone that one is used to hearing. Leave him alone. Are you making 1/100th the money he is by playing? The dePeyers are also good people, so don`t go off insulting him just to get noticed.

Acker Bilk was self taught, and he`s again making more money than you probably ever will- so I really don`t feel you can comment there either.

I dislike Kenny G`s style as well- but like Dmitri said, he isn`t a classical player.

Bradley

Mr. Firth,

I saw you play a recital at a clarinet conference in Oklahoma about six years ago. You played, if I remember correctly, Baby Elephant Walk, Autumn Leaves, Flight of the Bumblebee, and several other tunes. I was blown away, it was an amazing concert. I bought a CD of the recital and it was one of my favorite recordings, but unfortunately all my CD`s were stolen a couple years ago. Do you still have a recording of this concert lying around, possibly. If you know how I could get another recording I would give you my left arm.

Best Wishes

Bryan