Clarinetist Richard Stolzman on playing Debussy

[Andy Volk]

"A direct avenue to the soul." Interesting interview. Obviously a man in love with music.

PART ONE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x8pFUD4mwk

PART TWO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivW4dfpZj6w

[Scott Shewbridge]

Andy - I wanted to say how much I enjoy your postings. I try to look at all of them.

My college roomate was the principal clarinetist for the university symphony orchestra and I always think of him when I hear Mr. Stoltzman. He is a wonderful musician; I have one of his recordings - The Copeland Clarinet Concerto with the LSO conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. Mr. Thomas is now our conductor here in San Francisco; We are very lucky.

I think Mr. Stoltzman suggests a very fruitful excercise for all musicians - get a copy of the standard notation music and follow it as the riff/song/piece progresses. I have found that it doesn't matter if you read music well, if you can count measures, you will be able to follow the melody line and will see something you didn't realize before. Those using Band in a Box can do this all of the time and for me, with the continued improvement in midi input, this process is exceptionally helpful for learning new phrasing approaches.

Bill Hatcher has a very interesting score from a new Broadway show posted on this board right now. I would love to hear his pit orchestra perform that music. It would be fun to see how they interpret what they are given.

Herbert Blomstedt used to direct the SF symphony and he suggested two things before going to a concert - 1) Get Dressed "Uptown" - your soul will respond to the special attention you take preparing for the evening, giving the music a better chance to be transcendant. 2) Get a copy of the score and review it. I see people going to the SF library and checking out scores, bringing them to the performance, and often sitting in the "cheap" seats behind the orchestra, dilligently turning pages through the evening. Of course, you can tell when they are in ecstasy - their gaze becomes fixed on the scene and the pages are left behind.

Sorry for all of the random thoughts, but your posting lent itself to a random stream of consciousness. Thanks for the trip!

[Andy Volk]

I wanted to say how much I enjoy your postings. I try to look at all of them.

Thanks, Scott. Kind of you to say that.