Buffet Crampon's - International Clarinet Association

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Page 14 by William Nichols One of the pleasures of serving as Audio Review Editor of The Clarinet is occasionally receiving independently produced discs by master players, offering performances not previously available on commercial labels. Such is the case with two CDs from the venerable Kalman Bloch. One very full disc of over 74 minutes of music presents standard recital and chamber music literature, with the exception of one selection. Another disc of 39-minute duration is entitled Kalman Bloch performs Hebraic Music for Clarinet with Piano & String Quartet. The discs are of unedited performances, mostly presented at Pomona College where Kalman Bloch served on the faculty for more than 40 years. He is most prominently known as the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s principal clarinetist from 1937–1981. However, his long career of music making has extended well over 60 years as a significant figure in the musical life of southern California and beyond, including the concert hall, the recording studio, the movie studio, and numerous chamber music and contemporary music venues. In addition to his tenure at Pomona College and private teaching, he has taught at Biola University, California State at Fullerton, and USC. His students are numerous and distinguished. For a profile of Kalman Bloch see Stephen Rochford’s tribute in the March 2004 issue of The Clarinet. Bloch’s recording career was active, eventful, and most often anonymous as an orchestral player and ensemble member in the recording studio. Of course he is the LA Phil’s principal clarinetist on countless recordings from the orchestra’s early recording history until 1981. In the late 1950s and the 1960s Columbia Records had a lock on three mammoth projects, recording the works of Stravinsky, Schönberg, and a large series of traditional orchestral repertoire conducted by Bruno Walter. All three of these musical luminaries resided THE CLARINET where else — Los Angeles. For most of the orchestral works in these projects, there were two ensembles contracted, one on the east coast and one on the west coast, and “they” were the Columbia Symphony. Kalman Bloch is heard as principal clarinetist in many recordings conducted by Stravinsky and Bruno Walter. Columbia accomplished some of its best recording results during this period in Los Angeles and many of these LPs are treasured audio classics. He is the clarinetist on the recording of the brief Epitaphium for flute, clarinet and harp of Stravinsky, in Columbia’s series supervised by the composer (and one of my favorite recordings from my youth). In addition to Stravinsky and Walter, he had an opportunity a few years after his arrival in Los Angeles to work with Arnold Schönberg. Another Columbia project was to produce the first recording of Schönberg’s 1912 masterpiece Pierrot lunaire, with the composer conducting. In 1940 the recording was made (after about 20 rehearsals!) and released on four 12-inch 78 rpm discs, and later transferred (c. 1950– 51) to the long-playing format. Although the sound of my 1975 Columbia Odyssey copy is quite murky (with balance that does narrator/vocalist Erika Stiedry-Wagner a disservice), one can hear clearly, especially in the more transparent sections, the assured, committed playing of the talented Kalman Bloch. I suspect the sonics of the original 78s are superior to this later LP version. This remains a landmark recording in the history of 20th-century music. It is interesting to note that daughter Michele (Bloch) Zukovsky is one of the clarinetists featured on Columbia’s Music of Arnold Schönberg series, Vol. VI, in a recording of the Suite (Septet), Op. 29 for strings, clarinets and piano, another significant work which [at the time] had been recorded on commercial release only once, or perhaps twice. Many of our readers are certainly aware that Michele Zukovsky succeeded her father as principal clarinetist of the LA Philharmonic. Richard Gilbert’s Clarinetists’ Discography III lists a recording by Kalman Bloch on the Handel label of the Mozart Concerto. This release is regrettably unknown to this writer. There is also a notable commercially produced recording of a 20th-century chamber piece which will be addressed in the next paragraphs. These new discs were made publicly available in early 2004, but were not in my hands until March of 2005. With apologies to Mr. Bloch, they languished until late November on an office shelf. The contents of the recital disc of standard works are: Debussy: Première Rhapsodie; Berg: Four Pieces; Honegger: Sonatine; Ives: Largo for violin, clarinet and piano; Milhaud: Sonatine and the Suite for violin, clarinet and piano; Poulenc: Sonata; Stravinsky: Three Pieces; and Adolph Weiss: Trio for clarinet, viola, and cello. Bloch is joined by the stellar John Steele Ritter in all the works with piano except for the trios of Ives and Milhaud, where his collaborators are violinist Manuel Compinsky and pianist Sara Compinsky. The last work on the disc, the Weiss Trio, is performed by violist Abraham Weiss and cellist Kurt Reher. The Trio (dating from c. 1948) as presented here is actually only the first movement of the work. This performance of the complete work was released commercially on an early CRI vinyl disc (No. 116). Adolph Weiss studied composition with Schönberg in Berlin and the master’s influences are strongly felt. This movement is a wellcrafted set of variations utilizing serial technique and containing striking effects. The playing is first-rate from all. The sound is attractive and naturally somewhat dated. Balance is good. Bloch’s rich tone is warmer on my tape version of the LP than the digital release, as is also the case with the string sound. This CD version of the Weiss is a bit thin when compared to an analogue source. The performances presented here are all very good, and, in a couple instances, as good as I have heard. The clarinet sound is beautiful, with more warmth and weight of
tone than we hear in many modern recordings. In the clarinet and piano repertoire, the balance almost always favors the clarinet, too much so at times. The technical traps of Debussy and Stravinsky are negotiated cleanly, and throughout the disc, the music is stylistically on the money. Especially notable is the Berg. Bloch has (as does this writer) a strong personal connection to this piece, and it comes through. The highlights of the disc are the two Milhaud works. The Sonatine is a too infrequently programmed piece. Often the thick and difficult piano part overpowers the clarinet, but not here. Bloch and John Ritter deliver my new favorite recording of this exciting piece, and with a second movement which must be savored. Most of the music on this disc was recorded in a resonant venue at Pomona College. The few works that were not display varying sonic properties. The Milhaud Suite suffers a bit from a rather dead sound, but the performance could not be better. The sound is close up and is reminiscent of the most intimate of chamber music. Here again is a new favorite recording. These Milhaud performances are a delight, and completely satisfying. One caveat: There are moments, of what seems to be electronically produced extraneous sound, which pervade this recording in places, and which are certainly distracting, at least on an initial hearing. The noises are perhaps digital gremlins which are hopefully in my copy only. Nevertheless, the music comes through very effectively on this live recording, which is free of audience noise and applause. The other recent disc from Kalman Bloch of Hebraic Music for Clarinet consists of a group of short pieces from Fitelberg, Weinberg and Levenson (no other names indicated) and Srul Irving Glick’s Hebraic Suite, all for clarinet and piano. The second part is the two Hebraic Sketches by Alexander Krein, for clarinet and string quartet. The quartet is the Armadillo String Quartet of Los Angeles. All of this music is indeed either a song or a dance imbued with Hebrew color. Some of the pieces rise above the very simplest forms, and the Krein sketches achieve some larger formal design than the other pieces. The Glick and Krein works have previously found their way to recitals and commercial recordings. This is not Klezmer music at all, but well March 2006 Page 15
Page 1: Volume 33 Number 2 March 2006 Buffe
Page 5: INTERNATIONAL CLARINET ASSOCIATION
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Page 20 and 21: MICHAEL NORSWORTHY AT CALIFORNIA ST
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Page 36 and 37: A TRIBUTE TO Josef Horák by Henri
Page 38 and 39: Buffet Crampon’s 180th Anniversar
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Page 42 and 43: In Review The Friday morning, July
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Bernstein and the Clarinet: Stanley
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PART II: INTONATION AND FINGERINGS
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TONY SCOTT Part I: The Stateside Ye
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The first installment in this serie
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Sheet music “Out of This World”
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The Mozart Partita Project First Ed
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INTERNATIONAL CLARINET ASSOCIATION
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