Rapid hits: Part 3 of 3 --

(1) MEDIC NEEDED FOR VAUGHAN WILLIAMS'S LARK? [Oct. 9]
(2) ONE SOLOIST, MULTIPLE VIEWS OF VW'S LARK [Oct. 10]
(3) A WHOOSH OF MEMORY OF AN EPIC CLARINET GUY [Oct. 11]

[SORRY, I'M BATTLNG A TECHNICAL GLITCH I'VE NEVER ENCOUNTERED. HERE'S THE START OF THE POST -- Ken]

(3) SOME QUICK(ISH) THOUGHTS ON STANLEY DRUCKER (1929-2022)

NY Phil caption: "Stanley Drucker was appointed Assistant
Principal and E-Flat Clarinet by Bruno Walter in 1948."

"The New York Philharmonic deeply mourns the passing of the legendary orchestral clarinetist Stanley Drucker, who joined the Philharmonic in 1948, at age 19, and was appointed Principal Clarinet by Leonard Bernstein in 1960. Over the course of his 60-year tenure he appeared in more than 10,200 concerts in 60 countries, with solo turns including 64 performances of Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, and worked during the tenures of nine NY Phil Music Directors. Accolades on his retirement in 2009 included the Guinness World Record for “longest career as a clarinetist” and being named an Honorary Member of the New York Philharmonic. At the time, then Music Director Lorin Maazel said: “He stands alone in the world of clarinetists. His contribution to the orchestra and its fame is immeasurable.” The Philharmonic extends condolences to his wife, Naomi, and to his children and grandchildren." -- from the New York Philharmonic website

As often happens these days, I was late catching up with the news, in this case of the passing, on December 19, of Stanley D., closing in on his 94th birthday, following a career that seems that beggars description -- I find myself reaching for words like "epic." For a while I thought I'd shove aside (temporarily, of course) all the work we're, you know, working on and do a musical remembrance, and we may yet do that. I even devised not one but two openers for such a post. One you've already seen, above. Here's the other:

Stanley D. plays the opening solo of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue -- with Leonard Bernstein of course playing the piano solo as well as conducting the New York Philharmonic -- in the Royal Albert Hall, London, June 3-4, 1976. (Not to worry, we are going to hear the whole performance. Have patience.)

The Gershwin Rhapsody is a piece S.D. was closely associated with, and he played it like nobody else. Commentators have noted the ring of klezmer in parts of the piece, and not many clarinetists have been better positioned to bring that to life. One of the enduring fascinations of the career he built is that, growing up in Brooklyn, son of Russian Jewish immigrants, he seems to have had no serious music in his family history or in his surroundings. How then did he happen upon the clarinet? He mentioned in interviews that one thing that inclined him toward it was the sound of klezmer.

UP ABOVE I PROMISED THE WHOLE RHAPSODY.
MAYBE WE SHOULD JUST GO AHEAD AND HEAR IT

GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue (orch. Grofé)


Stanley Drucker, clarinet; New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, piano and cond. Live performance from the Royal Albert Hall, London, June 3-4, 1976


A WEALTH OF ONLINE MATERIAL -- BUT LET'S FOCUS
ON S.D.'S FIRST SOLO OPP WITH THE NEW YORK PHIL

Given the length and breadth, not to mention reach and visibility of S.D.'s career, there's a vast amount of material online: performances, interviews, master classes, a trove of treasure it might take 93-going-on-94 years to take in. The thing about me and Stanley D. is that, well, it's personal. No, not that I ever so much as met him, to the best of my recollection. It's that, at least until his retirement from the Philharmonic, he was always there.

By the time I was born he was recently but safely installed in his seat in the NYPhil, a seat that, except for his upgrade to the concermaster's in 1960, he wouldn't leave for those 60-plus years. By the time my family made it to NYC, as a matter of fact, he was installed as principal clarinet -- of my newly adopted hometown orchestra. You know, it must have been even as I was beginning my, um, educational labors at James Madison HS in Brooklyn that he made his first appearance as soloist with the orchestra, followed by his first recording as soloist.

DEBUSSY: Première rapsodie for orchestra with clarinet solo


Stanley Drucker, clarinet; New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded in Manhattan Center, Oct. 16, 1961

[STAND BY FOR FUTHER DEVELOPMENTS --
I have to figure out what the heck is going on here!]