Stanley Drucker, clarinet; Gary Graffman, piano; New York Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta, cond. CBS-Sony, released 1979
THIS TIME: Gershwin, Bartók, Beethoven
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GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue: beginning
ALLAN ROSENFELD: "Anyone who has ever seen Woody Allen's film Manhattan knows there's no way I could leave this showstopper off the list."
NOW, WE DID THE RHAPSODY OPENING PRETTY WELL -- in January 13's "There's more than one way you can launch a piece with a solo clarinet." But that doesn't mean we can't do it again!
Stanley Drucker, clarinet; New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, piano and cond. Live performance from the Royal Albert Hall, London, June 3-4, 1976 [Watch here]
Stanley Drucker, clarinet; New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, piano and cond. Live performance from the Jahrhunderthalle (Centennial Hall), Frankfurt, June 8-9, 1976 [Again, watch here]
Stanley Drucker, clarinet; Fazil Say, piano; New York Philharmonic, Kurt Masur, cond. Teldec, recorded in Avery Fisher Hall, December 1998
by Ken
As it says up top, we're resuming our countdown of Charlotte (NC) Symphony clarinetist Allan Rosenfeld's November 2020 "Top 10 [really 11, with the inclusion of an "Honorable Mention"] Orchestral Clarinet Solos," in our ongoing remembrance of the late Stanley Drucker, and we pick up at No. 6, the consciousness-blowing opening of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which the New York Philharmonic's beyond-legendary Stanley D. can be readily heard playing with no fewer than three NY Phil music directors -- that I know of!
(I had to word that carefully, because as often as Stanley D. and Lenny B. must have performed the Rhapsody together, and as easy as it is to find performances they did together, as far as I know they never actually recorded it together. When Lenny B. did his inevitable DG remake, it was with the LA not NY Phil.)
THE LIST SO FAR
10) Respighi: Pines of Rome, end of "Pines of the Janiculum"
9) Tchaikovsky: Francesca da Rimini
8) Brahms: Symphony No. 3, opening of 2nd movement-- in "An orchestra principal's most visible job is playing orchestral solos written for his/her instrument. He-e-re's Stanley D.!" [June 25]7) Puccini: Tosca, Act III, "E lucevan le stelle"
ABOUT ALL THERE REMAINS FOR US TO DO WITH
THE RHAPSODY IS TO HEAR THE WHOLE THING!
For which I thought we'd slip in the complete performances, days apart, from Lenny B. and the NY Phil's June 1976 Bicentennial Tour, first from London's Royal Albert Hall, then -- a bit more meltingly luxuriant and happily more frenetic -- from Frankfurt's Centennial Hall. Well, while we're at it, maybe we can sneak in the whole Rhapsody, recorded (as part of a whole LP's's worth of Gershwiniana) for the Manhattan soundtrack.
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 [Again, you can watch it here]
Stanley Drucker, clarinet; New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, piano and cond. Live performance from the Jahrhunderthalle (Centennial Hall), Frankfurt, June 8-9, 1976 [Again, you can watch it here]
Stanley Drucker, clarinet; Gary Graffman, piano; New York Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta, cond. CBS-Sony, recorded for the Manhattan soundtrack, released 1979
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BARTÓK: The Miraculous Mandarin: Suite(1) First Seduction Game, with lead-in from the "Curtain Rise" section
A.R.: "There are three big clarinet solos spread throughout this suite. And they are big: erotic, wild, frenzied cadenzas with lots of notes!"
[First Seduction Game: clarinet entrance at 0:34]
(2) Second Seduction Game, from the preceding Vivace
[Second Seduction Game: clarinet entrance at 0:14, joined by partner-clarinet about 0:40]
(3) Third Seduction Game, from before the preceding Più mosso
[Third Seduction Game: duo-clarinets' entrance at 0:29]
Stanley Drucker, clarinet; with clarinet-partner in (2) and (3); New York Philharmonic, Pierre Boulez, cond. CBS-Sony, recorded in Philharmonic Hall, May 11, 1971
The Boulez-NYP recording we're sampling is of the complete Miraculous Mandarin, whereas A.R. refers specifically to the Suite, but we're hearing the same thing -- in the Suite the first half or so of the complete Mandarin score is taken over pretty much as is. I suppose we need to establish the context of the three Seduction Games, much as I don't want to dip into the squalid plot of The Miraculous Mandarin. (Read to your heart's content on Wikipedia.) For our purposes, suffice it to say that we're in the shabby room of three impoverished and ruthless tramps, who are compelling a girl (presumably a prostitute?) to play a Seduction (or Decoy) Game, dancing in the window to the street to seduce unsuspecting men to come on up and be mugged. The dances are voiced musically, as described by A.R., by a solo clarinet -- or in the latter part of the Second Game and all of the Third, a pair of clarinets.
Mercifully, that's as far into the piece as we have to go. The thing is, for the pantomime's assortedly sordid low-life doings, Bartók has provided this simply enthralling score, which among many delights gives the first clarinet in particular this astonishing and totally attention-riveting workout. [Read about The Miraculous Mandarin on Wikipedia.]
SINCE A.R. SPECIFIES THE MM SUITE --
This seems a good opportunity to listen to this foreshortened version in the pioneer recording on the Bartók Records label conducted by the composer's most trusted musical associate, Tibor Serly (1901-1978) -- the person who brought to completion or at least performability the assortment of works the dying Bartók left in varying degrees of completable incompleteness.
BARTÓK: The Miraculous Mandarin: Suite
i. Introduction. Street noises.
ii. Siren call of the girl, entrance of the first victim, a shabby elderly gentleman, his eradication.
iii. Second siren call, entrance of another victim, a callow young hopeful, his expulsion by the gangsters.
iv. Third siren call, entrance of the Mandarin.
v. The girl's dance, which commences slowly but develops into a wild, formless waltz.
vi. The Mandarin's pursuit. The Suite ends as he seizes the girl.
New Symphony Orchestra of London, Tibor Serly, cond. Bartók Records, recorded in Kingsway Hall, released 1951
DON'T TELL ANYONE, BUT LET'S LISTEN --
to the whole of that crackling (in the good sense) Boulez-NYP performance of the complete Miraculous Mandarin.
BARTÓK: The Miraculous Mandarin
(pantomime in one act)
New York Philharmonic, Pierre Boulez, cond. CBS-Sony, recorded in Philharmonic Hall, May 11, 1971
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BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6: middle of 2nd movementBEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6 in F, Op. 68 (Pastoral):
A.R.: "The clarinet solo Beethoven wrote here really allows the sound of the instrument to soar above the orchestra."
clarinet solo from ii. Scene by the Brook (Andante molto mosso)
[clarinet solo at 0:26] Stanley Drucker, clarinet; New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded in Manhattan Center, May 13, 1963
And the whole movement --
New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded in Manhattan Center, May 13, 1963
If you're wondering how the later-Lenny "Scene by the Brook" (which we've actually heard) compares, it's actually a shade quicker(!), and flows in a more organized, less rhapsodic way.
Vienna Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. DG, recorded live in the Vienna Singverein, Nov. 12, 1978
OF COURSE WE WANT TO HEAR THE WHOLE PASTORAL
And we have, resting quietly on the shelf . . . Maestro Celibidache, so recently encountered leading us so stalwartly through Brahms 3!AND WE KNOW, CRUCIALLY, THAT THE PASTORAL
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6 in F, Op. 68 (Pastoral):
i. Awakening of cheerful sensations on arrival in the countryside: Allegro ma non troppo
ii. Scene by the brook: Andante molto mosso [at 10:22]
(our clip at 16:48; clarinet solo at 17:09)
iii. Merry gathering of country folk: Allegro [at 24:24]
iv. Thunder, storm: Allegro [at 30:16]
v. Shepherd's song. Happy and thankful feelings after the storm: Allegretto [at 34:11]
Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sergiu Celibidache, cond. Live performance from the Beethoven-Saal, Stuttgart, Feb. 10, 1982
I don't know that there are startling insights in Maestro C.'s Pastoral, and goodness knows nothing in the way of orchestral finesse or tonal sophistication or a thousand other qualities for which there are a thousand other performances we can (and I do) turn to. What I do hear is deep appreciation, love, and respect for this cherishable score, realized with a determination to allow it the space to make a resounding case. Do the "happy and thankful feelings after the storm" get much happier or thankfuller?
IS FRATERNAL TWIN TO ITS IMMEDIATE PREDECESSOR
It's something we've observed a number of times about Beethoven, even more starkly than many other composers who felt the same need: while working on a piece of a deeply felt but deeply particular character, to work, either consecutively or even simultaneously, or at least overlappingly, on something deeply different -- there being no more dramatic example than the Beethoven Fifth and Sixth Symphonies.
It just so happens that on the same program with the Pastoral we just heard, Maestro Celibidache conducted the Beethoven Fifth! And how fastidious he is about allowing the three later movements to assume their full weight alongside their potentially-so-dominating opening movement. In the Scherzo and Finale he may stretch the idea of "allegro" pretty close to the breaking point, but I for one sure have no complaint.
[Side thought: I sometimes wonder how many times Stanley D. must have performed works like Beethoven 5 and 6. My guess is that whatever the number, it didn't seriously affect the concentration he devoted to preparing for each new round of performances.]
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67:
i. Allegro con brio
ii. Andante con moto [at 5:59]
iii. Allegro [at 16:59]
iv. Allegro [after 22:31]
Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sergiu Celibidache, cond. Live performance from the Beethoven-Saal, Stuttgart, Feb. 10, 1982
WHEW! THIS HAS BEEN QUITE A HAUL, AND
WE'VE STILL ONLY GOTTEN THROUGH NO. 4
The deal going in was that we allow ourselves the latitude to reflect and digress, focusing as much as possible on the music, as I think Stanley D. would have liked us to do. So at this point I'm thinking maybe we slip in a place-holder and plan to regroup for one final push -- through Nos. 3, 2, and 1 plus that "Honorable Mention" (which I can assure you is itself worth the wait).
Maybe even sooner than next week. The way I've always heard it, it's somehow important, or leastwise helpful, for a person to dream.
STILL TO COME . . .
We've got Rimsky-Korsakov (music we've already heard but left dangling), Sibelius (can you guess what this is?), Rachmaninoff, and Kodály.
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