François Houle on NPR

Wednesday's episode of Fresh Air on NPR featured clarinetist François Houle and his fascinating new album with pianist Benoît Delbecq.  Listen here.  We also found this short documentary on the recording of this album by Igor Juget.


Because She Hoped - Benoît Delbecq/François Houle duo - new album from Igor Juget on Vimeo.

Clarinet Videos: Best of 2011

It's that time of year again to take a look back at the past twelve months to pick our favorite YouTube videos from 2011.  A couple of the selections made it on our list with only a few days left to spare in the calendar year, but we've manage to sort through all YouTube videos and readers' submissions to select our top picks for the year, featuring clarinetists from Japan, Croatia, Armenia, Italy, the U.S., and the U.K.


1. Clarinet Tongue Position Videos: X-Ray and Ultrasound
This next two videos shows the scientific view of what happens inside our mouths when we play clarinet. 



The first video, featuring research by Ray Wheeler in the 1960's, shows X-ray images of a clarinetist's tongue.  These x-rays were taken while the player bends notes, plays glissandi, and also vocalizes the sounds as well.  Offering a unique look into how the tongue and throat positions affect pitch and tone quality, this video is great starting point for teachers and students alike.



More recently, Joshua Gardner presented his work on ultrasound imaging of clarinet tongue position at ClarinetFest 2011, with a test subject of none other than Robert Spring!  If you're one of the many that watched his warm-up video and wondered how does he do it?, now's your chance to find out!  This is the first of four videos, so visit YouTube to see the rest.

2. Brahms Quintet Reimagined by ZRI



It may sound like sacrilege: rearranging the Brahms Quintet for a "gypsy" ensemble including accordion and santouri (a type of hammer dulcimer).  But ZRI's version, injected with incredible passion and flair, is mesmerizing.  Named for the tavern at which Brahms was known to listen to gypsy bands, ZRI's live shows juxtapose their version of Brahms with the sort of raucous gypsy tunes which influenced Brahms' composition of the Quintet.  The video below uses the Music Animation Machine to provide a visual representation of the sound of the second movement of Brahms' Quintet as performed by ZRI.  Also check out this video to get a feel for ZRI's high-energy live performance!

3. Quintette 7 is Late for a Parade



We blogged back in February 2011 about the West Point Band ensemble Quintette 7, which specializes in the music of Raymond Scott.  This video is a humorous take on life as a military musician, set to excerpts of Quintette 7 playing several pieces by Scott.


4. Japanese Bass Clarinet Showdown


Set to the dramatic background music of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, this video clip of game-show contestants attempting to play the bass clarinet demonstrates that not everyone has natural talent when it comes to playing an instrument.  Quizzical looks from the contestants as they awkwardly hold the bass clarinets give away their lack of familiarity with a woodwind instrument and the tension builds when the first girl fails to make a sound.  Watch this short clip to the end and you will quickly discover who is declared the winner.  Please, somebody give her a lesson!

5. Corrado Giuffredi & Saxofollia -- Guisganderie



We came across this video with the help of Morrie Backun posting it to his Facebook page.  Just barely making it in time for our list, this video was posted two days before the new year and has already garnered over 441 viewings.  Featuring clarinetist Corrado Giuffredi playing Faustin and Mauri Jeanjean's Guisganderie accompanied by the Saxofollia quartet, this video was recorded in the Guiseppe Verdi Theatre in Italy.  This fun, but technically challenge piece does require some alternate fingerings to facilitate the rapid passages, and a thread found at Woodwind.org goes into further details about recommended fingerings.


6. Yeghishe Gasparyan - "Yeghishi Par"


This video was taken at a live concert in Rostov City, Russia, featuring the famous Armenian clarinetist Yeghishe Gasparyan. We don't know that much about Yeghishe, but his technique is certainly incredible, and the sound quality of this live video is very good.



7. Duo Gurfinkel - Paganini/Levitas Caprice 24


This virtuosic duo performance is made all the more remarkable due to the fact that Alex and Daniel Gurfinkel are identical twins and only twenty years old.  They are sons of Israel Symphony principal clarinetist Michael Gurfinkel, and we look forward to hearing more about them in the future!


8. Preparing for Auditions with Ricardo Morales


One of the biggest clarinet stories of 2011 was the news that Ricardo Morales was hired as principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic, beginning in September of 2012. Who better to teach us about taking an audition than Morales himself?

9. Jazz for Cows


The most viral clarinet video of the year was definitely "Jazz for Cows," which has received over 4 million views since it was uploaded in September. Watch as the New Hot Five mesmerizes a group of cows in France with their Dixieland jazz.

10. Mihael Paar--Jingle Bells

And finally, before the holiday tunes have faded from our memory, check out Croatian clarinetist Mihael Paar's rendition of Jingle Bells.  This professionally-made video has great audio that highlights his smooth sound and polished technique. His unique arrangement of Jingle Bells seamlessly weaves several variations of the classic tune together and is complemented nicely by the video footage of the recording process. For more information about Paar and his current projects, visit his website at www.mihaelpaar.com 

That's all for now! Comment to let us know what we've missed, and visit our "Best of 2011" playlist to hear many more of our favorite videos from the past year!

Carolina Clarinet Quartet

Demonstrating how congenial and generous the clarinet community can be, the members of the Carolina Clarinet Quartet have posted an offer on their website inviting fellow musicians to share and trade original works and arrangements in exchange for access to the group's own arrangements of clarinet quartets.  On their site you will find an index of over 175 pieces containing information on the instrumentation of each piece, timings, brief comments, and audio samples of the group performing selected works. Although some of the linked content and biographies are outdated by a few years, an article covering an in-depth analysis of mouthpiece materials by quartet member Brent Smith is worth checking out.  For those who live in North Carolina, the site also lists over 60 links to musical ensembles across the state for playing opportunities.

Hornsmasher: Clarinet

Ever wonder what would happen if you pumped peanut butter into a clarinet with a pressure hose?  The guys at Hornsmasher.com did, and here is the result:

International Clarinet Association (Dec. 2011 column)

You may have noticed that the International Clarinet Association has recently been working to expand the offerings of the Clarinet.org website and to connect with members via Facebook.  We thought we would dedicate this column to exploring the new features at Clarinet.org and the ICA Facebook page.

Clarinet.org
The website of the International Clarinet Association, Clarinet.org was created in 1996 by Alan Stanek and Stan Geidel with important contributions from F. Gerard Errante, Mark Charette (of Woodwind.org) and Kevin Jocius.  The site has evolved over the years to offer more content and functionality, and has become a rich resource for members and non-members of the I.C.A. 

Starting with the new additions located under the “Archives” menu, the site now contains a link to the “Clarinet Anthology” and past ClarinetFest®  presentations.  Initiated and developed by past president F. Gerard Errante, these new categories are a great resource for articles from older issues (including several by Daniel Bonade) as well as up-to-date research and presentations courtesy of ICA members who have presented at past ClarinetFests.  

Though it’s been available for years, some of our readers may be unaware that the entire Master Index of The Clarinet is available online.  With over 1,800 articles indexed by Volume, Author, Title, and Category, this is the place to start when doing any clarinet-related research!  Another feature that is perhaps underutilized is the incredible ICA Research Center Library.  Set in motion during Robert Spring’s presidency, the ICA placed a listing of its Research Library Score Collection online making it easier and more convenient for members to peruse and borrow materials.  (You don’t have to be a member to search the Catalog.)  Housed at the University of Maryland, droves of scores supplied by several donors over the past two decades are available and can be checked out for up to two months with minimal cost to cover shipping. Just one of many perks to being a member!

Several other “Members Only” features have been added to the Clarinet.org site in recent years.  Members of the ICA now have access to PDF files of The Clarinet going back to December 2008 and “teaser” preview articles from upcoming issues.  They can also search the ICA Member Directory by name or state/country, making it easier to get in contact with clarinetists from around the world.  And for those who aren’t yet members, it is now very easy for everyone to join the ICA by registering through the web site!

I.C.A. Facebook Page
The ICA Facebook Page was conceived and created several years ago by Diane Barger, who continues to serve as an administrator of the page.  We recently asked Diane to elaborate about this initiative and how it serves the ICA, and we’ve included her remarks below:

“I have found that Facebook serves as a terrific resource for students, professionals, enthusiasts, etc. I remember the days when Facebook was strictly for students, and now people from all walks of life and of all ages are on this popular social media resource. I believe it is one of the best ways in which we can communicate with each other in a creative way.

“The ICA Facebook Group (simply named "International Clarinet Association") is a place where members can post information about things going on in their city/state*, ask questions pertaining to the clarinet, upload video or links, etc. And, it is regularly monitored by myself and a few ICA Board members who administer the site and ensure that all postings are appropriate for the purposes of the group. It is also a popular place for ICA ClarinetFest® Artistic Directors to post information about that year's conference.” -- Diane Barger

Due to changes in the way Facebook formats groups and pages, the page recently migrated to a new address (available here if you are logged in to Facebook).  Be sure to join the new group -- you will also be joining a conversation with clarinetists from around the world!

*Note that many ICA State Chairs have created individual Facebook pages, so it might be more appropriate to list local events there rather than the general ICA Facebook Group.  

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We’re excited to be working together with Marco Mazzini (of ClariPeru) and the ICA to create a list of helpful links at Clarinet.org.  This list will feature local, regional, and national clarinet organizations; clarinet equipment retailers; and more. 

Send your favorite clarinet sites to clarinetcache@gmail.com for possible inclusion on our blog or in future columns!

Himie Voxman (1912-2011)

 Legendary educator, administrator, and clarinetist Himie Voxman passed away yesterday at the age of 99.  Voxman, who served as director of the University of Iowa School of Music from 1954-1980, is a familiar name to clarinetists around the world due to his publications of method books and chamber music for woodwinds.

photo by Tom Jorgensen; from uiowa.edu

 According to Hustedt's dissertation (see below), Voxman began traveling to Europe in 1954 in search of unpublished wind music from the 18th and 19th centuries.  As it was not under copyright, he was then able to arrange and adapt much of this music to eventually create hundreds of methods, collections, chamber arrangements, and solo editions for wind instruments. 

Voxman's well-known publications for clarinet include the following:

-Rubank Advanced Method for Clarinet Vol. 1 and 2
-Classical Studies for Clarinet
-Introducing the Alto or Bass Clarinet
-Concert and Contest Collection for Clarinet
-Selected Studies for Clarinet
-Selected Duets for Clarinet Vol. 1 and 2

Further reading:

• Iowa City Press-Citizen article about Voxman's life at UI
• Michele Ann Bowen Hustedt's 2010 DMA Dissertation "The Life and Career of Himie Voxman", including a full list of Voxman's publications
• Himie Voxman Wikipedia article
• Short interview with Voxman as part of NAMM oral history project
• Article about Voxman's 90th birthday celebration at University of Iowa

Blog Alert: The Curious Clarinetist

A new blog has popped up on our radar-The Curious Clarinetist. Active for just over a year, this blog features numerous posts on master classes, videos, reeds, and teaching, just to name a few topics. Geared towards clarinetists of all ages and levels, this wonderful site collects and presents material in a personal, yet informative manner. Check out the post on a master class by Yehuda Gliad; the seamless flow of the prose and content makes you feel as if you were witnessing it firsthand.  The author has also taken the time to create lists of some of the most commonly requested orchestral excerpts in auditions and offers links to IMSLP for the clarinet parts and scores. If you like what you see, don't forget to "like" the blog on Facebook to stay connected and keep tabs on new postings.

Octocontralto Clarinet

Cyrille Mercadier's videos of the octocontralto clarinet have been flying around the internet this past week, and for good reason -- this particular instrument is very rare and many people have never heard it.  The octocontralto (or sub-contralto) clarinet is pitched in E-flat and plays one octave below the more common contralto clarinet in E-flat.  We recommend listening with good speakers to get the full bass effect - laptop speakers may only sound the upper harmonics of the pitches.



Mercadier claims it is the only one of its kind, made at the Leblanc factory in 1971, although according to Wikipedia they made three contralto clarinets and one octocontrabass clarinet.  This coincides with the Octocontrabass page at Grant D. Green's fascinating site Contrabass.com, a collection of information on the lowest of the low wind instruments.

Mr. Leblanc himself playing the octocontralto clarinet (photo from Contrabass.com and courtesy of G. Leblanc)

And for a truly odd musical coupling, Mercatier and Benjamin Masciotta perform Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" on the octracontralto and the A-flat piccolo clarinet!

Streaming Video (Sept 2011 column)

We have written extensively about YouTube in past Clarinet Cache columns, but we haven’t mentioned much about other places to view clarinet videos on the web.  YouTube is just one of many ways to share and search video on the web; also, live video streaming is becoming increasingly popular as the technology improves.  For this column, we’d like to explore some places clarinetists may want to visit to view streaming video on the web.  

InstantEncore
InstantEncore is a streaming video and audio sharing site designed with classical musicians in mind.  Ideal for performing artists, ensembles, and composers as a way to share their music, InstantEncore also makes social networking easy for musicians who aren’t web savvy by coordinating YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and website updates in one place.  Classical music fans can easily search the site for videos and audio by genre, composer, instrument, artist name, etc.  As the site is focused on classical music, content is easier to sort through and generally higher-quality than that found on YouTube.  Also, InstantEncore videos tend to have more complete information about artists and works than other video sharing sites, which often leave out crucial facts like movement numbers, conductors, or performers.

Chamber music seems to be the most well-represented genre on this site. Clarinetist José Franch-Ballester is featured in several videos with the Camerata Pacifica, performing movements from Beethoven’s Quintet for Piano and Winds Op. 16 and Harbison’s Wind Quintet. There is also quite a bit of new music, including works with multimedia and electronics. Clarinetists may also be interested in the videos of symphonic works performed by ensembles such as the Chicago Symphony and the New York Philharmonic.

The videos generally tend to be excerpts or single movements, but many complete works can be found in the audio section of the site.  InstantEncore has a nice player for streaming audio that allows you to queue up a playlist of recordings -- we recommend Charles Neidich’s recording of Stravinsky's Three Pieces, Bil Jackson’s recording of Kevin Puts’s Clarinet Concerto with the Aspen Chamber Symphony, and David Shifrin’s performances of Bernstein's Sonata and Bartok's Contrasts.  Universities have even begun to use the site to promote their music schools, with tracks such as the Cleveland Institute of Music’s “New Music Series Highlights Fall 2010.”  

InstantEncore also allows a local or national search for upcoming and past chamber concerts.  There is some advertising on the site, but the sleek interface minimizes the obtrusiveness of the ads (and they presumably have to pay the web developers somehow!).  Hopefully this site will continue to grow as a destination for classical music listening and networking on the web.  

Live Streaming
In an effort to reach larger audiences outside of the concert hall, universities across the U.S. are now live-streaming broadcasts of concerts and programs, often accessible directly through the school’s site.  In addition to live-streamed concerts, the Yale School of Music website also holds a large supply of podcasts of various programs, interviews, and musical discussions.  Several podcasts feature the clarinet, including David Shifrin’s performance of Yale faculty composer Ezra Laderman’s Concerto for Clarinet and Strings. [EDIT: This podcast seems to be no longer available.]

Travelling westward to Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, the IU Music Live! website hosts several on-demand videos of past opera and ballet productions and over forty-three video and audio podcasts.  The live streaming project first started in November 2007 and all video production is student-run and managed by the Department of Recording Arts.  The number of programs available for viewing has grown to include performances of groups such as the IU Philharmonic Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble.  When browsing through the list of podcasts, be sure to check out the 2008 chamber music performance by the ensemble Trio Cayanne playing Jean Francaix’s Divertissement with Steve Cohen on clarinet.

Heading further south to our neck of the woods in Denton, Texas, the College of Music at the University of North Texas regularly broadcasts classical programs, with over eighty concerts streamed live during the 2010-2011 season.  Unlike the sites mentioned above, UNT unfortunately restricts access to archived programs, making them available only to UNT students, staff, and faculty.  However, what sets UNT’s live streaming video apart from the content on other websites is the ability for viewers to interact with each other during concerts.  Through the live broadcast platform Ustream, viewers watching the UNT concerts can interact and chat in real time with others, including those sitting in the audience using an iPhone app or with family members around the world. Blair Liikala, Director of Recording Services for the College of Music, often monitors these chats to find ways to enhance the live-streaming experience; for example, if a parent mentions which player is their child, Liikala can relay this information to the camera crew, instructing them to get a close up of that student.  It is this type of live interaction and instant feedback that allow remote viewers to experience the concert in ways that were previously not possible.

Ustream and Vimeo
Used not only by universities, Ustream is an interactive public website with a variety of live-streamed content.  Although the listing for clarinet-related videos is lacking in high-quality entries, a few videos stand out such as bass clarinetist Martin Moore playing Isang Yun's Monolog.  Another site worth visiting is Vimeo. With a seemingly endless supply of clarinet entries, this is probably the only place where you will find video of a man playing clarinet in the nude!!  Such alternatives to YouTube are becoming increasingly popular, and as faster internet connections allow video quality to increase, we look forward to watching more and more clarinet videos on the web.

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Thanks to Chris Raddatz for giving us the heads-up about InstantEncore’s collection of clarinet video and audio!  If you have suggestions for websites we should take a look at, please e-mail us at clarinetcache@gmail.com.  

ClarinetFest: Day 4

Saturday at ClarinetFest was another day of difficult choices, as so many incredible events were happening at one time.  I was sorry to miss the Festival Features concert (Peter Wright and Robert Spring, among others), but the distance of the venues made it hard to get back and forth quickly across campus.  I ended up staying in the area of the VPAC for Shannon Scott's lecture and performance of Boulez' Domaines, and Henri Bok's bass clarinet master class. 

Shannon Scott performing Boulez's Domaines

Scott, who has performed Domaines for Boulez himself, gave an interesting lecture about the piece and the various decisions the performer must make in order to perform it.  If I understood everything correctly, the piece has six "Cahiers" and each Cahier has a "Miroir" which is a reverse of the music in the corresponding Cahier.  The performer may choose which order to perform the Cahiers, each of which sits on a different stand, and then may choose the order of the six Miroirs as well.  The performance had a theatrical element as Scott stood in the middle of a circle of music stands, moving around to each stand and flipping over each Cahier or Miroir after she performed it. 

Near the beginning of his master class, Henri Bok picked up his bass clarinet and said: "This is not a clarinet.  The only thing it has in common with a clarinet is the name."  Many of us in the class were in agreement, having had experience with the differences between the two instruments.  Bok spoke about the open fingerings he uses for the altissimo register on bass, and noted that the upper clarion range can be stuffy.  He also coached students in performing the famous Bozza Ballade and a solo bass clarinet piece by Genzmer.  Bok's statement that "squeaks don't exist; just high notes" also got some laughs from the audience!

I began the afternoon with Caroline Hartig's recital in the Grand Salon.  It was hard to pass up Richie Hawley's master class and Philippe Cuper's lecture, but as a former student of hers I was really looking forward to Hartig's performance.  I certainly wasn't disappointed!  She won over quite a few new fans with her stellar performance of virtuosic show pieces by Bloch, Demersseman, and della Giacoma.  Hartig revised and edited the Demersseman Morceau de Concert and della Giacoma Cavalleria Rusticana, both works with beautiful, singing melodies and fluid scales and arpeggios--more notes than I thought was possible to fit in a half hour recital!  Such works are often dismissed as "flash and trash," but in Hartig's hands they made for a truly engaging and expressive performance.

The highlight of the entire festival, for me, was Philippe Berrod's performance of Boulez's Dialogue de l'hombre double in the Plaza del Sol hall. The piece involves a great deal of spatialization of sound, both by the performer moving around between music stands placed onstage, and the prerecorded tape part moving through the surround sound speakers.  It was quite incredible how the taped clarinet part seemed to rotate around the room and then seamlessly transition into Berrod's live playing.  Spotlights onstage further emphasized the "dialogue" between the live performer and his electronic "double."  I realize I may be biased due to my interest in music for clarinet and electronics, but I was absolutely blown away by the sound engineering, Berrod's execution of the difficult music, and the overall impact of the performance.  And I was not the only one - the small but appreciative audience gave Berrod four curtain calls.  Congratulations to Berrod and his sound engineer (from IRCAM in Paris, no less) for a sensational realization of this rarely performed piece of music.

At ClarinetFest, the action seemingly never ends, and next it was time for the Brahms Quintet with Joaquin Valdepeñas and the Aiana String Quartet in the Grand Salon.  Even with the best of players, performances of this lengthy work can sometimes sound uninspired or underrehearsed.  Not so with this group; their attention to nuance and detail made for a gorgeous performance from start to finish.

Though I wasn't sure if anything could top such an incredible day of performances, I headed to the Valley Performing Arts Center for the evening concerts of soloists with orchestra.  Unfortunately, Russian clarinetist Ivan Stolbov was unable to perform due to visa issues, so the concert began with an overture by Glinka in his honor.  Next, it was a treat to hear Naomi and Stanley Drucker perform Edward Thomas' Fantasy for Two Clarinets.  Philipe Cuper's Francaix Concerto was exciting and impressive, and the difficult orchestra part was handled well by the ClarinetFest orchestra and conductor John Roscigno.

The second half included Alcides Rodriguez's polished performance of Weber's Andante and Hungarian Rondo on bass clarinet, followed by Anthony Girard playing Merrer's Cercles dans le ciel for E-flat clarinet and orchestra.  Stanley Drucker captivated and charmed the audience with Rossini's Introduction, Theme, and Variations, and as an encore we were treated to Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee as performed by Rodriguez, Girard, Cuper, the Druckers, and Peter Wright with orchestra! 

On Saturday, I was so caught up in the exciting performances that I stopped taking pictures, so if you have some please e-mail and I will post them!  These ClarinetFest recaps are by no means definitive but simply represent my (probably biased) view of the festival and what I was able to attend.  It would be great to hear from our readers about your experience at ClarinetFest, especially since I had to leave before the Sunday events.  What were your favorite performances?  What did you learn?  Feel free to leave comments below.

I could not have been more impressed and pleased with this year's ClarinetFest, and I congratulate the I.C.A. and co-artistic directors Julia Heinen and Bill Powell for their hard work in bringing this level of clarinet artistry, pedagogy, and research together in one place.