a comparison of performance practice of selected clarinet
TRANSCRIPT
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Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School
2004
A Comparison of Performance Practice ofSelected Clarinet Passages in OrchestralAuditions and Orchestral PerformancesTheodore A. Schoen
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THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF MUSIC
A COMPARISON OF PERFORMANCE PRACTICE OF SELECTED
CLARINET PASSAGES IN ORCHESTRAL AUDITIONS
AND ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCES
By
THEODORE A. SCHOEN
A Treatise submitted to the School of Music
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Musical Arts
Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2004
Copyright © 2004 Theodore A. Schoen All Rights Reserved
The members of the Committee approve the Treatise of Theodore A. Schoen defended on November 1, 2004.
Frank Kowalsky
Professor Directing Treatise
Seth Beckman Outside Committee Member Patrick Meighan Committee Member Eric Ohlsson Committee Member
The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members.
ii
In memory of my father
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the following people for their help, guidance, and contributions to
the realization of this project:
My graduate committee: Dr. Seth Beckman, Professor Patrick Meighan, Dr. Eric
Ohlsson, Dr. John Deal and especially Dr. Frank Kowalsky, who gave freely of their
time, expertise, and support.
Laura Ardan, Tad Calcara, Larry Combs, Burt Hara, Ricardo Morales, Timothy Paradise,
and Michael Rusinek, who took time out of their busy performing and teaching schedules
to be interviewed. Thank you to these clarinetists not only for their participation in this
project, but also for all their contribution and inspiration to the clarinet and orchestra
worlds.
With great love and thanks to my wife, Laurie Van Brunt, who not only helped me in
transcribing the interviews and proofreading this paper, but also provided endless love,
support, and patience during this entire process. Without her this journey would have
never been completed.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Examples ................................................................................................ vii Abstract ...................................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 1. DISCUSSION OF SELECTED CLARINET EXCERPTS ............................ 6 Mozart: Concerto for Clarinet in A Major, K.622, Exposition................... 6 Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60, Fourth Movement, measures 297 - 301................................... 11 Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 (“Pastoral”) First Movement Letter K to the End ....................................... 13 Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 (“Pastoral”) Second Movement, Letter D to Letter E ................................. 16 Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 (“Pastoral”) Third Movement Scherzo, 32 measures after A to 51 after A 18 Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90 Second Movement............. 20 Zoltán Kodály: Galanta Dances ................................................................. 23 Mendelssohn: “Scherzo” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream ................... 25 Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34 ........................................ 28 2. GENERAL TOPICS RELATED TO AUDITIONS AND
ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCES ............................................................ 33 The Audition Committee ............................................................................ 33 Use of Personal Parts and/or Excerpt Books .............................................. 36 Reeds and Equipment ................................................................................. 38 Using Recordings........................................................................................ 40 General Comments...................................................................................... 42 CONCLUSIONS.................................................................................................. 47
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APPENDICES ..................................................................................................... 50 A Interview with Laura Ardan.................................................................. 50 B Interview with Tad Calcara................................................................... 72 C Interview with Larry Combs................................................................. 86 D Interview with Burt Hara ...................................................................... 96 E Interview with Ricardo Morales ........................................................... 111 F Interview with Timothy Paradise.......................................................... 116 G Interview with Michael Rusinek........................................................... 127 H Interviewed Clarinetists’ Biography..................................................... 137 I Interview Consent Form and Human Subjects Approval Memorandum........................................................................ 140 J Sample Interview Questions ................................................................. 142 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 144 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .............................................................................. 146
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LIST OF EXAMPLES Example 1: Mozart: Concerto for Clarinet in A Major, K.622, Exposition
mm. 108 – 110 with F-sharp in m. 109 ........................................... 10 Example 2: Mozart: Concerto for Clarinet in A Major, K.622, Exposition
mm. 108 – 110 with F-natural in m. 109.......................................... 10 Example 3: Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60,
Fourth Movement, mm. 297 - 301.................................................... 11 Example 4: Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 (“Pastoral”)
First Movement, mm. 474 - 512....................................................... 13
Example 5: Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 (“Pastoral”) Second Movement mm. 66 - 77 ....................................................... 16
Example 6: Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 (“Pastoral”) Third Movement mm. 114 - 133 ...................................................... 18
Example 7: Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90 Second Movement, mm. 1 - 22 ........................................................ 20
Example 8: Kodály: Galanta Dances mm. 31 - 37.............................................. 23
Example 9: Mendelssohn: “Scherzo” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, mm. 1 - 48 ....................................... 25
Example 10: Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34 First Movement, Alborado, mm. 14 - 27.......................................... 28
Example 11: Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34 First Movement, Alborado, mm. 41 - 57.......................................... 29
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ABSTRACT
Performance practice is an important part in the interpretation of any musical
composition. In every performance situation there are elements of technique and style
that are determined by various factors, including the work being performed, the size of
the ensemble, and the nature and purpose of the performance. The context in which a
musical work is performed can affect the overall presentation of that work. Performing
as a member of an orchestra and taking an orchestral audition are two different contexts.
To conform to the standard set by an orchestra or conductor, individual musicians
may have to alter their performance to achieve uniformity with the rest of the ensemble.
Consequently, orchestra musicians may sacrifice their individuality, except possibly in
extended solo passages, for the sake of a unified interpretation. This contrasts with the
audition process used to secure a position in an orchestra.
The purpose of this research is to compare how the performance practice of
certain clarinet excerpts prepared for an orchestra audition differs from that of the same
passages performed in an orchestra.
Interviews of seven principal clarinetists from major American orchestras
discussed the differences, if any, in the performance of selected clarinet orchestral
excerpts in both the audition and orchestra context. In addition to the discussion of the
excerpts, there are also sections devoted to the use of recordings, the use of personal
orchestral parts, reeds and equipment, and general comments. The complete interviews
are included in the appendices.
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INTRODUCTION
Performance practice is an important element of the interpretation of any musical
composition. In every performance situation there are elements of technique and style
that are determined by various factors, including the work being performed, the size of
the ensemble, and the nature and purpose of the performance. The context in which a
musical work is performed can affect the overall presentation of that work. Performing
as a member of an orchestra and taking an orchestral audition are two different contexts.
An orchestra is a synchronized ensemble consisting of as many as one hundred
musicians who work both musically and stylistically as a unit. The orchestra’s musicians
must be able to adjust to such elements as pitch, dynamics, rhythm, phrasing and style,
not only to fit with what is going on around them, but also with what the conductor asks.1
Just as all musicians have idiosyncrasies in their playing and interpretation of a work, the
conductor and the orchestra as a whole can have idiosyncrasies, to which the musician
will have to accommodate and incorporate. To conform to the standard set by an
orchestra or conductor, individual musicians may have to alter their performance to
achieve uniformity with the whole ensemble. Consequently, orchestra musicians may
sacrifice their individuality, except possibly in extended solo passages, for the sake of a
unified interpretation. This contrasts with the audition process used to secure a position
in an orchestra.
Until individual orchestra contracts prescribed the audition process, orchestra
auditions were performed mainly for the conductor of the orchestra. The candidate
1Elisabeth A. H. Green, The Dynamic Orchestra: Principles of Orchestra Performance for Instrumentalist, Conductors, and Audiences (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1987), 1-5.
1
played various orchestral passages for the conductor, who then would have the option of
asking for changes in interpretation, phrasing, dynamics, tempo and overall style. The
candidate who both played well and could best fit the conductor’s musical point of view
would be hired. Today, most orchestras’ audition processes are specified in their
orchestra contracts.2 Auditions are publicized, especially in trade papers, and required
repertoire is specified. Generally, preliminary auditions are held behind a screen, while
the final rounds are in open view. The judges are usually members of the orchestra with
the music director present at the finals and sometimes during the preliminaries. Some of
the main criteria for judging candidates are good intonation, accurate and steady rhythm,
tone quality, technical proficiency, interpretation, and flexibility.3 The applicant must
observe all the written indications in the music, yet at the same time make a personal and
musical statement without the assistance of the accompanying parts or the conductor’s
guidance. As with performing in an orchestra, the candidate must adapt his/her
performance of the required excerpts to compensate for this change in setting and musical
texture.
The same excerpts performed at an audition may receive, and very often do, a
different performance with an orchestra. In an audition, the individual determines the
rhythm, pitch, tempo and dynamics, while in an orchestra performance these factors are
determined largely by the musical surroundings. Identifying the differences between
performance practice of orchestral excerpts for an orchestra audition and for an actual
orchestral performance is important to the success of both the orchestra musician and the
orchestra audition candidate.
2Edward Palanker, “The 1997 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Second Clarinet Audition – A Learning Experience!,” The Clarinet 25:2 (February/March 1998): 70.
3Erica Sharp, How to Get an Orchestra Job…and Keep It: A Practical Guide Book (Encinitas, CA: Encinitis Press, 1985), 10, 19-20.
2
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to compare how the performance practice of
certain clarinet passages prepared for an orchestra audition differs from that of the same
excerpts performed in an orchestra.
Method of Research
The research consisted of four phases: preliminary research, recorded interviews
with principal clarinetists of major American orchestras, transcription of the interviews,
and compilation of data.
Preliminary research involved devising a basis for choosing the clarinet excerpts
included in this study. In the past fourteen years there have been two published surveys
of clarinet audition repertoire. Charles Walthall compiled the first, “A Survey of Clarinet
Orchestral Audition Lists,”4 which appeared in the official journal of the International
Clarinet Society, The Clarinet, in 1990. Walthall tabulated the results from audition lists
of more than 100 American orchestras between the years of 1969 and 1989.5 The second
and more recent survey, compiled by Cheryl Kulikowski, “A Survey of Orchestral
Clarinet Audition Repertoire,”6 was published in the June 2001 issue of The Clarinet.
Kulikowski’s research involved comparing the most recent audition lists of 42 American
orchestras with the 100 orchestras of Walthall’s 1990 survey. In both surveys, the top
three excerpts most frequently asked were Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, Brahms’
4 Charles Walthall, “A Survey of Clarinet Orchestra Audition Lists,” The Clarinet 17:3 (May 1990): 35.
5 Walthall: 35
6 Cheryl Kulikowski, “A Survey of Orchestral Clarinet Audition Repertoire,” The Clarinet 28 (June 2001): 72-77.
3
Symphony No. 3, and Mendelssohn’s “Scherzo” from Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Therefore those three were selected for this paper.
In addition to those excerpts, three others were chosen: Rimsky-Korsakov’s
Capriccio Espagnol (fifth on both surveys), Kodály’s Galanta Dances (Walthall - tenth,
Kulikowski - seventh), and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 (Walthall – sixth, Kulikowski
– seventeenth). The reasons for selecting these three excerpts include high ranking on the
Walthall and Kulikowski surveys, and technical issues having a variety of solutions.
Additionally, Capriccio Espagnol was chosen, because it is played often in orchestras of
all sizes and levels of proficiency. Galanta Dances was included because it offered
different stylistic considerations. Initially several more excerpts were included, but the
interview process proved to be too long, and the additional passages were removed from
the list.
The exposition of the Mozart Concerto for Clarinet in A Major, K. 622 was also
added to the excerpts to be discussed. While not an orchestral excerpt, this concerto is
often required at auditions. According to the Kulilowski survey, the Mozart Concerto
was the most frequently asked solo composition, and when compared to the list of
orchestral excerpts most frequently required, it would have been ranked third overall.7
The seven clarinetists that agreed to be interviewed are all principal clarinetists
from major American orchestras. They are: Laura Ardan, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra;
Tad Calcara, Utah Symphony; Larry Combs, Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Burt Hara,
Minnesota Orchestra; Ricardo Morales, Philadelphia Orchestra; Timothy Paradise, Saint
Paul Chamber Orchestra; and Michael Rusinek, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. All the
clarinetists are members of ICSOM (International Conference of Symphony and Opera
Musicians) orchestras, which have annual budgets ranging from $10.8 to 57.5 million.8
The orchestras range in size from the 33 member Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra to the
7 Kulikowski: 72 - 77
8 American Federation of Musicians, “2003 – 2004 ICSOM Wage Chart,”
http://www.afm.org/member/wageinstr.htm (2004)
4
111 member Chicago Symphony Orchestra.9 The interviewed clarinetists represent a
wide range of influences in training and professional experiences. [See Appendix H:
Biographies of Clarinetists.] For example, their teachers include Mitchell Lurie, Donald
Montanaro, Clark Brodie, Yehuda Gilad, Stanley Hasty, Leon Russianoff, Franklin
Cohen, and Robert Marcellus. The conservatories and universities represented by these
clarinetists include: Eastman School of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, The Juilliard
School, Northwestern University, University of Southern California, Indiana University,
and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Other varying factors include: diversity and length
of orchestral tenure; the proximity of their own audition experience; amount of
participation on orchestral committees; and extent of teaching experience. With their
diverse backgrounds, these clarinetists offer different insights on audition and orchestral
performance practice.
Each of the clarinetists agreed to a thirty to forty minute interview either by phone
or in person. A list of sample questions was sent to each artist prior to the scheduled
interview.10 Because not all the respondents were able to give the same amount of time
to the interview, not everyone answered all of the questions. All the interviews were
recorded and then transcribed. Each clarinetist received a copy of the transcription and
had the opportunity to edit his or her interview. These interviews can be found in their
entirety in the appendix.11
In the following chapters, the findings from the interviews are summarized. Some
direct quotes from the interviews are included. In addition to the discussion of the
excerpts, there are also sections devoted to the use of recordings, the use of personal
orchestral parts, reeds and equipment, and general comments.
9 American Federation of Musicians, “2003 – 2004 ICSOM Wage Chart”
10 Appendix J
11 Appendices A - F
5
CHAPTER 1
DISCUSSION OF SELECTED CLARINET EXCERPTS
Mozart: Concerto for Clarinet in A Major, K.622
Exposition
The Mozart Concerto for Clarinet, while not an orchestral excerpt, is the most
commonly required solo piece at an audition. The clarinetists interviewed discussed what
a committee listens for and why this piece routinely appears on auditions. They also
talked about whether the candidate at an audition should play “soloistically” or play with
more restraint and whether the candidate should choose a traditional approach or
incorporate some of the latest trends in performance practice.
Several of the clarinetists addressed the reasons why the Mozart Concerto is asked
so frequently at auditions. The consensus of opinion was that the piece is so transparent
that its performance demands accuracy of intonation, clarity of articulation, rhythmic
solidity, fluidity of technique, and overall musicianship. Burt Hara stated, “As far as
quality of articulation, intonation, rhythm; it is such a pristine piece that shows
everything.”12 Tad Calcara said, “I think committees put it on there to see what your
musical personality is.”13 Larry Combs remarked that the first few measures of the
12 Unless otherwise cited, all comments by Burt Hara, principal clarinetist of the Minnesota Orchestra, are from a phone interview conducted by the author, 28 October 2004, MD recording, Appendix D.
13 Unless otherwise cited, all comments by Tad Calcara, principal clarinetist of the Utah Symphony, are from a phone interview conducted by the author, 4 October 2004, MD recording, Appendix B.
6
Concerto are very telling. “I find the biggest equalizer is just the solidity of rhythm
within the first three phrases. So many people, although they can play it very well, under
hold long notes, rush rests, [and] don’t ever establish a strong inner pulse.” 14 Laura
Ardan spoke about the difficulty in presenting a compelling musical interpretation while
keeping true to the classical style of Mozart. She stated, “I think as an older musician or
a person who has been involved with music a long time, it’s probably the hardest piece to
play in good taste with good musicianship.”15 She added that a clarinetist feels
“pressure” to do something significant when performing this work either in an audition or
as a soloist with orchestra. Ardan commented, “Being a classical piece and a great
classical piece, the best woodwind concerto ever written probably, there is a lot of
pressure to be a fine musician, to be insightful, but precise, with a nice sound and most of
all with a very good style of the piece, which is very hard to do because it is so subtle.”
The respondents discussed whether a candidate at an audition should approach the
Concerto in the same way as one would if one were an orchestral soloist. All of the
artists recommended that even in an audition it is desirable to perform the Mozart
Concerto in a soloistic style. Rusinek, Calcara, and Combs simply said that because it is
a concerto, it most be performed soloistically. Calcara added that the Concerto offers the
clarinetist a chance to “shine.” He said, “I think it is important that one shows their
musical soul. I think that’s why committees put it on there. They want to see what this
person has to say. I think playing real tamely is missing the point of that. You could
come across sounding bland.”
The degree to which a player can be expressive or impose his or her personality
on the Concerto was addressed by several of the clarinetists. Calcara talked about
knowing the style and keeping within that style. “If your interpretation is more in a
romantic style, maybe you can do a little more messing around [with rubato], but then
14 Unless otherwise cited, all comments by Larry Combs, principal clarinetist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, are from a phone interview conducted by the author, 22 October 2004, MD recording, Appendix C.
15Unless otherwise cited, all comments by Laura Ardan, principal clarinetist of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, are from an interview conducted by the author, 10 October 2004, Atlanta, MD recording, Appendix A.
7
you get into the question of whether that is appropriate for Mozart.” Ardan commented,
“It has to be tasteful, and yet if it’s boring that is something else too. You have to show
number one that you really love the piece and how do you show that within certain
boundaries of classical style…. You want to have style and you want to have
individuality, but you don’t want to do something bizarre, which you might be able to do
if it is your own solo appearance and you are very convinced of it and you can make it
work.” Hara seemed more conservative in his overall approach to the Concerto. He
stated that the Mozart Concerto is such a pristine work, that he does not think he has
anything to offer to enhance Mozart. He continued, “You know my whole feeling about
auditions. I don’t believe one needs to take a lot of liberties to make a piece play. I feel
that there is a certain ‘truth’ to music, and if you pick the right tempo, and know your role
at that point in the music, you do not have to deviate from what is on the page.”
Some of the clarinetists did suggest some differences in the way they play the
Concerto in an audition and the way they perform it as soloist. At auditions, Michael
Rusinek said he uses the Mozart to highlight different aspects of his playing. Rusinek
explained, “At an audition I might play certain things softer than I could play in the
orchestra. When I am playing them at the audition, I know that I couldn’t play it in the
orchestra that softly, but this is what I can do. What I want to show at an audition is
show what I can, not necessarily what I would do. This is what I am able to do, and
therefore if you get me, you know you have somebody who can do anything. If I show
exactly how I would play in the orchestra, I think it would take a little bit off…, it
wouldn’t necessarily show everything that I could do.”16 In performances Ricardo
Morales said he prefers a “little more relaxed style” for the Concerto, but he stated this
does might not work for auditions. At an audition one’s playing needs to stand out. The
committee is “listening to a lot of people, so you need a more solo approach to the piece.
You have to take a slightly brisker tempo, between 116 – 132.”17
16 Unless otherwise cited, all comments by Michael Rusinek, principal clarinetist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, are from an interview conducted by the author, 8 October 2004, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, MD recording, Appendix G.
17 Unless otherwise cited, all comments by Ricardo Morales, principal clarinetist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, are from a phone interview conducted by the author, 10 October 2004, MD recording, Appendix E.
8
With so many different editions of the Mozart Concerto available, the clarinetists
interviewed gave their thoughts on adding embellishments, displacing octaves to emulate
the basset clarinet, and changing notes from the older traditional editions. Paradise was
one who thought that candidates need to be current with the latest findings on classical
performance practice. Regarding clarinetists who use less scholarly editions, Paradise
stated, “I find it more distracting if they just played it the old fashioned way. I would
think, ‘Don’t you know what is going on here?’”18 Instead, Paradise recommended that
players look “at as close to the original part as you can get. What was actually intended
for the basset clarinet and then you should figure out how to approximate that on the
regular clarinet, and you should do your own version.” On the other hand, Hara was
more traditional in his approach. He does not add embellishments or recommend using
them. Though he would not penalize a candidate if the embellishments were done
tastefully, he would not give extra credit for adding them. He said, “I would be hard
pressed to say that I would give someone two thumbs up saying, ‘Wow, that
embellishment was so incredibly beautiful, I want that person.’ If someone did it just to
stand out, I don’t think that would happen.” Regarding the F sharp in measure 109,
second sixteenth of the second beat (Ex. 1), Combs and Morales both noted that it could
be performed as an F natural (Ex. 2). While Morales thought the F natural is “the better
choice musically speaking” he did not think the use of one “f” or the other should affect a
committee’s decision. Morales thought the committee’s concerns would be musical.
“The committee would just be judgmental on musical interest.” Combs did mention that
once a student of his was told by an audition committee that he had played a wrong note,
the F natural. But, Combs thought this was “an extreme example,” and added, “I don’t
think that would be unacceptable in too many places.” He went on to say, “I think you
have to play with conviction what you believe the piece should sound like.”
18 Unless otherwise cited, all comments by Timothy Paradise, principal clarinetist of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, are from an interview conducted by the author, 21 September 2004, Saint Paul, MD recording, Appendix F.
9
Example 1. Mozart Concerto for Clarinet, mm. 108 – 110 with F-sharp in m. 109
Example 2. Mozart Concerto for Clarinet, mm. 108 – 110 with F-natural in m. 109
Concerning the preparation of the Concerto, several of the interviewed clarinetists
had some additional recommendations. Rusinek thought the clarinetist should strive for
“elegance and refinement,” especially at an audition. He added that some adjustments
might have to be made when performing the concerto with an orchestra. “When you have
got eighty people playing behind you, you are going to have to play a little bit
differently.” Rusinek also strongly suggested that clarinetists practice with a piano to
maintain good intonation and a steady tempo. Rusinek explained that when he is
working on the Concerto, “ I would prepare it rehearsing with a pianist to make sure that
I am comfortable playing with the pianist and maintaining a good tempo throughout and
getting use to playing intonation-wise with a piano, because I think it is very easy just to
play it in isolation. Then if you have to play it at the audition with a piano, God forbid
you are not used to playing with a piano, and then it is out of tune. I think intonation is
very important auditions, and I listen very carefully for intonation, especially when you
are playing with piano.” Combs stressed the importance of a solid, steady rhythmic
pulse. “I think that is real important, to say nothing about the attractiveness of the sound
and the appropriateness of the style. But, the rhythm is something that transcends all
listeners, everyone understands that one thing and agrees on that, so it is really important
to nail that from the very first sound you make.”
10
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60
Fourth Movement, measures 297 – 301
Example 3. Beethoven Symphony No. 4, Fourth Movement mm. 297 – 301
The five-measure passage, measures 297 – 310, at the end of Beethoven’s Fourth
Symphony is an articulated passage, which can be more or less difficult depending on the
tempo. The clarinet part is marked dolce with all the notes articulated except for the
grace note slurred to the first sixteenth in the third measure.
Overall the interviewed clarinetists thought the passage was easier to play in the
orchestra. Laura Ardan and Larry Combs stated that Beethoven’s orchestration made the
passage easier to perform in the orchestra, even though the clarinetist does not have
control over the tempo. Combs said, “It’s a lot easier when you play it in the context,
because you are doubled with the first violins. You are not all alone like the bassoon is.”
The doubling makes the clarinet part less exposed and allows the clarinetist to add slurs if
needed. Ardan stated, “In the performance it doesn’t matter; no one can hear you. The
strings are playing detached, and even if you slur more than a few notes, it is going to
come out detached.” The number of slurs added depends on the tempo. Combs said the
articulation is a “judgment call” which depends on the tempo selected by the conductor.
Even at a tempo where he can articulate the entire passage, Combs inserts a slur. Combs
stated, “I do insert a slur starting on the sixteenth note before the grace note
encompassing the grace note and going into the sixteenth note after the grace note, and it
11
is very difficult, if impossible, to tell that that’s not articulated because of the grace note.
So, I have always slurred over that bar line.” If in a performance the tempo seems
unmanageable, Combs suggested adding addition slurs in this manner, “I would tongue
the first four and then do two and two and then do the stuff with the grace note at the bar
line [as described above] and do another two and two in the next to last beat.”
Both Michael Rusinek and Ardan double-tongue this passage, so there is little
difference, if any, between their performances in an audition and in the orchestra. Ardan
urged clarinetists to learn to double-tongue. “You distinguish yourself by not adding a
slur.” Besides achieving clean articulation through double-tonguing, Rusinek thought it
was important to emphasize the grace note in the excerpt. Rusinek said, “In Beethoven
Four I double-tongue that, and I make sure that I get a very loud grace note. And I do the
same thing in the orchestra.”
In an audition it is essential to choose a manageable tempo. Burt Hara, Ricardo
Morales, Tad Calcara, and Ardan recommended that the player choose a tempo so that
he/she can articulate the passage cleanly. The strictest of these three clarinetists was
Ardan who felt quite strongly that the passage needed to be all tongued. She stated, “At
an audition, you have to tongue it. The only leniency you have… is the note after the
grace note.” She continued, “I would recommend you play it at a tempo that you could
play it tongued. And if then if they say, ‘Can we have that faster please,’ if you had to
add a slur or totally fall on your face, I would say add a slur. But, they are listening for
you not to add a slur.” Hara would try to choose a tempo where he would not add slurs,
but he might insert the slurs if asked to play faster. Calcara thought the passage should
be tongued at an audition and that only if an extremely fast tempo was requested by the
committee would he add any slurs. He recommended preparing the excerpt at four
different tempos – a “middle, comfortable, good solid tempo, a faster one, a slow one,
and maybe an extra fast one where you throw in slurs.” All four tempos should be
practiced diligently, including the one with the slurs. Calcara noted that it was hard just
to throw in slurs on the spot.
However, Hara and some of the other interviewed clarinetists thought that simply
tonguing the passage was not the only or complete solution to playing this passage well.
The manner and type of articulation were also important. If by adding a slur, the audition
12
candidate could better capture the character of the excerpt, then a slur should be added.
Hara said, “I always prefer that someone play cleanly to someone play all articulated but
sloppy or out of character.” Morales stressed that at an audition the clarinetist must
“always go for the beauty,” noting that if the player uses a legato tongue that he or she
can add a slur and “get away with it.” When questioned if he would disqualify a
candidate for not tonguing the passage, Morales replied, “No, I would disqualify
someone who tongued it all and sounded ugly before I disqualify someone who added
some slurs and played it always artistically. To me it tells a lot about the musical
integrity of the player. For me it is always a priority to be moved, to hear the best quality
of the music.” Likewise Timothy Paradise said, “You know one of the reasons I might
put that on an audition is to see how smart somebody was. I mean not to see how fast
they could tongue, but just to see if they understood the character of that passage.
Because in an audition, if you want to see how somebody can tongue, if they can tongue
fast, you can always pick a better excerpt, like the “Scherzo” from [Mendelssohn’s]
Midsummer’s Night Dream.”
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 (“Pastoral”)
First Movement Letter K to the End
Example 4. Beethoven Symphony No. 6, First Movement, mm. 474 – 512
13
The solo at the end of the first movement of the Sixth Symphony, two measures
before K to the end, is one of the most commonly required audition excerpts. The
clarinetists interviewed focused mainly on dynamic contrast, shape of musical line,
tempo, and articulation while discussing this excerpt.
Regarding overall dynamics, all the interviewed clarinetists stated or implied that
the dynamics needed to be louder in an orchestral performance than in an audition.
Michael Rusinek expressed this sentiment, “I try to make it sound the same way only it
has to ride on top of the orchestra.”
Larry Combs and Ricardo Morales commented on the opening dynamics. They
felt that at auditions the candidates sometimes begin the passage too loudly causing the
clarinet tone to sound harsh and aggressive. This in turn could negatively affect the
remainder of the excerpt. Combs said, “My experience … is that very many players
when they begin the tutti forte part at K really blast and play with a harsh sound and
articulation, which doesn’t set up the rest of the solo very well. Morales added, “You
need to have the fullest sound you can produce without being aggressive, so you can
show the dynamic contrasts.”
The importance of dynamic progression and pacing was discussed for the passage
beginning at five measures after letter K. In playing an audition as well as in the
orchestra, Michael Rusinek makes sure he hears three levels of dynamics through the
sequences beginning with the open “g”. Combs also makes adjustments in the dynamics
of this passage and coaches his students to make, “a little crescendo through the
sequences to lead to the forte, so that is not necessarily subito forte.” Burt Hara talked
about the pacing of the dynamics and also about the tonal concept as an integral part of
this passage. Hara stressed that it is actually more important to get the sound of the dolce
than the approaching forte because at the forte the orchestra comes in and provides
support. Hara states, “For me the whole sense of that letter K excerpt is like a ride in the
country. It’s the ‘Pastorale’ Symphony after all, it has to be pastoral.” Like Hara,
Timothy Paradise emphasized the importance of musically shaping this passage, “It can
be really quite lovely if you shape it, but most players I have heard just sort of play it like
an etude.”
14
Most of the clarinetists interviewed indicated that they would not perform the last
section of the excerpt, the repeated G major arpeggio, differently at an audition than in
the orchestral, with the exception of having to play louder overall in the orchestra. Only
Rusinek commented that he would strive for a larger dynamic contrast in an audition.
Laura Ardan indicated that because of the increased volume when performing in the
orchestra, that she always sneaks in a breath before the final passage, but she would never
recommend it at an audition. To achieve dynamic contrast during this passage Ardan
recommended that one approach the diminuendo by looking at the distance in the
dynamic levels from start (forte) to finish (pianissimo) and adjust as needed, “Even as
I’m playing the solo I try to approximate a diminuendo, I don’t look and say I have to be
ppp.” Ardan, Combs and Rusinek said that careful pacing of the diminuendo is essential,
so that the clarinetist does not get too soft too soon. Both Ardan and Combs said to be
sure to begin the final forte loud enough. Rusinek stated, “I make sure that I don’t start
the diminuendo at the end too soon, so that I don’t get too soft too soon, so that it sounds
like I am making a very gradual diminuendo. And then I get very soft. But, if you get
too soft too soon, you have nowhere to go.” Combs said, “It is also a good idea to be
pretty full on the loudest forte, so that you can make a discernible diminuendo without
getting too risky.” While making the diminuendo through the final bars, Rusinek and
Paradise point out that it is important that the high “d” does not pop out too loudly.
Paradise stated that if the final high “d” speaks too loudly, it can cancel all the proceeding
diminuendo. However, if the “d” speaks quietly, it implies even a larger diminuendo.
Paradise said, “If you can make that last one quiet, it makes everybody think you
diminuendoed even if you haven’t done that much. But, if you made a really pretty
diminuendo, and that last “d” kicks out really loud, then it is like you didn’t make a
diminuendo. So, it is one note that you have to worry about.”
Regarding tempo, in an audition Hara and Combs warn clarinetists not to slow
down while making the final diminuendo. Combs noted that a ritardando “does not work
musically,” because “the momentum continues” in the strings after the clarinet finishes.
By approaching the excerpt from a conductor’s point of view, instead of that of a
clarinetist, Hara believes that the clarinetist would hear the “excerpt in context” and
realize that there is “no reason to slow down.”
15
Hara, Rusinek and Morales also addressed articulation and how it affects the
quality or mood of this passage. Rusinek concisely stated that the articulation needed to
be perceived by the listener as “crisp.” Hara suggested that the issue of the finding of the
right articulation is not so clear-cut; he said the clarinetist has to use articulation that
captures the mood of the piece. Hara explained, “In the case of Beethoven’s Sixth, at
letter K, if the articulation is too short, it doesn’t have a pastoral, effortless feeling to it,
and if it is too long, it might not sound playful and easy going.” Morales indicated that
his approach to sound on this, as well as other excerpts, is to “have substance” and to
always be “beautiful.”
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 (“Pastoral”)
Second Movement Letter D to Letter E
Example 5. Beethoven Symphony No. 6, Second Movement, mm. 69 – 77
The lyrical solo in the second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, letter
D to letter E, elicited responses from Burt Hara, Larry Combs, and Ricardo Morales. The
main topic discussed was the use of rubato and its affect on the counting of the rests
between the solo entrances.
All three clarinetists indicated that there could be a little, but not much, leeway in
the counting of the rests in an audition as compared to performing the work in the
16
orchestra. Hara explained that when he plays in the orchestra, it is easy for him to count,
because he can hear the underlying pulse. But he continues, “If I am in the audition and
my heart is beating at 150 beats per minute, it is more difficult to count perfectly.” The
lack of an audible pulse in the audition situation is a problem that all three clarinetists
addressed. Combs, Hara, and Morales all commented that the audition committee
mentally counts or tries to imagine the accompaniment while the candidate is performing
the excerpt. As Morales states, “There is unfortunately always a time beater in every
audition [committee], so the rubatos need to be minimal in some excerpts such as that
one.” Hara concurs with this opinion, and adds that it can be difficult for the audition
committee to determine what internal pulse the candidate is projecting. Hara says, “The
counting thing started from someone saying, ‘Does this person know the excerpt or not?’
We should not expect a candidate to read the mind of the person behind the screen
beating time or conducting the piece to know whether it is exactly right on.” The
clarinetists interviewed all agreed that unless the time is “blatantly off” by one or two
beats, they would still find the playing of the excerpt acceptable if it is musically
convincing. As Combs stated it, “Unless it is really off by a whole beat, I think if it’s a
little off, it’s acceptable, but if it’s a lot, it’s not.” To help keep a steadier pulse through
the passage Hara suggested subdividing by sixteenth notes instead of eighth notes.
Hara, Combs, and Morales discussed the difficulty of being lyrical and at the
same time not distorting the tempo in the excerpt. Burt Hara remarked, “The tricky part
about the second movement is playing the grace notes and the sixteenth notes in a way
that sounds easy and effortless, but in tempo. It is hard to play the grace notes in a way
that is fast enough to be in tempo, but slow enough to sound lyrical.” He recalled the
conductor, Klaus Tennstedt, who asked for the solo “out of rhythm, because he was more
interested in the lyricism” of the solo. On the other hand while the use of rubato to obtain
a lyrical quality is acceptable, both Combs and Morales warned that in an audition the
clarinetist must use constraint within the context of the excerpt. Combs says, “If rubato
is used, and it should be in those solos, it should be within the context of a steady pulse
and very convincingly done. Otherwise it just sounds phony. It has to sound natural.” In
addition, Morales stressed that you have to satisfy the audition committee members who
want to hear expressive playing, but at the same time not alienate the other committee
17
members. Burt Hara summed up his preference of using rubato to add lyricism and
enhance the excerpt, “I would prefer someone to play the second movement of
Beethoven’s Sixth and be slightly out of rhythm, but have the grace notes be lyrical. I
would prefer that to someone who played the grace notes quickly with absolutely no
enhancement to the musical line just to try to get it in rhythm.”
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 (“Pastoral”)
Third Movement Scherzo 32 measures after A to 51 after A
Example 6. Beethoven Symphony No. 6, Third Movement, mm.114 - 133
For this solo in the scherzo movement of Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, five of
the clarinetists interviewed discussed tempo, articulation, character, and dynamics.
Choice of tempo plays a crucial role in performing this excerpt. In the orchestra,
the conductor chooses the tempo. Therefore, if the tempo is faster than one’s ability to
tongue the end of this passage, the overall opinion of the interviewed clarinetists was that
it would be all right to add a slur. Combs said, “It is far better for the passage to sound
well and maybe not be totally accurate to the articulations that are written.” Ardan
expressed the same point of view, “A lot of time you can sneak things in that will make it
sound… nobody will think about it because it sounds so good.”
18
However, in an audition, the respondents thought that ideally the person
auditioning should choose a manageable tempo, so that the passage could be tongued.
Combs noted while the tempo, of course, can’t be ridiculously slow, “There is a range,
and, of course, with Beethoven’s symphonies, traditionally there has been a huge range of
tempi that don’t match Beethoven’s indicated marks.” Combs, Hara, and Paradise
thought if it was absolutely necessary, one slur could be added in the last two measures.
Hara cautioned against adding more than one slur in an audition. He said, “As far as
adding slurs, specifically with that solo, I would say if you need to add more than one, the
I would probably have questions.”
Both Ardan and Rusinek double tongue, so the question of adding a slur in the
final two measure articulated arpeggio is a non-issue for them. Additionally, Ardan was
one respondent who thought she would not recommend adding a slur at an audition. “I
would really work for what’s on the page.” Rusinek indicated that while he did not think
an inserted slur would be “penalized” by the audition committee, it would be more
beneficial for one to tongue the entire passage. Rusinek said, “I don’t think my double
tonguing is going to win me an audition, but I think that if there is someone there that, all
things being equal, can do it, why not? They are going to get the gig.”
Hara, Combs, and Paradise noted, the proper character of the passage can be
achieved whether or not a slur is added. In addition to articulation, rhythmic accuracy
and dynamics play a part in achieving this proper character. Tim Paradise said, “ The
main thing is to stay in rhythm and have the right dynamics and shape.” He added that it
was important to make the indicated crescendo in the last two measures of eighth notes.
Burt Hara said, “I think the character of the solo should sound like you are playing out,”
and with the orchestra, he would have to play a great crescendo in order to achieve the
proper affect. He also talked about the importance of the first measures of the excerpt in
terms of capturing the character. “If you capture the right character there, the rest takes
of care of itself.”
19
Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90
Second Movement Solo
Example 7. Brahms Symphony No. 3, Second Movement mm. 1 - 22
At an audition the beginning andante chorale of Brahms’ Symphony No. 3
provides the clarinetist with certain choices or challenges, most of which are less
problematical in the orchestral setting. These include overall dynamic level, rhythmic
precision, steadiness of tempo, intonation, and length or type of articulation.
The interviewed clarinetists pointed out that this excerpt is not a clarinet solo, but
represents just one voice in an orchestral chorale. When playing this excerpt in the
orchestra, the other members of the woodwind section are equally important in obtaining
a good blend and balance. Larry Combs stated, “It should be a blend. I think it should be
an equal blend, and if you have sensitive colleagues, you can make that happen. But
even if one person is playing too loudly, you have to match that, and it gets all out of
whack.” Laura Ardan also commented that the sensitivity of the supporting winds was
important, "Your ability to sound good so much depends on your colleagues beneath
you.” Tad Calcara thought that the conductor controlled the balance of the voices, which
may not always be equal. “Maybe the conductor wants a little bit of the spotlight on the
20
melody voice, the top voice there, and so maybe that needs to come out just a
little….Others may want a very blended kind of sound where all the voices are equal.”
The interviewed clarinetists stressed that even in an audition one must remember
that the clarinet line is part of a structured chorale texture. So, even when the clarinetist
plays alone at an audition, few liberties should be taken. For the most part none of the
clarinetists mentioned major differences between the way they would play the excerpt in
an audition and they way they would perform it in the orchestra. The only differences
were in dynamics. Calcara thought that in an audition the dynamics should be taken
“quite literally,” because the clarinet is not competing with the rest of the wind section.
In playing an audition Rusinek carefully structures his dynamics. He stated, “I make sure
that I have a very clear road map about how I am going to play that dynamically and how
the sequential nature of the phrases and how I develop those dynamically and how kind
of melting it is from note to note and that no notes are accented…” This is different from
his approach when playing in the orchestra, “But, when I am playing it in the orchestra, I
forget about that, and I just try to sing more hymn-like on top of the support of the other
winds.” Hara emphasized the softness and dolce aspect of the excerpt at auditions, “In an
audition, I don’t have to play as loudly because I am not competing against the bassoons
and second clarinet in a chorale setting. Knowing that the excerpt should sound soft and
dolce, in the audition I play softer, making it easier to sound dolce.”
Combs, Ardan, and Calcara warned about rhythmic problems that occur when
performing this excerpt at an audition. Ardan stated that student clarinetists err by
making the opening a big romantic solo, which can cause the rhythm to fluctuate. Ardan
said, “Students will think this is their chance to be really expressive. But, it’s not a big
solo, it’s a chorale and it’s an andante, which is a difficult tempo to shape without
becoming romantic. I think this is what I hear in students most often, is their rhythm is
really bad in the quarter notes. Their rhythm is bad in the quarter notes and then they’ll
want to rush or drag the eighth notes.” Plus they don’t hear the inner eighth note pulse of
the chorale. “I do find that the simpler the piece is, the harder it is for a student to play
well. …They don’t even know what’s difficult about it, such as the inner eighth note
rhythm and that chorale.” Combs also addressed this problem: “The other aspect is the
rhythmic underpinning. It is very easy to hurry the first two eighth notes, which
21
immediately gives an uncomfortable rhythmic feel. Then in the first phrase, the next to
the last note, the “e,” is often under-held, and as a result ends in not exactly in the right
place, which again makes a very uncomfortable feeling for the listener.” When asked
about another rhythmic aspect of this excerpt, the use of rubato, Calcara said there was a
fine line between what is considered bad rhythm and what is expressive. He stated the
use of rubato “has to be quite subtle, and it has to be within the tempo.”
Another common problem, which can be especially transparent at an audition,
was intonation between the full notes and throat tones. Combs stated that differences in
the tonal quality of the notes can “distort the whole solo.” The major problem, said
Combs, is “The tuning between the long “b” and the throat “a” and also the match of
quality; these often are off by quite a bit. I think a lot of players have the habit of resting
the clarinet bell between their knees, so they end up with a flat muted “b” and then they
neglect to be consistent with their wind flow shape, so they get a difference in quality
between the “b” and the “a” as well.” Ardan simply stated, “You have to match your
throat tones with your full notes, and your intonation has to be good.”
The final issue that was addressed about this excerpt was articulation. Combs
noted that the articulation need to observed precisely as in the part. He also disagreed
with adding additional slurs saying, “Brahms was always very precise in that. I had a
chance once to look at the reproduction of the manuscript, and it is exactly that way.
There is no question that that is what he intended.” He continued that where notes are re-
articulated they should be legato, not marcato in style. While not going into much detail,
Ardan stressed that there is some discrepancy in the performance practice of articulation
in the excerpt. She said, “I would say that the player has to be convinced about that,
because that’s a real gray area. It is performance practice to slur that. Almost everyone
does. But I would try to make it sound like it’s slurred, but still articulate, and I’ve been
asked to just articulate it, there is no slur there.” Calcara was concerned about the quality
of the articulation and also how it was affected to the acoustics of the hall. Regard the
tonguing of the dotted eighth and sixteenth, he said, “It you take it too literally, it sounds
flippant, and it doesn’t make melodic sense to what’s happening there, the legato. And
then again you don’t want to change the rhythm and sound like a triplet. So, it is a very
tricky thing.” He added,” Possibly acoustically you would have to take that into
22
consideration if you are playing all by yourself on a stage with lots of reverb. Possibly
you would have to do something slightly different so that the quick note is audible.”
Zoltán Kodály: Galanta Dances
Measures 31 – 65
Example 8. Zoltán Kodály Galanta Dances, mm. 31 - 37
The passage starting at measure 31 is the most commonly requested section from
Kodály’s Galanta Dances asked at an audition. After the clarinet plays the cadenza, it is
the solo instrument in the following Andante maestoso section that states the main theme
of the work.
The clarinetists who discussed this passage agreed that there should be little
difference between the way it should be performed in an audition and in the orchestra.
The main differences involve the impact and extent of the conductor’s interpretation in
the orchestral setting and dynamics. In performing the passage in the orchestra, Laura
Ardan noted, “You are always at the whim of the conductor, which always means you
have to be flexible.” While she said that sixty to seventy percent of the time conductors
would leave the interpretation to the clarinetist, there are some conductors who will insist
that you play the passage differently. She continued, “Then there are other guest
conductors that have a fixed idea of how they want it, and they want you to do it that
23
way, and they’ll suggest that to you in a nice way or not such a nice way.” Tim Paradise
agreed; his preferred gypsy style interpretation is sometimes overruled by the conductor.
Because Galanta is based on a gypsy tune, Paradise stated that it needs to be played in
the style and color of Hungarian music. His interpretation, which includes adding slides
and vibrato and coloring the sound, was influenced largely by hearing the principal
clarinetist of the Budapest Symphony, Jozef Horvath perform at the Munich competition.
Paradise recalled, “He had this big vibrato, kind of tárogató style on some Hungarian
music that he was playing, and he was very straight on everything else he played. So, I
know that this should have some vibrato in places and slides like gypsy music. That’s the
way it’s meant.” However, in some performances that Paradise has played, the conductor
has requested a conservative interpretation. Paradise said, “It is their week. I can do it
anyway they want.”
Regarding the piano dynamic marking at measure 40, Ardan said that the
clarinetist needs to play a “solo piano” in the orchestra so that clarinet line project over
the strings. In an audition, the clarinetist can play softer there and she added, “Watch
your tone quality.”
All the clarinetists interviewed about Galanta thought the main reason this
excerpt is asked at auditions is to assess the clarinetist’s creativity. An important
question was just how flamboyant a clarinetist’s interpretation could be at an audition.
Should the auditionee go all out or be more reserved. Tad Calcara said, “This is a piece
where it is your solo. It is very rhapsodic; it’s gypsy stuff. If I am on the committee, and
I am listening to someone play it too tamely, I think they are missing the point.” However
he was concerned that if the orchestra was known to be conservative whether “overdoing
it might be a little offensive.” Michael Rusinek said he tries to tell a story with the
Galanta solo. His approach is structured. He has a clear “roadmap” of how he wants the
solo to go, especially dynamically. Rusinek also warned that at auditions is that it is easy
to play too slowly after the cadenza. The tempo needs to be the same there in the
audition as it would be in the orchestral performance. Rusinek recommended playing the
Andante maestoso at the “slow end” of the marked metronome markings. Ardan thought
the clarinetist has to be creative, but in a way that was convincing. She said, “ It says
cadenza, which means take it away, you do what you want to do. It has to make sense,
24
and you have to be very convinced that’s the best way it sounds most of all.” At measure
40 she thought that one could take some expressive liberties. She said, “Again, this is a
gypsy tune, so there is not a set performance practice for it. I mean you don’t want to go
completely off the rhythm, but it is fairly understood that those embellishments and
triplets and double dotted notes are expressive, and that you have a certain amount of
flexibility with them.”
Mendelssohn: “Scherzo” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Example 9. Mendelssohn “Scherzo” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream mm. 1 - 48
Mendelssohn’s “Scherzo” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream elicited many
responses, which focused on the tempo, length and style of articulation, and dynamics.
All the interviewees agreed that the tempo should be determined by the speed at
which the clarinetist can perform the articulation cleanly and rhythm accurately. Five
clarinetists indicated that they thought that reasonable tempo should be 88 to the dotted
quarter note. Larry Combs said, “I guess my advice on an audition would be to choose
25
that more or less moderate tempo, say about 86 to 88, where you can manage to articulate
as written.” Burt Hara agreed with Combs, stating that at an audition, “I don’t play it that
fast; I only play it at 88.” Several of the clarinetists added that while one should choose
that moderate tempo of 88 to the dotted quarter note that the candidate should be
prepared to play the excerpt faster or slower. Laura Ardan said that one has to be
prepared to play at anywhere between 84 and 94. Paradise set the audition minimum
tempo at 88, but states strongly that it is the minimum, “I mean they can’t go much below
88 to the [dotted] quarter and make it.” Tad Calcara recommended that the candidate
practice the excerpt at three different tempos – “middle of the road, accessible,
comfortable tempo, and also have an upper ceiling, a faster tempo, and have a slightly
slower one, so that you have three different possibilities. Practice all three of them, and
be ready for any of them.”
Ricardo Morales and Michael Rusinek were less specific about tempo; their
emphasis was on affect. Among Rusinek’s priorities are “crispness in articulation and
accuracy.” He said he does not play the excerpt fast at an audition, “because for me at an
audition the most important thing is playing very cleanly and giving myself time to show
everything. I think if you play too fast, you are not giving yourself a large enough canvas
on which to paint what you want.” For Morales, the tempo has to reflect the “pure
quality of the scherzo. It has to have bounce, and if you get the bounce right, it can work
at a more conservative tempo.” Morales noted that some clarinetists at auditions play the
scherzo fast, but sound “desperate.” He also stated that the candidate needed to be
flexible and be able to adjust the tempo in case the committee wanted a different tempo.
For these reasons, Morales advised, “at an audition, go for a tempo that is brisk, but one
that you could [still] go two or three notches faster, and if you had to go slower that it
would still sound like a scherzo.”
In performance the tempo is at the discretion of the conductor. Paradise noted
that the conductor George Szell let principal clarinetist of the Cleveland Orchestra,
Robert Marcellus, know in advance that the “Scherzo” would be performed at 96 to the
dotted quarter. As a result, Marcellus was able to practice the piece at that tempo and
also to find a responsive reed. However, in an audition one does not have the luxury of
knowing the upper tempo that could be asked or having a reed just suited to the demands
26
of the “Scherzo.” Paradise commented, “But, if you are in an audition where you have to
play something really loudly and expressively plus play a lot of light stuff, something is
going to give on one end or the other.” If the tempo is much faster than anticipated,
Calcara remarked that he “turns up the air, so that the tongue has a lot of air to work
with,” and he gets in a “real determined state of mind.” And he added, “Of course, at a
tempo like that, you may have to throw in some slurs.” Hara, Combs, and Ardan agreed
that each clarinetist has a maximum articulation tempo, and if in a performance that
tempo is exceeded, slurs could be added. Ardan noted that if placed correctly, some of the
slurs could be “masked” by the orchestra. Likewise, Combs also stated that in context in
the orchestra the excerpt is far easier to perform, “because when you begin, you are in the
middle of a lively voiced woodwind texture with the flutes on top, and then you emerge
for a couple of bars.” Continuing, Combs said that through experience he knows where
slurs could be added. He said, “I am happiest when the tempo is moderate to the extent
that I can articulate everything, but I have gotten used to knowing when I need to put in a
couple of slurs here and there.” Hara also would add slurs while still striving for the
scherzo character the conductor wants.
The length and style of the staccato were also important issues for the clarinetists
interviewed. Both Combs and Hara warned against using a “machine gun” style of
tonguing. Combs said that the clarinetist needs a “more rounded staccato.” Hara
suggested that one could obtain the right style of staccato by listening to the flute. He
said, “Really it’s a question of does it capture the essence of the flute. And also when
you think of flute articulation, can a flute play pecky, No!…It just has to sound
effortless.” Similarly Morales stated that the quality of the articulation must have a “light
spirited approach.”
Both Hara and Ardan said they perform the eighth notes the same length as the
sixteenth notes. Ardan stated that students “always get so worried about making the
sixteenth notes short that the eight notes get long. Which is exactly the opposite of what
tends to sound better.” Rusinek recommended overall “crispness in articulation.”
There was no clear consensus of opinion on how softly to play this excerpt at an
audition. Morales, Calcara, and Ardan thought the excerpt should be played at a
comfortable piano dynamic. At the same time, Morales, Calcara, and Hara all thought
27
the acoustics of the hall at an audition might make the piano dynamic normally used in a
performance sound too loud at the audition. While Calcara and Morales thought the
candidate should start with a middle of the road piano dynamic and be prepared to play
softer, Hara thought one should play softer at the outset. Ardan thought that she actually
had to play the “Scherzo” softer in the orchestra. Combs’s point of view was that the
dynamics should be the same in an audition and in a performance. He said, “You need to
replicate as closely as you can what the orchestral context would dictate.” In the final
analysis, regardless of the level of piano chosen, the proper effect of the excerpt has to be
achieved. For Tim Paradise that means the excerpt has to be played evenly and the
phrases have to be shaped. For Hara, that effect of the excerpt has to be “light, airy, and
effortless,” for Combs “leggiero,” for Morales have “a light spirited approach,” and for
Ardan sound as “as easy as you can.”
Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34
Movement I – Alborada
Example 10. Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio Espagnol mm. 14 - 27
28
Example 11. Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio Espagnol mm. 41 - 57
Excerpts from the opening movement of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol
are often found on clarinet auditions. The clarinetists interviewed found few differences,
if any, in the way they would approach the work in an audition and in the orchestra.
These mostly involved minor changes in dynamics and tempo. The clarinetists
interviewed also commented on specific aspects of these solos that pertained to both
auditions and orchestral performances, including style, fingerings, articulation, trills and
phrasing.
Concerning dynamics at an audition, Burt Hara and Laura Ardan suggested that
the candidate should play the excerpt softer than in the orchestra. However, both Ardan
and Hara emphasized that the clarinetist still needed to play with a full sound that
reflected the character of the music. Hara stated, “I do not play as loud in the audition,
but I play it with the same character. It would be like playing con forza in the Brahms
Quintet versus con forza in the orchestra. The question is, did this person capture the
character of the piece?” Ardan said, “You have to play as loud as you can when you’re
in the orchestra, depending on the situation, and you probably wouldn’t need to play that
loud at the audition, but it would still need to be that very full sound that you have to
get.” In addition, Ardan stated that in the orchestra she would use a different type of reed
to help project her sound. But, she does not consider this an option at an audition,
because she said the “stuffier, more resistant reed that I could actually get more volume
on, … wouldn’t sound good without the orchestra underneath it necessarily. While Tad
Calcara said that Capriccio is a “big, loud, rambunctious kind of solo” and that the
audition committee is looking for that kind of character or personality, he reminded
29
players that “good taste” needed to be observed. “Obviously if the sound is wavering, if it
is getting out of hand, if it is getting crass, then you have definitely crossed the threshold.
It should be within good taste I should say. All of these things should be in good taste.”
Regarding the choice of tempo at an audition, Michael Rusinek, Larry Combs,
and Ricardo Morales felt that capturing the character of the piece should be the
determining factor. Rusinek stated, “Capriccio Espagnol I find is another one that I don’t
try to play too fast, but I try to play it very cleanly and very excitedly.” The words “clean
and exciting” were also used by Morales when he talked about performing this excerpt,
and he added, “Again you don’t want it too slow, but it doesn’t have to be fast. You want
to capture the music, style, and spirit.” Combs thought that the clarinetist needs to have
enough flexibility to accommodate all playing situations, but at an audition he stated, “It
is possible to play it a little bit slower if you are playing with more character and better
style. Fast is not necessarily good.”
Some of the interviewed clarinetists discussed other elements that affect one’s
ability to capture the style of this excerpt. Hara said that the acoustics of the hall and
their effect on one’s sound required adjustments, which were or should be intuitive. Hara
stated, “I play Capriccio Espagnol differently at Carnegie Hall than I do at Avery Fisher
Hall, because of the different acoustics. I do different things with my sound to play con
forza in a small recital hall versus a huge concert hall. You make adjustments. The point
is, you make them without thinking about them, without talking about them, and you
make them because you’re saying, ‘this is the character of the piece and this is what I
need to bring out.’” Rusinek felt the character of this work requires the clarinetist, “to
really show off bravura playing.” To get this style, Rusinek makes sure that he does not
clip the ends of the slurs [in measure three of the solo]. “I spend a lot of time working on
that so that it doesn’t sound [clipped], … so that I really lead from the second note, so
that I am grouping really 2,3,4,1, 2,3, 4,1, as opposed to 1,2, 3, 4, 1, 2. That’s when I
really try to open up dynamically and make sure that I am really playing as brilliantly as
possible.”
Some responses elicited from the interviewed clarinetists concerned fingerings,
trills and articulation. Because of the marking con forza, Combs thought that the high
“d” at the beginning passage should be played with the regular fingering instead of the
30
trill fingering. He said, “I think it is a little more exciting if you use a regular fingering;
it’s a little more snappy.” Moving onto the third measure, Combs stressed the importance
of making the two and two articulation, “Very crisp and very precise and very well
supported.” As for the remaining trills, Combs cautioned against losing the “rhythmic
solidity” by trying to make all the trills have double trills, which can cause the up beat to
speak late. To avoid this problem, Combs does a combination of single and double trills.
Combs stated, “ I definitely do double trills on the “g’s” that are slurred to the “e’s,” I
think in the second part of the solo, so that note is filled up all the way to the end. It is
really important to get the forceful character, the forza.” The need to be able to adapt the
trills in different tempos was addressed by Ardan. She said, “If you can do two trills at a
good clip at a reasonably fast tempo, great! I think it will be impressive. But, you have
to be prepared to go much faster then you could with the double trill because I’ve done
that, fifteen to twenty clicks difference in tempo. I’ve done it every possible way. And
you have to be able to do them all, because they may ask for it faster.” In performance
Ardan said that she makes the two sixteenth notes following the trill more like grace
notes. This allows her to play the trills longer, which she thinks “sounds better.” But,
she “would definitely not advise doing at an audition.” . Also in the orchestra Ardan will
leave out the last beat or bar before the beginning of the solo, “so I can tank up on air,
and of course you could not do that at an audition. That would not at all be acceptable!”
Hara said that in an orchestral performance he “leaves out the eighth note before the
solo.”
Calcara and Ardan noted the necessity for clarinetists to shape the phrases
musically despite the lack of dynamic markings. Ardan talked about making crescendos
and leading the notes, though there are no crescendos marked. “To me the whole thing
needs to crescendo on every single note, but you do have to phrase it and shape it a little
bit.” She also warned about backing away from the high d after letter C. “People want
to back from that high note, and then it sounds worse if you do that.” Calcara suggested
that the clarinetist needs to go beyond the printed page, so his or her performances stands
out. He said, “Rimsky Korsakov doesn’t give you a lot to work with in the part, so I
would say make it interesting musically and phrasing-wise. So, vary your dynamics. Do
31
some stuff with it, because there’s nothing more frustrating than being on a committee
and hearing somebody just play it again.”
32
CHAPTER 2
GENERAL TOPICS RELATED TO AUDITIONS AND
ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCES
The Audition Committee
When auditioning for an orchestra, a candidate for a clarinet position will perform
for a committee that consists of members from the orchestra. Each orchestra’s contract
prescribes the exact make-up of that committee. Commonly only one or two clarinetists
will be on the committee with the remaining members chosen from other sections of the
orchestra. The interviewed artists made comments on what they thought a committee
seeks for in a candidate.
An important factor in the discussion of what an audition committee is looking for
is the presence of non-clarinetists on the committee. The main difference in the way they
listen is that they may not understand the technical aspects of clarinet playing and the
idiosyncrasies of the instrument. They may begin by concentrating on exactly what’s on
the printed part. They may also focus on more general aspects of the candidate’s playing,
including sound, style, musical maturity, phrasing, rhythm, and intonation. When talking
about these non-clarinet members, Tad Calcara stated, “I think that is a natural thing; they
are going to be listening for different things. But, I think first and foremost that everyone
is going to be listening to sound. They’re going to be listening to phrasing and how
musical this person is.” Ardan agreed saying that since everyone on the committee is a
musician, “They hear a nice sound, they hear good style, they don’t necessarily have to
know the instrument or the piece that well. They can tell when it is a good player, a
mature player.” Michael Rusinek added that there is an expectation by the committee to
33
hear standard repertoire performed stylistically correctly. However, Rusinek thought
sound was less of an issue. Rusinek remarked, “I find with clarinet players is that too
much time is spent worrying about the sound, because most of the people on the
committee are not clarinet players, and they don’t know sound. Obviously you have to
sound good. But you can sit on a committee and somebody is going to say, ‘They sound
bright.’ Someone is going to say, ‘It’s too dark.’ And then there is my favorite one, ‘It
wasn’t in tune.’ I think that is one of those things that people say at auditions, because
that is the only thing they can say, and you really can’t dispute that, because it is so
subjective.” Instead, of worrying about sound, Rusinek said, “I worry about how you are
going to differentiate yourself in those three minutes from the other hundred people that
are playing.”
Responding to the question of what the non-clarinetists are listening for at a
clarinet audition, Burt Hara turned the question around and talked about what he listens
for in a non-clarinet audition. He is looking for someone to play an excerpt as he would
play it if he played that instrument. Hara said, “There are certain solos in the repertoire
that I have always wanted to play, but I can’t because I am not an oboist, I am not a
flutist. I want to hear it played the way that I would want to play it. I am going to live
vicariously through whomever I choose to sit in front of me for the next twenty years.”
Hara also indicated that each member of the committee has his or her priorities. As an
example, Hara mentioned that how an oboist would play the second movement of the
Brahms’ Violin Concerto would be important to him at an audition, “I have always
wanted to play that solo, but I can’t because I don’t play the oboe. It is more important to
me that someone plays a solo in a way that touches me, in a way that I would want to
have played it.” On the other hand, Hara continued on to say that how fast a clarinetist
performs the Mendelssohn “Scherzo” may not be the top priority of an oboist on a
committee, “If someone were to come in and play the Mendelssohn Scherzo from the
Midsummer Night’s Dream ten ticks faster on the clarinet than I as an oboist could play
it, what does that do for me? I mean that’s great, that’s wonderful, I like the fact that they
can, but it is not necessarily as big a priority.”
Ardan and Rusinek thought when one is dealing with a diverse group of
musicians on a committee, the candidate must begin by playing everything that is on the
34
printed page. The members of the committee will be looking for those more tangible
elements. Ardan said when she listens to a different instrument, the music in front of her
may be the only way she can judge the candidate. Ardan stated, “When I’m listening to a
different instrument, it takes me a couple of players to really start hearing, because I
obviously don’t know the excerpts as intimately. But I will have music in front of me, so
if they’re doing everything that is on the page, I’m going to pass them, until I’m
absolutely sure I know.” Rusinek also looks for “a real adherence to the markings on the
page,” but in addition wants the candidate to “bring out the meaning” of the music.
Rusinek stated, “If one does not bring out the meaning and the natural beauty of the
music through the markings that are written on the page, then it will take a lot for me to
pass them on. I don’t want someone who merely plays accurately. I want someone who
has excitement in their playing, but by the same token they have to be true to what’s on
the page.” Timothy Paradise also commented that it is important to do what’s on the
page, because some members on the committee are looking for a reason to dismiss a
candidate. Said Paradise, “Some people are not going to give you that break…. Some
people are just waiting for a chance to get rid of you. It just depends who you run into on
the committee.”
Paradise also remarked that an audition is often not an accurate assessment of
how well a person will do the job. He said, “Everyone sounds horrible in an audition
compared to how they do in an orchestra.” Paradise thought that rhythm and pitch are
two major elements lacking in some of the candidates auditioning. To Paradise uneven
rhythm and not playing intervals in tune indicate a “lack of musical discipline.” Paradise
stated he would “never go for anybody who had rhythmical or pitch problems of any sort
that they couldn’t fix.” Paradise said that one of the things he is looking for is flexibility,
the ability to make adjustments on the spot. He commented, “If you say, ‘there’s an
interval that is out of tune, can you fix it,’ which I have done to people, and they still
keep playing it wrong, they’re gone. Sometimes people will fix it, and then that
immediately makes you much more liberal towards anything else that may have been
wrong. You go back and ask them to play something else again and change that. You’ll
find all of a sudden some people that you might not have thought were so great, when
they can change stuff on the spot, that’s what you are looking for.”
35
The interviewed clarinetists thought the candidate should not concern his or her
self with who might be on the audition committee. Combs commented, “You are dealing
with any number of individual points of view, and a violist is going to listen differently
from a percussionist is going to listen differently from a horn player. You just have to
give it your best shot and hope that it will connect with somebody who is listening.”
Use of Personal Parts and/or Excerpt Books
The clarinetists interviewed discussed whether a candidate should use his or her
own music at an audition and what to do if there were discrepancies between his or her
music and the provided parts. In addition, some of the clarinetists assessed the value of
excerpt books.
The interviewed clarinetists were divided on the issue of whether they would use
their own parts at an audition. All agreed, however, that it was important to know the
music well enough that one could easily adjust to the parts used at an audition. The
clarinetists who used their personal parts at an audition said that they would quickly scan
the part placed in front of them for any discrepancies including dynamics, notes, and
phrasing. Michael Rusinek said, “Generally what I will do is that I will have my own
book of the excerpts, and then when I go into play the audition, I will take my book with
all my music, and then when they ask me the excerpt, I will look at their part and
compare it to my part quickly to see if there are any differences. If there are any
differences, I will play what is in their part.” Tad Calcara also liked to use his own parts
during an audition, but he cautioned that the candidate needs to “be ready for anything at
an audition.”
The main reasons why some of the interviewed clarinetists discouraged
candidates from using their own parts during an audition were switching parts can be
time consuming and there may be more possibility for error if the parts provided varied
from those brought in by the candidate. Burt Hara said that on an audition committee it
can be frustrating to wait for a candidate to search for the exact excerpt in his or her own
36
part. “One of the things that I cannot stand is when people use their own music, a proctor
will say, “Play from letter A to B,” but they end up playing more because they don’t have
the brackets in their own part. After listening for many hours at an audition, it gets old
very quickly, especially if you don’t think that person is playing well in the first place.”
Hara stated that when he takes an audition, he basically has the music memorized, so he
only needs to take a quick look at the part provided to check for any differences from
what he practiced. Hara thought that the ability to move somewhat quickly from one
excerpt to another could have a positive effect on the committee while the opposite might
be true if there are long pauses. Hara remarked, “It is a statement, “You can put anything
in front of me, and I will be able to play it. I am that prepared, and I am that good.” As a
committee member, when I see these long pregnant pauses I am wondering, ‘What is
going on? What is the problem?’” Larry Combs seconded that sentiment, “My opinion
is that the necessity of having your own parts in front of you shows insecurity. You
should know this stuff well enough that you could even play it from memory. To hear
someone shuffling around trying to find their part, you know audition committees get a
little bit restless and a little bit impatient. I think you should have the ability to go right
through the orchestra’s audition book and be quite comfortable with playing their parts.”
The interviewed clarinetists thought the candidate needed to play the markings as
they are on the part provided. Timothy Paradise gave an example of what the
consequences can be if one doesn’t follow those markings. He commented, “I know of
two cases where I was given parts that were Bonade excerpts, I couldn’t believe it, and
one of them was a major orchestra. I know I was doing, for instance, Rachmaninoff
Second Symphony, that beautiful solo, and I didn’t breathe where the Bonade breath
marks were. It was in the finals, and I saw a troubled look on the conductor’s face, and I
knew I was history right there, because I didn’t breathe where Bonade said to breathe.
You know you can’t predict. If they put that part up there, you had better play it just like
it is.” Calcara and Hara both suggested that if there is a major discrepancy between the
two parts that the candidate should ask the proctor at the audition to clarify what the
committee wants to hear. Calcara added, “Definitely one needs to be ready. There might
be a committee that says, ‘It’s on the page, it’s in our part; this is how it goes. We want
37
to hear it.’ You don’t want to be caught in one of those situations. Just have it ready. Be
ready for anything.”
Regarding excerpt books, they can be helpful in learning a work. However,
Hara cautioned against using them at an audition, because they sometimes have mistakes
and the editor’s marks may not match the standard orchestral parts. Hara stated, “There
are many misprints in the International McGinnis Excerpt Book, even a missing measure
in the Ninth Symphony of Shostokovich. In the Bonade book, he does not differentiate
between what is original and what is Bonade.” Hara added that “he would hold it
against” someone if he or she used a book like the Bonade and did not play the markings
as they were on the part provided. On using the Bonade Book for auditions, Calcara
simply stated, “That’s not recommended.” When questioned about errors in parts, Larry
Combs recommended Peter Hadcock’s The Working Clarinetist as a useful reference
book.
Reeds and Equipment
The clarinetists interviewed were asked if they would change the way they chose
or used their equipment, especially reeds, during an audition. Because auditions include
excerpts of varying styles, ranges, articulations, and dynamics, the main questions
concerned whether a clarinetist should switch reeds during an audition and what
constitutes a good audition reed.
The general consensus from the clarinetists interviewed was that the player in an
audition should not change reeds. Larry Combs, Burt Hara and Laura Ardan commented
that it took usually too much time to change reeds, that the audition committee would get
impatient and as a result judge the candidate negatively. Combs added that it is also not a
good idea to switch reeds in an orchestra performance. “Switching reeds in the middle of
any kind of performance is always risky, because you might not get exactly the right
placement on the mouthpiece. A reed may have dried up a little bit; it could be a little
warped. I almost never change reeds.” Like Combs, Hara said he does not change reeds
38
in performances. In fact, Hara tries to pick a reed that will work for a whole week of
concerts. While Hara said he would be tolerant if someone changed reeds at an audition,
he would become “impatient” if the candidate was “switching reeds between every
excerpt, and I was sitting there waiting to have lunch.” Regarding audition versus
orchestral performance reeds, Michael Rusinek said he chooses a reed for an orchestral
performance based only on the demands of the repertoire he has to play “ that night.”
Yet, for an audition Rusinek remarked, “You need a reed that allows you do everything.”
He went on to say that at an audition, he not only doesn’t switch reeds, he only takes one
reed in with him. Rusinek said, “I take one reed. I don’t even bring other reeds out with
me. I take one reed, and I play it, and that’s it. I make the commitment to it. I worry
about my reeds right up until the time that I am called to go out on stage, and then I
forget about it, because no reed is perfect. So, I try to find the best reed that I can for the
day that will allow me to do as much as possible.” Tad Calcara also thought that
changing reeds at an audition is not a viable option. On the other hand, Ardan admitted
that she changes reeds often during performances, noting that she is “very efficient at it.”
But, Ardan advised against switching reeds at an audition unless the candidate was very
adept at it. Ardan commented, “It just depends on how good you are at it. If it at all gets
in the way, it makes the committee nervous for you to be switching your equipment
around all the time. It would definitely need to be super planned out. You would have to
be able to do it so nobody even winked an eye.”
Several of the clarinetists talked about what they would consider to be a good
audition reed. Calcara said, “I would recommend and what I have always done is get a
good balanced, good sounding reed. It should have a good tone, which you can articulate
on, and just make it happen. Make that reed do everything.” Calcara also noted that the
candidate has to be able to switch styles using the same reed and equipment, “You just
have to find the right thing, so that you are able to be a chameleon and be flexible and
play Mozart style and play late romantic style and then contemporary style. You have to
have a reed and equipment that is going to be able to allow you to show the committee
that I know the different styles, that I can play this style and a minute later I can switch
gears and play this style on the same reed!” Rusinek’s goal in finding a reed for an
audition is that “it is comfortable in playing all the dynamic ranges and all the
39
articulations that I need to do, a very responsive reed that plays in all the dynamic
ranges.” More specific was Hara, who said he tries to find a reed that can play the
excerpts of Beethoven’s Sixth, Mendelssohn’s “Scherzo,” and Rachmaninoff’s Second.
Hara said, “If I can get a reed that can do all three of those excerpts, then it has to be
pretty much middle of the road. If I try to pick a reed that is only going to make
Rachmaninoff’s Second sound my best, I will probably crash and burn on Mendelssohn’s
‘Scherzo.’”
With one final thought on equipment, Combs recommended that at an audition the
candidate should not warm-up at every switch between the Bb and A clarinets. One does
not have that luxury in a performance, so why should one do it at an audition. Combs
commented, “I think it is a sign of insecurity.”
Using Recordings
The artists were asked if prior to auditioning for an orchestra a clarinetist should
listen to recordings of that orchestra, its conductor, or its principal clarinetist. Also posed
was the question of whether or not a clarinetist should adjust his or her personal style
based on listening to these recordings.
The majority of those interviewed strongly recommended that clarinetists do not
base their interpretations on recordings of a particular orchestra, conductor, or clarinetist.
Additionally it was thought that the candidates should not present what they think an
audition committee wants to hear. Michael Rusinek was adamant that one should project
one’s own unique personality at an audition. He said, “You should never try to second
guess what the committee is listening for. You cannot listen to recordings of the
conductor or the orchestra and say this is how they play it, this is how I am going to play
it for them. You have to go in there with your own personal conviction of how these
things are going to go and play them that way.” Laura Ardan agreed with Rusinek
adding, “I think the most important thing for any player is to play the way they want to
hear it. Now again I assume that there has been good training and that the person knows
40
certain performance practice. You are not going to do something bizarre. But you can’t
just copy someone, I don’t think it is convincing… The player that perks my ears up is
the one that seems to really love that piece of music and know it and have something to
say about it.” Larry Combs concurred, “I think the overall values would be the same for
every orchestra, and I think it may be a mistake to try to tailor-make your own playing to
be like what you think would fit in that orchestra or for that conductor. I think that would
give a false representation of who and what you are.”
Both Hara and Rusinek questioned why anyone would want to win a job by
imitating someone else’s playing. Hara remarked, “If I tried to play like Robert
Marcellus in an audition, all I would offer is a cheap imitation of Robert Marcellus. The
only thing I do better than anybody else is play like me. If I play in a way that doesn’t
interest that orchestra or that committee, why would I want to play in that orchestra? I
would be miserable if I had to be someone that I am not. So, yes, there is a question of
being able to pay the mortgage, but I would not want to be a musician that I am not. Why
would I want to spend my life doing that?” Putting it bluntly Rusinek stated, “You have
to go in and present yourself the way you are. If you are going to get the job, you are
going to get the job and then you really have license to play the way you are. What better
way to have a job, because they want you, not that they want you imitating someone
else.”
Tad Calcara had a different viewpoint on the subject of recordings. Calcara felt
that recordings could be used to get the “feel” and “traditions” of the larger orchestras.
Calcara said, “Getting a feel for, especially for the larger orchestras, you know they have
a real tradition of how they play and do certain things, I think that is very important.”
Ricardo Morales disagreed. He suggested that music directors do not have long-term
relationships with major orchestras as was the custom in the past, and so their influence is
less compelling. Morales commented, “No one ever knows who is listening. It is not like
years ago when there was one music director for a long length of time, like Szell and
Ormandy.” Alternatively, Calcara also thought that listening to recordings could give the
clarinetist auditioning a “little bit of a feel or idea of what that wind section does that’s
unique.” These elements could include “articulation or phrasing or the style of legato.”
41
(Calcara added that taking a lesson or playing for a member of the wind section prior to
auditioning for them was even more useful.)
One other element that could be gleaned from listening to recordings was tempo.
As noted earlier, Hara would not recommend listening to recordings for the purpose of
copying someone else’s playing, but he did say he might listen to recordings for tempi. “I
would do something like that to get the conductor’s tempi or to get the tempi that the
orchestra is accustomed to. I think the most important thing in an audition is to capture
the character or the essence of the excerpt. I find that tempo is the most important thing
to accomplish that.”
General Comments
Each of the interviewees gave general comments on the differences between
taking auditions and performing in the orchestra. Expressed in various ways, the
pervasive theme was: to be successful at an audition a candidate must convey the essence
of the music. It was cited that the candidate had the most control over tempi and
dynamics in an audition. Other factors mentioned included articulation and character and
style. It should be noted that despite the overall consensus of opinion, each of the
interviewed clarinetists had a slightly different perspective on what was most important.
In addition, several of the clarinetists offered some general advice on clarinet playing.
Burt Hara stated that at an audition finding, the right tempo that captures the
essence of the excerpt was most important. It involves placing one’s self in the context of
the orchestra. Hara commented, “I hear when a student is just trying to dot every “I” and
cross every “t,” but doesn’t pull the music off the page. When I hear someone capture
the essence of the excerpt, I forget the fact that I am listening to an audition.” Hara noted
that he plays the excerpts essentially in the same way at an audition as he does in the
orchestra. He does not take any special “liberties” in either case. The only real
difference is in his dynamics. Hara said, “In the orchestra, if I am playing a solo where I
am competing against a lot of other instruments, I have to play louder to get the same
42
effect. For example, take the second movement of Brahms’ Third Symphony. In an
audition, I don’t have to play as loudly because I am not competing against the bassoons
and second clarinet in a chorale setting.” Hara compared this change in dynamics to the
differences in performing the Mozart Quintet and Mozart Clarinet Concerto. Hara
commented, “In many ways the sense of the piece is the same, but because of the number
of instruments competing against you, you cannot be as intimate in the Concerto as you
can in the Quintet. I feel the same way in an audition. I emphasize the pianissimos more
in an audition because logistically, I can. It helps because then I don’t have to play as
loudly in the fortes and my tone will be less likely to spread.”
Tad Calcara also thought that the candidate’s ability to choose the tempo and the
need to use a larger dynamic range were the major differences between performing at an
audition and playing in the orchestra. Calcara stated, “First and foremost I find dynamics
are quite different between the two. [In an audition] you are playing all by yourself on an
empty stage, and you are supposed to be soft. I have found that playing soft is the hardest
thing sometimes. Playing something soft enough and really making your dynamic
contrast palette big enough. Something like Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony, you
really want to play the dynamics that are on the page, but of course, most of the time
when you that with a large orchestra with a full string section, you’re not playing that at
the same dynamic [as in an audition]. You have to play that a lot more I think [in the
orchestra].” About tempo, Calcara suggested that since the candidate can choose the
tempo at an audition, he/she should choose a manageable one. It should be a “middle of
the road” tempo, so that the candidate can accomplish what’s on the page cleanly. He
added, however, that the candidate must be prepared to play faster or slower if asked by
the audition committee.
Ricardo Morales also talked about choosing a tempo that is both comfortable and
stylistically correct. Morales stated, “It is important that one knows the tempo, the
traditional tempos, and play at a tempo that sounds comfortable for you within the
parameters of how the music goes. Like Beethoven Four, some recordings go very fast.
If you can’t go quite that fast, but make it sound great; it is better then going fast and
sounding good or ok.” At the same time, like Calcara, Morales recommended that at an
audition the clarinetist should choose a tempo which he/she could increase or decrease if
43
requested by the committee. With dynamics, Morales thought the candidate had to play
with a greater range at an audition than in the orchestra, but still leave room to play softer
or louder if asked by the committee. Morales commented, “Things have to be softer and
louder. At the same time you have to do it about eighty capacity, because there are
certain excerpts like Tchaikovsky’s Sixth, starting on the high “E” or the Mendelssohn
“Scherzo” that you need to have room to play softer if asked. It is also the same with
tempo. If you play the Mendelssohn, they could ask you to play it faster.” As for
preparation, Morales stated, “The best preparation is the most musical preparation. By
musical I don’t mean the rolling of the shoulders or playing a million notes. How come
the hardest thing to play is the G major arpeggio in Beethoven Sixth?” One also has to
know the orchestral context. “That is what I recommend people knowing, the function of
the clarinet in the orchestra because that ends up showing a lot.”
Of all the clarinetists interviewed, Michael Rusinek had the most thoroughly
conceived approach to taking auditions. Rusinek views an audition as a recital with the
excerpts being short solo pieces, which showcase aspects of his playing. He said,
“Basically I feel like I need to sell myself, sell my ability as a player.” For each excerpt
Rusinek designs a clear road map of what he is planning to do. He also puts a word or
two at the top of every excerpt to remind him of the spirit is trying to capture. It is
important to Rusinek that he not only play technically perfectly at an audition, but also
convey the meaning of the music to the listener. He commented, “It’s not just about
playing perfect, you have to play perfect, because if you don’t, somebody else will. But,
it’s not about playing perfectly; it’s about playing perfectly within the meaning you are
trying to create for each excerpt. You want to say something with each excerpt, and
when I say I played a perfect audition, it’s that I know that what I was trying to say was
heard by the listener.” To make sure that the meaning of the music is being conveyed,
Rusinek records himself when preparing an audition. Rusinek also stated that, while he
does not change his overall “road map” of a work when performing it in an audition or in
the orchestra, he feels that in the orchestra he can have more spontaneity and freedom.
Rusinek said, “In the orchestra, for me it is all about taking chances – sometimes it
works, sometimes it doesn’t, I don’t mind. In an audition I want to take chances, but I
want to make sure that those chances are within the framework of what I have planned
44
for each excerpt.” Rusinek also stated that he can expand his dynamic range more at an
audition since projecting over the orchestra is not an issue. Rusinek stated, “I might play
it softer in an audition, just to show off that kind of soft control. But, I find generally that
for all these excerpts that are so nerve-wracking and we pull our hair out preparing are so
much easier in the orchestra.”
Larry Combs stressed that the most important thing for a candidate to do at an
audition is to play the excerpts as one would play them in an orchestra. Combs said that
knowing the orchestral context of the excerpt is essential for performing the excerpt with
the right character and style. He thought that having orchestral experience provided a
“tremendous advantage” when taking an audition. Combs commented, “Perhaps that’s
why audition committees feel that prior experience is an important and valuable part of
what one presents.” Then he added, “But, at the very least, I think the individual should
somehow attempt to mentally project himself into the orchestral context by really
knowing what the rest of the music around the clarinet part consists of and to be strongly
aware of the musical context of the part that you are playing. It is rarely enough to just
reproduce the music on the page. When you are playing an audition, it is important to get
the character, the style, and even the relative dynamic related to how it has to sound when
it’s properly balanced in the orchestra.”
Laura Ardan took a different view from Combs on the advantage of having
orchestral experience when taking an audition. Ardan thought that it is more difficult for
the experienced player to prepare for an audition, because he/she could have difficulty
looking and working on the excerpts with a fresh perspective. Ardan stated, “I think the
knowledge of how it goes in the section is detrimental for you at the audition.” She
continued, “I think that a professional has an added difficulty in that they have played
these pieces so many times, it is very hard to sit down for hours and practice that same
piece for an audition. But, you have to; in order to be really, really consistent, you’ve got
to have the practice time in it.” As with the other clarinetists interviewed, Ardan
mentioned that the candidate’s choice of a manageable, yet stylistically correct tempo
was crucial at the audition, while in the orchestra that decision is the conductor’s. Ardan
said, “Now the tempo, I would say in preparing, again you can choose tempo within a
certain acceptable [range]; you have to know what the piece goes like. And I think it is
45
good to listen to recordings to see who puts slurs in where and to get ideas, but you can
pretty much choose your tempo (until the conductor comes in and tells you to do it much
faster or slower, so you have to be prepared to do that.) But in the orchestra you don’t
have the option to pick your tempo! He starts beating, and you have to do it that way; so
you have to make it work somehow.”
Timothy Paradise emphasized not changing one’s overall musical style of playing
for an audition. His advice was: don’t change your playing to suit what you think that
committee or orchestra will like. He said, “I always figure if I want to use vibrato here or
I want to play this straight or if I want to play this a certain way, I am going to do it, and
if they don’t like it, they don’t want me in the orchestra anyway, because they are not
going to like my approach to making music. So, I’d sit there and I would be
uncomfortable and they’d be uncomfortable, so I just better show who I am and what I
am about, and somebody will like it somewhere and they did.” However, since Paradise
plays in a chamber orchestra, he did think that a candidate must understand the different
demands of smaller orchestras versus those of larger orchestras and suggested that a
candidate must demonstrate this understanding at the audition. Paradise commented on
some musicians who audition for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, “If they don’t realize
whom they are playing for, why are they there. Are they just there because they want to
get a job? Forget them. They have to want to be in this orchestra. So, to be in this
orchestra, you have to tailor your audition to the demands of what a smaller orchestra will
want.”
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CONCLUSIONS
As a result of interviewing selected principal clarinetists of major American
orchestras several clear-cut differences were found in the performance practice of playing
excerpts at an audition and in the orchestra. These differences are in part due to the fact
that the clarinetist’s playing is totally exposed both musically and technically when
taking an audition. All musical elements including tempo, dynamics, and style are the
sole responsibility of the clarinetist at an audition without the direction he/she might
receive while performing in an orchestra. Within a brief segment of a larger work, the
candidate alone must capture the entire essence of the piece and convey it to a committee
whose members each has his/her opinions on how the work should be performed.
The artists agreed that there were numerous difficulties in performing an audition.
In an audition the candidate must perform both technically perfectly and musically
expressively while still demonstrating individuality within traditional boundaries.
Tempos and dynamics must be chosen carefully to demonstrate the candidate’s
knowledge of the style and traditions of the work being played, but still allow the
candidate to perform flawlessly. Since the clarinetist is performing alone, dynamics must
be adjusted to the audition environment. Where a clarinetist will have to project over the
orchestra in performance, he/she may have to play the same excerpt softer at an audition
to avoid sounding aggressive or having his/her tone suffer. The clarinetist may also want
to use an extreme dynamic range to show his/her capabilities to the committee.
While technical perfection is also a goal in orchestra performances, a clarinetist
must be able to adjust quickly and effectively to a variety of factors including tempo,
intonation, balance, as well as the musical demands of the conductor. All the clarinetists
interviewed noted that in performance the clarinetist is required to perform within the
guidelines set by the conductor. While this can allow for a certain amount of spontaneity
in performance, it can also result in changes to the technical or musical aspects of the
47
clarinetist’s playing to achieve the overall desired musical result. in the orchestra the
conductor determines the overall musical plan unlike in an audition where the musical
decisions are the candidate’s. A clarinetist performing a work may be given a tempo
from a conductor faster then one can execute or be asked to entirely change his/her
musical interpretation. This could result in the player changing the articulation to
accommodate the tempo or changing other elements from the way the clarinetist would
normally approach the work. All the interviewed clarinetists said this is acceptable in a
performance situation, yet at an audition many of the clarinetists thought adherence to the
written music was of utmost importance.
The interviewed clarinetists said that several of the excerpts were more difficult to
perform outside of the orchestral context. Without orchestral accompaniment there is
little, if any, room for error. Passages that are not normally exposed in the orchestra can
be heard with extreme clarity, revealing any technical or rhythmical flaws. The
interviewed clarinetists agreed that a candidate at an audition must convey that he/she
understands the orchestral context even though he/she is performing alone. The ability to
capture each work’s unique style and essence is a major factor in a candidate winning a
position in an orchestra.
There were also differences in the choice of reeds between auditions and
performances. When selecting a reed for an audition, the clarinetists interviewed
recommended a reed that was versatile enough to perform a wide variety of excerpts,
while a reed for an orchestra concert is chosen to meet the particular demands of the
works on a concert.
Additional findings from the interviews included that listening to recordings can
be helpful in determining the appropriate tempo of a work. However, the respondents
said that it was not advisable to base one’s interpretation on a recording. The prevalent
opinion was that a candidate should not alter his/her individual playing style in an
audition as a way of second guessing what the audition committee is searching for in a
player. All the interviewed clarinetists indicated that it is much more desirable to win a
position by playing in one’s own style than by attempting to imitate other clarinetists. In
addition, most of those interviewed noted that a candidate should not be too dependent on
his/her personal parts. The candidate must know the works well enough so if there are
48
any changes in the provided parts at an audition, the candidate can adapt to the changes
without hesitation. While this prevents the audition committee from getting impatient or
annoyed, this also demonstrates the player’s abilities. In the final analysis, success at an
audition largely rests with the candidate, who must be completely prepared for everything
that should happen and anything that could happen. In an orchestra concert, the burden
of a successful performance is shared by the conductor and all the members of the
orchestra.
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APPENDIX A
Interview with Laura Ardan
Principal Clarinetist, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Interviewed in Atlanta, Georgia
Interview Completed October 10, 2004
TS: I am speaking with Laura Ardan, Principal Clarinet of the Atlanta Symphony
Orchestra. The first question I have for you, Laura, is that you have prepared for
auditions, you have listened to auditions, you’ve had students take auditions so what is
your feeling about just the whole audition experience, as far as preparing for that or
listening to that? Generally are there differences between playing excerpts in an audition
and playing in the orchestra?
LA: Yes, and there are more differences depending on which piece we will be talking
about.
TS: Ok, so let’s talk about all auditions. One of the first works asked is the Mozart
Clarinet Concerto. I guess one question a lot of people have is why do they always put
the Mozart clarinet concerto on there? Is it just to hear people warm up or is there a
hidden motive?
LA: Well, I think as an older musician or a person who has been involved with music a
long time, it’s probably the hardest piece to play in good taste with good musicianship.
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TS: So if you are sitting on an audition committee, what are the types of things you look
for in the Mozart?
LA: Well, the Mozart would be different than excerpts, of course, because when you
play it as a concerto, you’re a soloist, and you have a lot more freedom to do what you
want to do. But, being a classical piece and a great classical piece, the best woodwind
concerto ever written probably, there is a lot of pressure to be a fine musician, to be
insightful, but precise, with a nice sound and most of all with a very good style of the
piece, which is very hard to do, because it is so subtle. It’s very subtlety is what makes
Mozart sound really good.
TS: Now, as we know there are thousand of interpretations of the Mozart Concerto. …
Just off hand, how many times have you performed the Mozart concerto?
LA: Oh Dear! Gosh… I don’t know. Eight, ten times depending on whether it was a set
of performances or just a one time deal. More than any other concerto.
TS: And each time do you interpret it differently?
LA: Yes, it is always a little bit different. I think for an audition, generally you can talk
about the Mozart, because again it has to be tasteful, and yet if it’s boring, that is
something else too. You have to show, number one, that you really love the piece and
how do you show that within certain boundaries of classical style? That is very hard to
do, because the hardest things on the clarinet are to play the clarinet with great
refinement, which is what’s required of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto. Now this assumes
that there is a decent sound, a pleasant sound to listen to, there are all kinds of variations
on that. It assumes that you can articulate and have adequate technique for that. It is not
a big technique piece, however, it has to be very clear technique, a very flowing
technique. I think those are in essence the hardest things to do on the instrument. You
want to have style, and you want to have individuality, but you don’t want to do
something bizarre, which you might be able to do if it is your own solo appearance and
you are very convinced of it and you can make it work.
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TS: Right, so it is more looking towards the traditions when you are doing it for an
audition….
LA: Yes
TS: … versus trying to say, “Oh this might work this time.”
LA: Right, or I have something very different to say about this piece. You might want to
save that for you own solo gig. However, you do have to say something! I mean, you do
have to show that you understand it and that you love it and you want to give it to
somebody else, and that is always the case. So, I think it is an excellent, excellent,
excellent piece. My students will sometimes say, “It’s just the Mozart.” You know the
first four bars tell so much. Now students worry about messing up a note; it is not a note.
People fluff notes in performance; it is the way that you play the instrument, the way that
you play the piece.
TS: So, you should go for musical expression, but at the same time you have to set some
limits, so that you don’t offend certain people on the committee?
LA: Exactly.
TS: Because as we know on audition committees, you may be the only clarinetist on the
committee.
LA: That’s right. You are not playing for clarinet players. You are playing for people
who don’t play the clarinet.
TS: Just out of curiosity, would you recommend if someone was auditioning for the
Atlanta Symphony, should they go buy all the Atlanta Symphony recordings of the entire
excerpt list and listen to you play it?
LA: No. Not necessary. I think the most important thing for any player is to play the
way they want to hear it. Now again I assume that there has been good training and that
the person knows certain performance practice. You are not going to do something
bizarre. But you can’t just copy someone, I don’t think it is convincing. I’ve heard it time
52
and time again, the player that perks my ears up is the one that seems to really love that
piece of music and know it and have something to say about it.
TS: Well, let’s move on to another one of the excerpts, and we just have a few here. And
the first one is probably the one, next to the Mozart, that’s on almost every list and that is
Beethoven Sixth, the famous first movement excerpt. Now, I know…actually you’re
playing Beethoven’s Sixth soon.
LA: Yes we are.
TS: The first movement excerpt I have heard it played so many times in different ways,
what would you say to somebody or your own student auditioning or what would you
like to hear in an audition somebody do during this solo?
LA: Well, I think that it is the same as the Mozart in that it’s a certain style; it’s not a
romantic piece, so you don’t have a lot of liberty. Within the confines of this style you
have to make it sound good, and you have to make it sound facile. That is really hard to
do on this particular excerpt at the end of the first movement that you are talking about,
because it is contrary to what the instrument wants to do. So, in the orchestra, of course,
I do a lot of different things…you know the first thing, of course, is that you’re playing
with other people, and you have to project over those people, so that takes a certain kind
of sound depending on what your hall is like, your players are like, but also you really
have to play loud right before the end of the first movement when you’re playing those
triplets [sings]. You have to play very, very loud, and it’s hard to do that in one breath
and have enough support, so I always sneak a breath in, which I would never recommend
in an audition. Therefore, I play a lot louder in the orchestra before I’m playing the solo,
and actually even as I’m playing the solo, to try to approximate a diminuendo, I don’t
look and say I have to be ppp. I want to make sure that there is a distance of dynamic
from when I start to when I finish. So, that can be a lot more, and it has to be more above
the orchestra, then it does at an audition and you can’t take a breath. You have to play
what is on the page!
53
TS: Right. So talking about that, and you said something really interesting about the
dynamics, because as we see it goes from piano forte and then, of course, is the
wonderful diminuendo to ppp at the end when we’re doing the triads to the high “d” [d3].
How soft do you have to play at an audition, I mean, does it have to have that big of a
contrast at the audition, so people shouldn’t approach it as they would in an orchestra,
because otherwise they’ll sound, and I hate to use the word, bombastic?
LA: Well, I think before the last four [measures] where it’s written forte and you’re kind
of peeking out over the orchestra, yeah, you don’t need to play that as loud in the
audition, but again the distance from a forte to a pianissimos you are trying to
approximate that and that depends a lot on your reed. You just have to make sure there is
a diminuendo and you get as soft as you possibly can, which means you may have to start
a little bit louder then you would want. But I really think the last four bars are pretty
much the same. It’s the stuff leading up to it that would be different in the orchestra.
TS: Would you ever recommend in the performance, and I know from several different
recordings I’ve heard, to stay louder for the diminuendo and then taper it? Is that a trick
that somebody would do during a performance, giving the impression that they are
getting softer, but they actually got louder than softer at the end?
LA: Oh yes, because the orchestra drops out. Sure, you have to temper everything in
performance to what you think is getting out over the orchestra, which you don’t have to
deal with during the audition. And in fact, we know that students right out of school that
don’t have experience by and large do much better than the seasoned professional in an
audition. It’s because it is so very different. The professional player is thinking about the
whole piece, and that piece is running through your head if you have played it a lot, and
you would be tempted to do just what you would do in the orchestra.
TS: Well if that is the case, when you listen to somebody play and know that person has
definitely has played the piece, do you think at an audition that works against them in a
way then?
LA: In some pieces, it depends what the piece is.
54
TS: Because they are just use to doing it the way they would normally do on a daily
basis or when they perform it.
LA: That’s right, and they’re use to well, this says pianissimo, but I know it has to be a
very loud piano, like more of a mezzo-piano, because it has this huge trombone chord
under it, and they can’t play as soft. So, obviously you wouldn’t do that on the audition,
but you would have to do it in the orchestra.
TS: Well the next excerpt is also from Beethoven’s Sixth, and this from the third
movement, it’s the scherzo movement, and it’s the articulated part where you have [sing]
which I just sang incorrectly, [LA and TS laugh] because I threw a slur in there. I know
that you’re very quick at tonguing, as far as double tonguing, do you tongue the whole
thing? Is it important to play exactly as written on the page for an audition and in
performance?
LA: It depends on the tempo, but I have learned how to double tongue, so I usually can
do it no matter what the tempo is, but there were days that I couldn’t, and if I had to add a
slur at the beginning of the last bar, I would do that. Then if the conductor didn’t want it,
well then you would just have to scramble. But a lot of times you can sneak things in that
will make it sound…nobody will think about it, because it sounds so good. Now in the
audition I wouldn’t do that at all. I would never add a slur unless I absolutely had to. I
would really work for doing what’s on the page.
TS: Now as a clarinetist when you are listening on a committee, do your colleagues,
because of the nature of their instruments, do they look at the whole audition differently
where… do they ever confer with you and ask, “Is that typical for somebody to put a slur
there,” or do they just look and say, “What’s wrong with this?”
LA: Well, they do ask, but you’re not allowed to. You are really not allowed to confer
amongst each other before you vote. So, even when I’m listening to a different
instrument, it takes me a couple of players to really start hearing, because I obviously
don’t know the excerpts as intimately. But, I will have music in front of me, so if they’re
doing every thing that is on the page, I’m going to pass them, until I’m absolutely sure I
55
know. Obviously if they mess everything up and don’t sound good I can tell that, but I’d
say the first couple of ones, for me, they have leniency. But, for other people it goes the
other way around. So, it’s very important to do what is on the page. On the committee
everybody is a musician, and again they hear a nice sound, they hear good style, they
don’t necessarily have to know the instrument or the piece that well. They can tell when
it is a good player, a mature player.
TS: So, basically on this excerpt, as long as you make the crescendo, you tongue all the
notes and get soft, you’re in the next round.
LA: That’s right, and make that subito piano at the end which is really good. Now the
tempo, I would say in preparing, again you can choose a tempo within a certain
acceptable range. You know, you have to know what the piece goes like. And I think it is
good to listen to recordings to see who puts slurs in where and to get ideas, but you can
pretty much choose your tempo until the conductor comes in and tells you to do it much
faster or slower, so you have to be prepared to do that. But, in the orchestra you don’t
have the option to pick your tempo! He starts beating and you have to do it that way, so
you have to make it work somehow.
TS: Do you listen to somebody differently in the finals? Are they allowed to express
themselves more in the finals?
LA: You know, that depends on who you are as a player, because all the procedures are
different for every orchestra as to who has more say in the last round. Whether the
conductor has more or the musicians do. Again, I think it is a matter of personal
conviction, deciding that this piece sounds really good like this. I’m doing everything on
the page, but I’m not changing anything the way I might have liberty to do if I actually
had the job. Because somebody could say, “I don’t like that,” and then I would do it the
way they wanted, but in the audition they won’t give me the chance to do that. Capriccio
is a really good example for that, because I actually change the rhythm in one of the bars
in performance, so it’s really individual to the piece.
56
TS: So, since you brought that up, let’s talk about Capriccio! So Capriccio is strange,
because it depends where they have you start at an audition. Sometimes they’ll say start
right on the solo at “A”, or sometimes they have you start before the solo at “A”.
LA: Yes, and a lot of players do play all the way up to the solo. I mean, a lot of players
are, just as orchestral players, they think they have to play everything on the page. But,
you know, I just try to make the solo sound as well as I can. I know that nobody is going
to hear if I leave out that last beat or the last bar before the solo, so I can tank up on air,
and of course, you could not do that at an audition. That would not at all be acceptable!
The other thing is that you have to play as loud as you can when you’re in the orchestra,
depending on the situation, and you probably wouldn’t need to play that loud at the
audition, but it would still need to be that very full sound that you have to get.
TS: Right, so you have to sort of balance the loudness with getting a beautiful sound.
Still a nice full sound, but be able to handle the articulation, while playing in an orchestra
you just have to go for broke.
LA: Well, yes, and also I use a different reed, which I wouldn’t be able to do at the
audition, so that I could project out over the orchestra. Which is something you don’t
have to worry about in the audition. So, I could use a stuffier, more resistant reed that I
could actually get more volume on, but wouldn’t sound good without the orchestra
underneath it necessarily.
TS: Which brings up an interesting point. Here we’re talking about Beethoven getting
real soft and the next thing they throw in front of you is Capriccio, which is loud. Is it
advisable for people taking an audition to carry out two reeds and switch or is that a faux
pas that maybe some people think, “Ah here I am, I’ll be smart and switch reeds, and that
way I’ll be able to make nice soft attacks?”
LA: Well, it just depends on how good you are at it. I mean if it at all gets in the way, it
makes the committee nervous for you to be switching your equipment around all the
time. It would definitely need to be super planned out. You would have to be able to do
it so nobody even winked an eye. Now I change reeds a lot, and I’m very efficient at it,
57
but some people it takes a while, you almost have to do it so they don’t know. I wouldn’t
advise it; if you can get around it, so much better.
TS: Bob, the nervous fumble finger auditionee, when he’s dropping his reeds saying,
“Excuse me wait a second…”
LA: No, [laughs] not a good idea! You have to have it really planned out and just have
to be very calm looking while you’re doing it. That really sets a committee off if you are
not.
TS: So when we start the Capriccio solo we have the famous trill. How do you do that?
LA: Well, if you can do two trills at a good clip at a reasonably fast tempo, great! I think
it will be impressive. But, you have to be prepared to go much faster than you could with
the double trill, because I’ve done that, fifteen to twenty clicks difference in tempo. I’ve
done it every possible way. And you have to be able to do them all, because they may
ask for it faster. They may ask you for a double trill. I’ve never heard of that, but it
could happen. So, you definitely have to slow the tempo down a little bit.
TS: And then, of course, we have the other trill and it always sounds differently. [sings]
LA: Well, that’s why I, you know, in performance I make that triplet in the one, two
three, four, five...sixth bar, I make those sixteenth notes, I play them more like grace
notes, so I can play that trill longer. I think it sounds better, and that’s one thing I would
definitely not advise doing at an audition. [laughs]
TS: Not even for you?
LA: Well, for me … [laughs] Well, I would like it, but my committee members might
not. So, I would advise not doing it, because you don’t know who you’re playing for.
TS: Now here’s a question I personally always have had, the solo at “C”, once again you
have the con forza and even in my part here in my excerpt book, I have written a little
crescendo, which I think one of my teachers put in there. But again, would that be
putting too much into it at an audition? [Sing]
58
LA: No, I just think that’s good music making. I just think it makes the clarinet sound
better when you do that. I mean, to me this whole thing needs crescendo every single
note, but you do have to phrase it and shape it a little bit. It doesn’t mean you’re playing
… you’re not playing piano, you’re not going [sing]. You’re just leading the notes. And
I think it’s because most people want to back away from that high note, and then it
sounds worst if you do that. So, I definitely think shape is good.
TS: Now, continuing with Capriccio there is that solo in the third movement, the one
with the arpeggios going up and down where it says brilliant, what are your thoughts on
that, with those groups of sixes?
LA: Yeah, well I do think they need… since it says brilliance to me it’s permissible to
make it very flashy. I’d put a big crescendo on it, so that it comes off. And I think you
can do…you can’t do as much as you would in the orchestra, in the audition, but I think it
sounds, it’s within what’s on the page. It says, brilliant.
TS: How about rhythmically?
LA: I would keep the rhythm straight, although I don’t in the orchestra. I do it a little
late and a little fast, and a little loud.
TS: Add a little spark.
LA: Yeah, because it sounds florid that way. But you don’t want to sound like a dud.
You definitely want them to know what you want to do; you just may not do it to the
extent that you could if you didn’t worry about getting let go immediately.
TS: Well let’s move on to the famous “Scherzo” from Midsummer Nights Dream. What
do you have to say about this piece?
LA: Anywhere from 84 – 94. [laughs] To the dotted quarter. Well, I should say to 106.
I guess it could go to 100, I haven’t heard of that happening at an audition.
TS: If somebody plays it, say at 84, they should be prepared for somebody to say can this
go faster.
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LA: Oh yes, and I would recommend a solid 88 on an audition, that is a very acceptable
tempo for the “Scherzo.” They might even ask for it faster. Between 88 and 92 is
normal, and then there’s the other extremes. Some people like it very slow now, which
makes it very hard for the flute player of course, but some people do like it slow.
TS: Do you think that flutists look at this, I’m sure that it has come up in discussion with
colleagues before, but do flutists look at this a little bit differently?
LA: The faster the better. But number one, they double tongue and triple tongue and the
solo at the end is hard breath control wise, so it’s better if it’s faster. But it is nice to be
able to double tongue if you are going to have to play this piece. You never know when
someone might want a really, really fast tempo.
TS: How about dynamically, it’s pianissimo, it’s fast, it’s hard, and you just got done,
say, playing Capriccio Espagnol, how softly do you really have to play this excerpt?
LA: Well, you know, I think softer in the orchestra actually, depending on the conductor
and what kind of balance he wants. But I have had to play it actually softer in orchestra.
I think a nice comfortable piano in an audition is good. People put it on for articulation,
that’s why they put it on and to see if you can get those accents out. It’s a little control
thing. But then the conductor can come in and say I want it softer, because he knows that
when he brings down the volume in the orchestra that the articulation starts to go in the
clarinets. “I want it softer and faster,” words you do not want to hear at an audition for
this piece.
TS: So how short, because literally the first note is staccato, but then the sixteenths really
never have staccato under them?
LA: No, they don’t, and I think the best thing to do is make sure that the eighth notes are
short. What a lot of students do is make the later eighth notes (sings) longer, They
always get so worried about making the sixteenth note short that the eight notes get long,
which is exactly the opposite of what tends to sound better. But I think at whatever
length the sixteenths that approximate a short sound that makes the player sound good,
like they’re in control of this excerpt, is the way to do it. And keep in mind that
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somebody may ask you to do it shorter. I never heard longer, but I suppose if you have a
really ugly staccato, then could ask you for longer.
TS: And how about this part in the second line, it’s the famous diminuendo going up to
the high “C” [c3]?
LA: I don’t think this piece, beside the volume and the tempo, there isn’t anything to do
with this piece except try to make it sound as easy as you can. [laugh] And it’s typical to
make a little bit of a crescendo through the throat tones in order to approximate that
diminuendo. I think the same is true for the audition. I mean, you tend to get away with
more in the orchestra to help you approximate these things.
TS: Plus you have a second clarinet supporting you… hopefully!
LA: Right!
TS: Any words about the trills? I know a lot of us sit there dropping our clarinets trying
to get all the side trill keys to work.
LA: Side keys are the way to go there. No, just it’s a technique that you have to make
sound facile. Make sure that you don’t end on the wrong side of the trill. Make sure you
hear the beginning of the trill and the end of the trill. I was going to say the accents are
what I’ve heard most in auditions. The player who plays this well, but we’re not hearing
the little spitting accents, [sings] most often is what I hear people ask for in the final
round. When everything else is good, can I hear a little bit more of that accent.
TS: And on those trills, I’ve heard many recordings, where [sings] they put an accent on
it and there aren’t any accents there. Would that work against them?
LA: Well, a little bit. I almost always hear that, and I’ve heard people say, “Can you not
accent that.” So, the trill is going to sound more florid than the other notes. It doesn’t
need the accent, but we all tend to do that to try to make the trills come out.
TS: If you reached your maximum speed and a conductor comes along during an
audition. Of course if it’s your job you’re going to have to do it. But say he keeps
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pushing the tempo up, and you just feel like you can’t go faster. Or what happens in a
situation, you ‘re in an orchestra, and all of a sudden a conductor says, “We’re going to
do this at 120,” and you can’t double tongue?
LA: Uh….[laughs]…. In the orchestra you can probably throw some slurs in, for instance
[sings] you could on those. Certain things that are somewhat masked and even on the
scale up [sings]. I mean, maybe. You could try it, and the conductor may or may not say
anything, but I wouldn’t advise it in an audition. I mean you could say I have to work on
that, but never say you can’t. Just say, “Oh that’s faster then I thought, I would have to
work on it.”
TS: So, don’t ever say you can’t.
LA: Don’t ever say you can’t, no. Just say, “Yes, I would just have to work on that.”
TS: And hope that it never comes up again! [laughs] Well, we have been talking about a
lot of technical excerpts here. Let’s talk about a nice slow one, the slow movement to
Brahms’ Third. What are you listening for?
LA: It’s funny, in the orchestra you are the top of a chorale, but it is by no means a solo.
You have certain little places where you peek out as the soloist, but your ability to sound
good so much depends on your colleagues beneath you. So when you play this as an
audition piece, it’s always very difficult, but I think there are two things that are really
important. Believe it or not the rhythm, I hear it all the time students will think this is
their chance to be really expressive, but it’s not a big solo, it’s a chorale and it’s an
andante, which is a difficult tempo to shape without becoming romantic. I think this is
what I hear in students most often, is their rhythm is really bad in the quarter notes. Their
rhythm is bad in the quarter notes, and then they’ll want to rush or drag the eighth notes,
so to be able to shape it and stay somewhat in rhythm is important. Now there’s a couple
of places where you peek out, and it’s just the solo clarinet, and you can take a little bit of
time on an eighth note here and there. You definitely need to know those spots when
you’re taking the audition, because everybody else does. You have to match your throat
tones with your full notes and your intonation has to be good. Those are the three things.
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TS: How about the dotted eighth followed by the sixteenth?
LA: That’s right, because it’s slurred. It’s slurred in the part, and the performance
practice is to do [sings], but that’s not the way that it is written on the page. Which you
can do, I mean, you can do it tastefully. I would say that the player has to be convinced
about that, because that’s a real grey area. It is performance practice to slur that. Almost
everyone does. But I would try to make it sound like it’s slurred, but still articulate. I’ve
been asked to just articulate it; there is no slur there.
TS: So that’s interesting on that excerpt that you think a lot of people approach it, that it’s
just this gorgeous clarinet solo…
LA: Right.
TS: So that is just one of the few excerpts so far where you have to really picture what’s
going on?
LA: Well, I think it doesn’t sound like the piece if you play all out of rhythm and make it
very, very romantic. I mean there are times to take a little bit of time on an eighth note
here and there, but you can’t do it while all the voices are moving with you, and that is
why it’s not done. So, if you do that at the audition, it’s not going to sound like the same
piece. Even the percussion players are consciously thinking this is a chorale, it’s not a
clarinet solo. But I do find that the simpler the piece is, the harder it is for a student to
play well. Because they don’t understand what’s difficult about it yet, and therefore they
can’t make it sound right, because they don’t even know what’s difficult about it, such as
the inner eighth note rhythm and that chorale.
TS: Another excerpt they love to ask is the beginning of Sibelius’ First.
LA: No vibrato.
TS: Now that’s interesting that you bring that up. [LA laughs] Because, as we know, all
clarinetists have different ideas on vibrato, and I know you use a very tasteful vibrato.
What should one do at an audition?
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LA: Well, I think if you’re a player that can’t hear the clarinet without vibrato, you
should try to tone yours down so it’s a conservative vibrato. Vibrato is much more
accepted today than it was twenty years ago. In fact, I would say most of the younger
players coming up, aside from certain schools like the Philadelphia school, you know it
has become a more acceptable sound, because we have Richard Stolzman with all those
recordings and kids are growing up listening to that and other people too. But in a
classical piece, there is so much tradition that it should only be used very sparingly on an
audition. You can go ahead and use it in the orchestra, but be prepared to be told not to
use it. On this particular piece [Sibelius], I was told not to use any at all, which was hard
on the throat tones on an “A” clarinet, because you definitely want to color it. But it
sounds very…the starkness of piece; I don’t think it should have a lot of vibrato at all,
maybe just shading. Yeah, definitely taper your vibrato for an audition.
TS: And of course at an audition, you don’t have the nice timpani behind you, so you’re
just there the whole time.
LA: Yes, people are just listening for the matching of the registers, which is very hard on
this and intonation. Well, a beautiful sound, I’m assuming a beautiful sound.
TS: And it seems like Sibelius, as we know with this and certain composers like
Tchaikovsky, they actually go down to three p’s. Tchaikovsky Six we’re talking around
seven p’s What’s your feeling when you see something like that and you’re playing an
audition and it goes down to three p’s and then you have a morando going even softer,
and you still have quite a way to go?
LA: Well, as far as audition, when you have something like Tchaikovsky Sixth or the
opening to this, they’re pretty much the same, because there is nothing around you. So,
it’s the pieces that have a lot of orchestra, either accompaniment or chorale, or you come
out of nowhere and you’re playing all this stuff. Those are the things that you would
really do differently in the audition than in the orchestra. But again, the conservative, but
tasteful and meaningful interpretation is always there, like for the Sibelius. Fortunately
you don’t have to match the pitch of the timpani when he’s not there, so it’s more of a
relative pitch in the audition.
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TS: Does it ever happen that someone on the committee is sitting there with perfect pitch
and you can just see the look in his or her eye?
LA: It can, but fortunately that’s probably only one or two people, and the kind of perfect
pitch it would have to be would have to be the absolute perfect pitch, where they can
actually tell whether you’re sharp to 440, which is very rare.
TS: Would you advise people to find out what that orchestra tunes to?
LA: Oh yes! That I would definitely do.
TS: Because here could be somebody that is very talented, they show up, and are ready,
and they tune to 442.
LA: Exactly and a lot of times, now orchestras will have accompaniment just to see what
your pitch level and how relative your pitch is. And that means that you will have to
have barrels; you have to have several barrels and be prepared for that. Yes, you
definitely need to know the pitch level.
TS: Does it ever happen that, here is an orchestra that plays at 440, and then you get a
conductor coming in saying that the pitch is maybe too low?
LA: It definitely could happen. I’ve never heard of it happening. Conductors don’t
usually want to get too involved in that, because it such a messy business. But I could
see Daniel Barenboim coming into the Atlanta Symphony and saying, “Hey, it’s too
low.”
TS: And so, you will just have to adjust then.
LA: Right. But, 440 to 442 [or possibly] 440 to 445 is what somebody should be
prepared to play. At least they have that equipment sitting at home to make that
adjustment.
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TS: Let’s talk about something that has a lot of freedom, and that’s Dances of Galanta.
When they ask for the cadenza at the beginning, and, of course the cadenza at the end,
and the beautiful tune, how flamboyant can you get?
LA: Well, this is what they are looking for in a piece like this: Do you have any creative
instinct? Now, you still have to do what is on the page. It says cadenza, which means
take it away, you do what you want to do. It has to make sense, and you have to be very
convinced that’s the best way it sounds most of all. Because nine times out of ten if
somebody is really convinced about a free interpretation area, and they really like the
way it sounds when they play it that way, you convince the audience of the same.
TS: Should they be prepared for somebody to say like in the cadenza, I mean I have
heard it many ways, like if someone played [sings], that maybe a committee member
would say, “Can you please not put a stop there, can you keep it going?”
LA: Oh yes, they are going to want to check your flexibility as well. So, you have to
have your own idea, but you have to be able to understand a request and be able to
execute it, which means you have to have knowledge of the piece. You have to know
different ways that it can go and be able to reproduce that, even if it is not what you want
to do. But, the first thing you do is what you want to do.
TS: Now when you are in the orchestra situation, does it come up quite often that the
conductor, besides the head music director, (as we know the music director makes certain
demands), but say a guest conductor coming in, are they usually pretty gracious about
letting you play it the way you want?
LA: I’d say sixty to seventy percent they leave you alone, because most people have the
idea that you are going to play it best the way you want to play it, which is true [laughs].
And then there are other guest conductors that have a fixed idea of how they want it, and
they want you to do it that way, and they’ll suggest that to you in a nice way or not such a
nice way. So, you are always at the whim of the conductor, which always means you
have to be flexible. As far as things that you would differently in an audition, well, I
mean the biggest thing is that you can do is really play it the way you want in an audition,
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whereas in the orchestra you may not have that chance, that you might be requested to do
something different. Dynamics: probably the biggest dynamic thing is before 40 that you
really have to come out over the strings, and you have to be together with the strings. So,
you might not have to be quite so loud in the audition. You definitely could watch your
tone quality there, whereas the most important thing is to project when you are doing it
[in the orchestra].
TS: About 50 where the tune comes in. It’s marked “piano”….
LA: Oh, it’s a “solo piano,” definitely a “solo piano.” And I think this is a chance for the
auditionee to show creativity. Again, this is a gypsy tune, so there is not a set
performance practice for it. I mean you don’t want to go completely off the rhythm, but
it is fairly understood that those embellishments and triplets and double dotted notes are
expressive, and that you have a certain amount of flexibility with them. You should
definitely use it in this one.
TS: And would recommend the same thing with the vibrato on this one, because it’s
gypsy?
LA: No, I think the vibrato would be an expressive tool. And what would be even nicer
is if you could show your styles clearly, that your classical has very little or no vibrato,
and that your very free folk tunes twentieth century music could use some vibrato in
order to distinguish that, but not a lot, because some people really hate it.
TS: So, it would be better, as you said before, to use it tastefully. Or maybe not use it at
all?
LA: Well not constant, definitely not a constant vibrato. I mean it is one of those
expressive tools that you have at your disposal that you should not make overwhelming at
the audition, because it might offend some people.
TS: One last excerpt here, Pines of Rome.
LA: Make sure you have a good register tube. Not a lot different about this, except
intonation will show up much more when you are in the orchestra. I mean you will hear
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it, but when you have any kind of harmony, I mean if you take over the strings and you
are a mile sharp on your “a” entrance, it will be immediately noticeable, whereas it
wouldn’t be immediately noticeable in the audition.
TS: So, working with the tuner…..
LA: Oh yes, your octaves have to be, everything has to be relative.
TS: And again, just like the other ones, you would recommend keeping with the dynamic
range.
LA: Yes, I would. In this particular one, you are all by yourself, so it is virtually the
same, except again you don’t want to use a lot of vibrato. Maybe a little bit.
TS: How about the very ending?
LA: You have to play it a lot louder in the orchestra, because you have got a whole string
complement coming in, and you are just ending, so you have to make sure that it’s
present.
TS: But at the audition…
LA: You could make more of a diminuendo, more what’s on the page, definitely, and
then somebody might ask you to play that louder. Probably not, because only the
clarinetists would think of that.
TS: No interview would be complete with Beethoven [Symphony] Four, the last
movement. Do you tongue it, do you slur part of it, what do you do at an audition?
LA: Try not to draw attention to yourself. At an audition, you have to tongue it. The
only leniency you have is with the grace note, is the note after the grace note. [sings]
You could do that; that’s pretty acceptable for performance practice.
TS: So, if you threw in a slur and you went as fast as you could, that one slur would be
frowned upon?
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LA: Well, I wouldn’t recommend it. I would recommend you play it at a tempo that you
could play it tongued. And if then if they say, “Can we have that faster please,” if you
had to add a slur or totally fall on your face, I would say add a slur. But, they are listening
for you not to add a slur. You distinguish yourself by not adding a slur. Learn how to
double tongue.
TS: So here you are in the performance now.
LA: In the performance it doesn’t matter, no one can hear you. The strings are playing
detached, and even if you slur more than a few notes, it is going to come out detached. If
the conductor might ask, you know he might notice in a rehearsal though and ask you not
to do it.
TS: So definitely at the audition tongue it.
LA: At the audition tongue it, you can go [sings excerpt].
TS: And hope that you get the job, so you never have to tongue it again. [laughs]
LA: That’s right.
TS: Laura, I forgot to ask at the very beginning, who were your teachers?
LA: I had a local person in high school, who was a very good clarinetist. Then I was
picked up as a student by Roger Hiller, who was playing in the Metropolitan Opera. He
was a real mentor, and he pretty much showed me the way to go, and he told me I had to
go to Juilliard, that I had to play first clarinet in a major orchestra. So, I spent the rest of
my life trying to make that happen. And I studied at Juilliard with Stanley Drucker and
Leon Russianoff.
TS: You also had the opportunity to study with Harold Wright a little bit?
LA: Yes, I did.
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TS: I know it is difficult to think back, but do you remember anything from your audition
for the Atlanta Symphony? Did you just try to be solid or did you just try to express
yourself as much as you could?
LA: I think I tried to do what I just said, but I didn’t have the experience to really know
how to do it in the orchestra. And this is why students do better sometimes, they just try
to do what’s on the page and do it well.
TS: So would you recommend then, if someone who has an orchestra job already and is
trying to move up to a better orchestra, basically to wipe the slate clean and to look at it
like a student…
LA: Obviously I haven’t had much experience with that, because I haven’t really taken
another audition. I haven’t taken another orchestral audition that’s for sure. But my idea
was always to do that, to look at it fresh, like I was going to be all alone on the stage.
TS: So it is almost like you would approach any sort of performance, for example, a
Brahms Sonata, every time you perform it, you’re gathering from you experiences, but at
the same time trying to look at it from a fresh perspective.
LA: Yes, and I think the knowledge of how it goes in the section is detrimental for you at
the audition.
TS: Here’s an additional question, if you play something a lot in an orchestra, say
Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, [how do you prepare it for an audition]?
LA: Well, I think that a professional has an added difficulty in that they have played
these pieces so many times, it is very hard to sit down for hours and practice that same
piece for an audition. But, you have to; in order to be really, really consistent, you’ve got
to have the practice time in it. I mean you can’t walk in and play Beethoven’s Ninth
unless you are in really good shape with a really good reed. And having done that day
after day, year after year, you know I think the professional has a hard time with that kind
of discipline, that particular kind of discipline for reworking these same pieces that they
have done over and over again for the audition. Whereas the student is coming at it
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completely fresh. They’re challenging themselves for the first time. So I think it’s a lot
easier, and I know that when I work on a new piece that I haven’t done before that I can
spend more hours. It’s more pleasant work in a way, because you are figuring things out
again.
TS: Well, thank you very much.
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APPENDIX B
Telephone Interview with Tad Calcara
Principal Clarinetist, Utah Symphony Orchestra
Interview Completed October 4, 2004
TS: The first question I have for you is what, if any, are the general differences between
playing excerpts at an audition compared to performing them in an orchestra?
TC: First and foremost I find dynamics are quite different between the two. [In an
audition] you are playing all by yourself on an empty stage, and you are supposed to be
soft. I have found that playing soft is the hardest thing sometimes. Playing something
soft enough and really making your dynamic contrast palette big enough. Something like
Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony, you really want to play the dynamics that are on the
page, but of course, most of the time when you do that with a large orchestra with a full
string section, you’re not playing that at the same dynamic [as in an audition]. You have
to play that a lot more I think [in the orchestra]. It depends on the piece, but that’s one
that just jumped out at me. That shows a stark difference between the way you play it an
audition and the way you would perform it with the full orchestra. There are all sorts of
variables. If you have a very sensitive conductor, who may insist on the strings playing
soft, then you have a chance to maybe explore that softer realm. But I think most of the
time, it seems you have to really up that dynamic in that particular excerpt I am thinking
of.
TS: Anything with the tempo? Do you play anything faster or slower?
TC: In an audition I go for a middle of the road tempo for most things, something that is
pretty standard. Of course, I practice it and have it ready to play faster or slower. You
have that option if the committee or the conductor in the audition wants to hear it
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otherwise. But, that’s what I do, set a standard, you know like 88 to the dotted quarter for
Mendelssohn’s Midsummer’s Night Dream. And if they want it faster, well you can take
it up to 92 or whatever.
TS: [laughing]. I am sorry that I am laughing; you said 88 to the dotted quarter. Do you
know that every single person that I have interviewed has said exactly that tempo!
TC: You’re kidding! I am glad I am not the only one. I thought I was being Mr.
Schlepp.
TS: No, it is so funny, because I mean Larry Combs said, “You know, I think 88 to the
dotted quarter is good.” And Burt Hara is going, “I don’t play it that fast; I play it at 88
to the dotted quarter.”
TC: I am glad to hear that I have good company. That tempo is variable. I have heard
some recordings where it is substantially slower, maybe in the early 80’s. Of course,
there is always the time warp, the audition syndrome, where time doesn’t always appear
to be what it really is. I think the tendency with the adrenaline going is to play it faster
than you think. Occasionally I have had the committee ask, “Could you play it a little
slower please.” And then [I ] take it a few notches slower on my inner metronome, and
then things usually settle down, and it’s fine. But, I find that middle of the road thing to
be very helpful. I like it very much. For example Szell’s recording of the “Pastoral”
Symphony first movement, that clarinet triplet solo at the end. I forget what that is, 112
or something like that. It seems more expansive than some guys would take it. When we
performed it here last year, Keith [Lockhart] took it around 120 something, much
quicker. So, I think shooting for somewhere in between, around 116, for an audition
would most helpful, but having it ready and under your fingers to do it faster or slower. I
think that would be the main difference. In an audition, being flexible, knowing the
range of what is possible for a given excerpt and being comfortable with all of them, so
that you have the flexibility if the conductor or the committee would like something
different. Really that is kind of similar to being in a performance, because a lot of times
it is up to the conductor. Unless they are being very sympathetic for something that is
extremely challenging, maybe they will take that it into consideration.
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TS: The next question has to do with the audition committee. The audition committee
consists of other members of the orchestra besides clarinetists. Do you think they listen
for the same things that a clarinetist would listen for? Do they expect to hear only what’s
on the page as far as dynamics and articulation or do they rely somewhat on what they
are used to hearing in the orchestra?
TC: You are talking about non-clarinet people on the committee? Yes, I think when
people are listening to an instrument that they are not familiar with, meaning that they
don’t play it, I think that is a natural thing; they are going to be listening for different
things. But, I think first and foremost that everyone is going to be listening to sound.
They’re going to be listening to phrasing and how musical this person is. Then there are
other things. Maybe double reed players may be focusing in more on articulation. I
don’t know, because you know clarinet players are always getting cut down for
articulation matters. It’s kind of hard to say, but I think there are always the similarities
between what a clarinetist and a non-clarinetist will be listening to. I think first and
foremost kind of the general passage, the presentation of what’s being presented there.
But, definitely I think certain things [catch non-clarinetists attention]. For instance, a
brass player may be impressed or a bassoonist, “Listen how soft that clarinet player can
play real low,” which is something hard for those guys, but something which is quite
natural for most clarinetists. They may be impressed or focused in on something like
that. But we clarinetists know that is not such a problem. So yes, I think there are going
to be differences between non-clarinetists and clarinetists, but in general I think everyone
is going to be focused in on the total presentation of what’s happening.
TS: If you are preparing or you are having a student prepare for an audition, and say it
was for the New York Philharmonic, would you recommend that the student listen to all
the recordings of the New York Philharmonic or the certain conductor they are playing
for so that they get their interpretation of the works?
TC: That really is not a bad idea. Getting a feel for, especially for the larger orchestras
you know they have a real tradition of how they play and do certain things, I think that is
very important. When I was just out of school and was runner up for the second job in
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Cleveland, I think one of the reasons I did well [was because I was] studying in
Cleveland for a little while and immersing myself in the way they do things. You know
that’s fine, that’s their interpretation. So yes, if you looking at a position in the Boston
Symphony or the New York Phil or whatever, I mean getting a little bit of a feel or idea
of what that wind section does that’s unique is very important. I think that it is a great
idea. If there is a possibility of playing for one of those people, that’s even better. It’s a
chance to see how you would fit in, sometimes you can get some clues if you were to
take a lesson and by taking in comments that are given on everything, whether it is
articulation or phrasing or the style of your legato or whatever. I find that is very helpful.
And if it is not taking lessons, just as you suggested, listening to some recordings,
especially of that particular conductor who is music director there, absolutely that’s a
great idea.
TS: I have a couple of excerpts here. First of all I wanted to know if there is a difference
between the way you play them in an orchestra and the way you play them in an audition.
And, of course, if there are differences, what are they. Let’s start with the slow
movement of Brahms’ Three. Any comments on that as far as dynamics, for example.
Do you feel it is played differently in an audition?
TC: I think it depends on the conductor, I am thinking of the performance. In an
audition, dynamically you are all by yourself. You don’t have the rest of the wind section
like in the real thing when you are performing it, so I think you can really take the
dynamics quite literally. You do have the tune; you are the top voice of this beautiful
chorale. When you are playing it in the orchestra, depending on the conductor,
sometimes they might want a blended sound, you know I can’t remember the term
Mahler used, like in Mahler’s First when all the parts are equal. I forget how you say that
or what it is, but I remember he uses that a lot when he doesn’t want one voice to stand
out. Obviously there is no indication of that in the second movement of Brahms’ Three.
Depending upon the conductor, maybe the conductor wants a little bit of the spotlight on
the melody voice, the top voice there, and so maybe that needs to come out just a little
more above the actual dynamic level that’s written. Others may want a very blended
kind of sound where all the voices are equal. It is hard to say too, because you have to
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remember, for instance, that needs to be balanced with the second clarinet. Maybe the
second needs to be a little bit more, because you know the high notes carry a little easier
than the others and [so the lower voices] provide that nice cushy bottom that makes the
first clarinet really shine.
TS: How about rhythmically in an audition. Can you take any liberties, like taking a
little rubato at the end?
TC: I think that it is all right as long as it doesn’t interfere with the basic tempo that is
moving along – doing you’re rubato within the tempo. Otherwise a committee might
look at that as bad rhythm. It is kind of a tricky thing. So, I think it is possible to do that,
but it has to be quite subtle and it has to be within the tempo. I remember one teacher
talking about that even in the Mozart Concerto the first movement, try to do your rubato
and your shapings of stuff, but within the tempo. That seemed to make a lot of sense to
me, because for a movement that is moving along in that style too, you don’t want to be
too disruptive of that forward momentum at least if you are playing it a classical style. If
your interpretation is more in a romantic style, maybe you can do a little more messing
around, but then you get into the question of whether that is appropriate for Mozart.
TS: At the same time you don’t what the audition committee split between people
thinking that the interpretation is very nice with the rubato and others thinking, “Oh why
did he just do that?”
TC: Right. You know, of course, being on committees, there is going to be a variety of
opinion on something like that. There are going to be people, just as you said, that think,
“Oh that makes sense; that’s very nice,” and [others who think],”Oh that’s bad rhythm.”
But, you know there is always the case where they think, “Oh, that’s just right.” It is not
going to offend the person that wants it to be in good rhythm, and it is not going to offend
the person who is looking for a little, well I think everyone is always looking for a little
more musical personality.
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TS: How about rhythmically in the Brahms, the rhythm of the dotted eighth followed by
the sixteenth? That always seems like a gray area. Is there any difference between
performing that and playing it in an audition?
TC: I have seen in the times that I have played that piece in performance and doing it in
auditions that it’s pretty consistent. It is a tricky thing, because you don’t want it to
sound flippant. If you take it too literally, it sounds flippant, and it doesn’t make melodic
sense there to what’s happening there, the legato. And then again you don’t want to
change the rhythm and sound like a triplet, so it is a very tricky thing. Again I find it to
be similar, not too big a difference [between auditions and real performances]. Possibly
acoustically you would have to take that into consideration if you are playing all by
yourself on a stage with lots of reverb. Possibly you would have to do something slightly
different so that the quick note is audible. That is maybe the only thing I could think of,
and I would hope that the committee person if they hear the sixteenth getting lost, they
would say something, “The sixteenth is getting lost, would you do something about it” or
whatever, and be able to change that. I don’t know whether that would be a little more
articulation or a little more sound or a little more tenuto on those. Just like you say, it is a
gray area, a tricky one.
TS: Here’s an entirely different piece, Dances of Galanta, you have the opening cadenza
and the lovely solo. Would you play it more flamboyantly in the orchestra than at an
audition?
TC: This is a piece where it is your solo. It is very rhapsodic; it’s gypsy stuff. If I am on
the committee, and I am listening to someone play it too tamely, I think they are missing
the point. I think either way in performance or at an audition, you really need to let out
all the stops on a piece like that. Now possibly you might take into consideration who is
listening – who the conductor is and what orchestra it is. If it is a more conservative type
of orchestra, maybe overdoing it might be a little offensive. If it were someone like
Michael Tilson Thomas, he would want it all out, as he says, “Take no prisoners” kind of
approach to a solo like that. Personally that is the way I like it, because just that kind of
thing fits the style
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TS: So just like in a performance, throw caution to the wind. Go for it.
TC: Yes, the two are pretty similar.
TS: How about Mendelssohn’s Midsummer’s Night Dream, the “Scherzo?”
TC: Let’s see, differences. Okay, I think in both cases, you are constantly thinking of
the other players. Especially when you are playing it by yourself, you want to think of,
because obviously you don’t have the melody, or at least you don’t have the top voice, so
you really want to think about that opening and fitting in with everyone. Then you have
to be thinking about when your voice is the top voice or the lead voice [sings], you know
the little diminished arpeggio, when to kind of come out of the woodwork. Mendelssohn,
of course, helps you along by indicating dynamics and things like that.
TS: Now like you said earlier, we already talked a little bit about the tempo, one question
I have as far as dynamics on this one, do you think you play it softer at an audition or
louder at an audition?
TC: That’s tricky. I have gotten more comments after playing it, they would say,
“Would you try it again softer.” Softer and shorter, that’s seems to be what I remember.
I don’t know what it is. Maybe just acoustically, because it is so quiet and silent in an
empty concert hall or audition stage that whatever sound or whoever is playing or
whatever just sounds more audible and loud. So, I think it is easy to sound stronger. I
am not sure, I am just thinking about clarinet; I don’t know about other instruments. I
wonder if they have the same issue or problem of sounding too big or too loud.
TS: Since they [the committee] always ask for it shorter and softer, so you think it is
easier to play this excerpt in the orchestra than at the audition.
TC: Again I think it depends upon who is conducting and how fast you are going.
Obviously if you are by yourself and you are taking it at 88 and everyone is happy with
that, that’s fine. If it is a conductor, who really wants to push it along. Isn’t that Szell
recording at 96?
TS: Yes, it is 96.
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TC: I don’t think the comfort level would be the same. So, I think it would vary
depending on who is conducting. As I said, if I am by myself, I shoot for that nice
middle of the road 88, around there. If a conductor does 88, that’s great. But, in both
cases definitely thinking of what is around you, what is happening, what other instrument
groups you are playing with is very important.
TS: What if your conductor decides to take it very fast, even faster than the Szell
recording, what do you do in that situation?
TC: I think back to what one of my first clarinet teachers told me about articulation,
more air. I would turn up the air, so that the tongue has a lot of air to work with and get
in that real determined state of mind. Of course, at a tempo like that, you may have to
throw in some slurs. It is happening so quickly, and there are lot of people with you,
there are a different people in the wind section playing with you, so might be able to get
away with that. You would hope.
TS: So in performance and this will relate to Beethoven’s Fourth the last movement,
would you recommend that you have to do what you to do to make it sound okay. But, in
an audition, you do have to set your sights on a realistic tempo, so you can do everything
that is written on the page?
TC: Absolutely. Find your middle of the road, accessible, comfortable tempo, and also
have an upper ceiling, a faster tempo, and have a slightly slower one, so that you have
three different possibilities. Practice all three of them, and be ready for any of them.
Obviously, in a performance that is a different case. If the conductor wants to fly, as you
say, you have that determination in your head and you make it happen as best as you can.
TS: How about the last movement of Beethoven Four? For some reason it is always on
auditions. And it is a lousy little solo.
TC: Fortunately it is short, though.
TS: Do you think it is that important that it be all tongued at an audition? Or is it okay to
add a slur if you don’t have a fast tongue?
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TC: I use tempo. In a concert and the conductor really wants to go 160 or something like
that, then I would consider some articulation things, you know slurs here and there. At
an audition, obviously you are going to do it at a tempo you can do it at. I think it is
better to do it as is. Now if a committee asks you to play it faster, try your faster tempo
that you practiced, hopefully all articulated. But, this might a case where you might have
another upper tempo possibility in which you practiced adding slurs, because obviously
you need to practice those. It is hard just to throw in some slurs. So, you would have
your middle, comfortable, good solid tempo, a faster one, a slow one, and maybe an extra
fast one where you throw in the slurs. I would say that’s one where you need to have
four tempo choices. I think it is ok to add slurs only when it is absolutely necessary.
TS: If it is between that and totally self-destructing.
TC: Yes.
TS: How about the Mozart Concerto. I know that you touched on that a little. First of
all there are a lot of different interpretations these days, whether to put in the f natural in
or the f sharp, all the different editions with basset horn where the runs go down. First of
all should you approach it the same way at an audition as you would playing it as a
soloist with the orchestra?
TC: First of all in an audition, you are playing a concerto, and a concerto is a concerto.
It is your piece; it’s a solo piece. I think committees put it on there to see what your
musical personality is. I think it is important to play it as a soloist. I don’t see playing it
another way. A concerto is a concerto. I don’t think violinists go in there and change
their style or whatever playing the Tchaikovsky Concerto or whatever or Brahms and try
to play it like an etude or more straight forward or like a good orchestral person would or
whatever. A solo piece is a solo piece. This is your chance to shine. I think it is
important that one shows their musical soul. That’s why committees put it on there.
They want to see what this person has to say. I think playing real tamely is missing the
point of that. You could come across sounding bland. Even if it is a second job, I think
it is very important. Everyone needs to have a personality. Obviously the second needs
to have the extra burden of being able to fit in, while all the players do, but I think the
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second player even more so, because he is having to play with the principal. But
nevertheless there are going to be moments where the second clarinet player has to come
out of the woodwork and have to show some stuff, and it is very important. So, I think
whether it’s a second job or whatever, if you have the concerto on the list, you better
have something to say. That is my take on it. Maybe in some orchestras the principal
might be offended or taken aback, I am not sure. But I would say that I think that it is
important if they put Mozart Concerto on, the committee better be prepared to hear some
personality and gear it like a soloist would play it. At least that is what I would expect if
I put it on [the list], and that’s how I would take that if I look at the audition list and
there’s the Mozart Concerto.
TS: Let’s talk about Capriccio Espagnol, the very beginning solo. Any differences
between playing it in the orchestra and playing it an audition?
TC: I would have to say that’s one that is almost the same, because it is a big, loud,
rambunctious kind of solo. The committee is going to be listening for that, that kind of
character, that type of personality. I think the main thing though with that is… I think
everyone can play that pretty strong, and everyone can do a good job of capturing the
musical essence of that. So, the thing I think people focus in on is probably more
articulation and making sure they are not rushing or slowing down, making sure they
have good rhythm. I heard several teachers or people on committees say, “ I don’t think
anyone has ever really won an audition because of that piece,” because it is one of those
pieces that you either can or can’t do it, that kind of thing I suppose, you know good
finger dexterity and all that stuff.
TS: Do you think one should play that at the same dynamic level at an audition as you
would in the orchestra? Should they tame it down a little?
TC: That’s a good question. I would say good phrasing on that one. Rimsky Korsakov
doesn’t give you a lot to work with in the part, so I would say make it interesting
musically and phrasing-wise. So, vary your dynamics. Do some stuff with it, because
there’s nothing more frustrating than being on a committee and hearing somebody just
play it again. It’s good rhythm, it’s good this and good that, [but they] need to put a little
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something into it. And probably as you are saying [about playing less loudly], that might
be a consideration, but it is hard to say. That is a tricky one, because it is written
fortissimo, the dynamic is pretty loud. I wonder if the committee might be offended if it
is too loud, I am not sure. That is a good question.
TS: I guess it would depend on if you could control the sound.
TC: Yes, obviously if the sound is wavering, if it is getting out of hand, if it is getting
crass, then you have definitely crossed the threshold. It should be within good taste I
should say. All of these things should be in good taste.
TS: I know a lot of players use their own parts even in the orchestra. In an audition do
you recommend that you take your own parts in or should you use the parts that they put
in front of you?
TC: I have to say that I feel happier using my own parts; I’d bring a set. But, I think it is
important to be flexible. Be ready for anything in an audition. Just be ready for
anything. Whether that’s using a part [that’s on the stand], you know that happened to
me on the Cleveland Orchestra audition. I used their parts on Daphnis, and there is a
mistake on the first page in the second [part], and that just threw me. You have to be
ready for anything. I remember that was the final round after a long day of auditioning,
and this is one of the last things they put in front of me, and the way they corrected it in
the part was that they just crossed out the wrong note and wrote in the right one. That
just somehow threw me unfortunately, especially after a long day. So, I just would be
ready for anything at an audition.
TS: And what happens if they do put a part in front of you, let’s say the infamous
Firebird Part and it’s the old edition with the lick, and you have practicing off the new
edition. Should you ask before hand, “Should I play this part?”
TC: First of all, I would be ready to play any version. Just have that lick ready, in the
bag ready to go. And definitely ask the proctor on the stage. I can’t remember if they had
the right page here [Utah Symphony, Nov. 1998] or not; I know that was on the audition
here. I can’t remember. But definitely one needs to be ready. There might be a
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committee that says, “It’s on the page, it’s in our part; this is how it goes. We want to
hear it.” You don’t want to be caught in one of those situations. Just have it ready. Be
ready for anything.
TS: Probably not in a lot of the major orchestras, but sometimes orchestras will use the
Bonade book for auditions.
TC: That’s not recommended. You know other thing before an audition, do the smart
thing, give a call to the personnel office, ask the question. I know for bass clarinet
auditions here we have had people call here inquiring about things, and we are more than
happy to answer them. We want people to do their best. Audition candidates don’t need
any extra adversity. It is hard enough as it is. Any questions, anything that is unclear
like that, it is better to get it right. Perhaps with the Firebird thing, you could ask if they
would send a part or what part will you be using. I think most libraries and audition
committees will be very reasonable with something like that, a request like that.
TS: A quick question about equipment, because as you know at auditions are a different
circumstance. You walk in and you play and one second you are playing Mendelssohn’s
“Scherzo” and the next you are playing Capriccio. In the orchestra one has the option of
changing reeds. How do you feel about changing reeds in an audition?
TC: That is a tricky one, isn’t it? Because if those two pieces were on a performance,
yes I would probably be using different reeds. Obviously in an audition, you won’t have
that option. I would recommend and what I have always done is get a good balanced,
good sounding reed. It should have a good tone, which you can articulate on, and just
make it happen. Make that reed do everything. I think you can. A good reed is a good
reed. A good reed can play those upper dynamics and hold the sound together. A good
reed can articulate. So, you just have to find the right thing, so that you are able to be a
chameleon and be flexible and play Mozart style and play late romantic style and then
contemporary style. You have to have a reed and equipment that is going to be able to
allow you to show the committee that I know the different styles, that I can play this style
and a minute later I can switch gears and play this style on the same reed! [laughs].
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TS: That’s all the questions I have. Do you have anything you want to add on
auditioning or the differences between playing in the orchestra versus playing an
audition?
TC: I think what we first started talking about, it’s the difference between…I find the
dynamics can be very different, with the exception of something like Capriccio Espagnol
as we were talking about. But take Rachmaninoff Second, there’s an excellent example of
how very different than what you might do in the orchestra versus the audition.
Dynamics I would say are definitely negotiable. And the issue of tempo, you are going to
pick something that is very middle of the road. Obviously in the orchestra, it is up to the
conductor and whoever that conductor might be. Gosh, Norrington takes some fast
tempos. For somebody like that, you are going to have to be ready, maybe practice some
double-tonguing, that kind of thing. If it is somebody else, well you kind of have to be
ready for anything. I would say in both cases, that’s why preparing a couple of varying
tempos for a given excerpt is very important. Having three, and possibly four like we
were talking about for Beethoven Four, having that upper level extreme fast tempo,
maybe with some altered articulations, some slurs, in case of an emergency. I think the
main thing is that you have to be ready for anything, be ready for any type of adversity,
whatever that might be, whether it is a wrong note in a part or whatever. You have to
have the confidence to know that you can do this. I guess that’s the main thing, having
that confidence and determination.
TS: Before we stop, who were your teachers and where did you study, because it is
interesting to see what people say from different backgrounds?
TC: I first started studying with my father, and then I studied with a very fine clarinet
teacher, she was a student of Mitchell Lurie’s when I was in high school. She was
excellent. And then she recommended that I set off to New York, and I studied with
Leon Russianoff. Not too long, because he passed away during my second year in my
college out there. Then I studied a little while with Charles Russo. Then I spent two
years finishing up my undergrad studies at San Francisco Conservatory studying with
David Breeden. Then I did a Masters at Cleveland Institute with Frank Cohen. I’d like to
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say that in addition to Frank Cohen, we had the weekly wind class with John Mack. Of
course, John Mack was so generous with his time, giving free lessons to anyone at the
school essentially, and I took advantage of that especially before the Cleveland Orchestra
audition. So, I give quite a bit of thanks to him as well for my development. Fortunately
down at the New World Symphony we had many great guest teachers come in. Larry
Combs and Burt Hara were amongst them, and I just got a wealth of information working
with them. Gosh, Michael Tilson Thomas too. He was a fantastic teacher and mentor.
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APPENDIX C
Telephone interview with Larry Combs,
Principal Clarinetist, Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Interview Completed October 22, 2004
TS: This is a dissertation on the differences, if any, between the way one plays excerpts
in an audition versus the way one plays them in an orchestra. So, my first question is
what generally are the differences, if any, between playing excerpts in an audition versus
playing them in the orchestra?
LC: For one thing, it is a tremendous advantage to have had the experience of playing
this music in the orchestral context. Perhaps that’s why audition committees feel that
prior experience is an important and valuable part of what one presents. But, at the very
least, I think the individual should somehow attempt to mentally project himself into the
orchestral context by really knowing what the rest of the music around the clarinet part
consists of and to be strongly aware of the musical context of the part that you are
playing. It is rarely enough to just reproduce the music on the page. When you are
playing an audition, it is important to get the character, the style, and even the relative
dynamic related to how it has to sound when it’s properly balanced in the orchestra.
TS: Should people listen to recordings of the orchestra or of the conductor that they are
performing for when they are preparing for an audition?
LC: I am not sure that is a valuable thing. I think the overall values would be the same
for every orchestra, and I think it may be a mistake to try to tailor-make your own playing
to be like what you think would fit in that orchestra or for that conductor. I think that
would give a false representation of who and what you are.
TS: As far as when you perform in an orchestra versus what you tell your students about
preparing excerpts for an audition, are there any generalities regarding dynamics?
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LC: Well, I guess what I believe is this: there are no absolute dynamics. In other words,
you can’t play a tone on the clarinet unrelated to anything else and say, “That’s my piano
dynamic,” and for something slighter louder, “That’s my mezzo-piano dynamic.” It
really has to be geared to the context, and that’s why I think is so important to understand
the context. So, if you were playing the staccato excerpt from Scheherazade that’s
marked pianissimo, it’s only accompanied by a snare drum, and it’s got to be really,
really soft. So, that’s one kind of pianissimo. But in a Brahms’ Symphony, maybe it
needs to be a little bit more. It has very much to do with context and understanding the
music. There are lots of solos in the repertoire that are marked piano or mezzo-piano that
really have to be played more than that, just because they are more thickly scored.
TS: Since the orchestra audition committee is usually comprised of different members of
the orchestra, do you think they listen for different things than a clarinetist would listen
for in an audition?
LC: Yes, I think so. Again I don’t think there is any percentage in trying to second-
guess that. For one thing because of the screen, you don’t know who it is anyway. You
just have to give it your best shot and hope that it will connect with somebody who is
listening.
TS: Do you think that the members of the committees from different sections of the
orchestra just look at the page and expect to hear what is on the page or do they go more
for what they have heard in the past or what they are used to in the context of the
orchestra?
LC: Again I don’t that it is possible to second-guess that. You are dealing with any
number of individual points of view, and a violist is going to listen differently from a
percussionist is going to listen differently from a horn player. So, I don’t think it is a
consideration.
TS: Of course, one of the pieces that is always asked on an audition is the exposition of
the Mozart Clarinet Concerto. What do you listen for when you listen to someone play
this? Should they play soloistically or be more concerned with the details?
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LC: To begin with, definitely soloistically, because it’s a concerto. I find the biggest
equalizer is just the solidity of rhythm within the first three phrases. So many people,
although they can play it very well, under hold long notes, rush rests, don’t ever establish
a strong inner pulse. So, I think that is real important, to say nothing about the
attractiveness of the sound and the appropriateness of the style. But, the rhythm is
something that transcends all listeners, everyone understands that one thing and agree on
that, so it is really important to nail that from the very first sound you make.
TS: What about all the changes in the new editions of the Concerto?
LC: Well, I have had the experience of preparing a student for an audition and having
him come back and say, “ They liked it okay, but they said I played a wrong note in the
Mozart.” You know the one.
TS: Yes, the F-natural.
LC: So, that being said, I think you have to play with conviction what you believe the
piece should sound like, and I think that is an extreme example, I don’t think that would
be unacceptable in too many places. This happened to be an audition in Japan. I think
they were just a little rigid about it.
TS: Moving on to some of the excerpts, is there anything that you would tell a student
who is preparing an audition to do differently from the way you would play the following
excerpts in the orchestra. The first one is Beethoven Sixth Symphony from letter K to the
end.
LC: My experience with that one is that very many players when they begin the tutti
forte part at K really blast and play with a harsh sound and articulation, which doesn’t set
up the rest of the solo very well. The other question is the dynamics, because the
dynamics start with piano and there is no other dynamic change until forte on the
dominant 7th chord. So, I always coach my students to fill that in, in other words, making
a little crescendo through the sequences to lead to the forte, so that is not necessarily
subito forte. And then the fortes that follow at the end in the tonic chord repetition
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[sings] actually diminish, so that the biggest one is the third one from the end, the third
forte.
TS: In the context of the orchestra you have strings underneath you, so you have to judge
everything based on the strings.
LC: Yes, and it is also a good idea to be pretty full on the loudest forte, so that you can
make a discernible diminuendo without getting too risky. The other thing that happens is
that because of the diminuendo, the articulation sometimes gets later and later, and it
sounds like a ritard, which doesn’t work musically, because the momentum continues
after you finish.
TS: In the Second Movement [of Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony], the counting is always
a big factor. In an audition, how important is counting accurately? Because you don’t
have a conductor, do you have little leeway?
LC: I think there is a little leeway, but very little, because everyone will be simulating
mentally the overall context. In other words, unless it is someone in the orchestra who
has never played that piece like a percussionist, everyone is hearing the string
accompaniment to the solo in his[/her] mind. Unless it is really off by a whole beat, I
think if it’s a little off, it’s acceptable, but if it’s a lot, it’s not.
TS: How about the use of rubato in a slower movement, like the Beethoven’s Sixth,
since you don’t have a conductor, once again would that be something that would
fluctuate, that would have a little more freedom?
LC: If rubato is used, and it should be in those solos, it should be within the context of a
steady pulse and very convincingly done. Otherwise it just sounds phoney. It has to
sound natural.
TS: Moving on with Beethoven’s Sixth, the third movement, there is the question about
the tonguing part of the scherzo with the arpeggio coming down from the high “c,” [c3]
in an audition is there any leeway in the tonguing?
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LC: I would say the only criticism you might get is from another clarinet player. For
anybody else, if it sounds effective, it would be acceptable to insert slurs. Also very
much for me, if I were playing an audition, it depends on what the tempo is. I would
definitely opt for a manageable tempo, given the choice, unless there is something
indicated.
TS: Right, so in audition, since you have control over the tempo, unlike in the orchestra,
it is better to choose a manageable tempo, and if anything, err on the side of playing it a
little bit slower.
LC: Yes, they can always ask you to play it faster. Of course, you don’t want to be
ridiculous either. It has to kind of work. There is a range, and, of course, from
Beethoven’s symphonies, traditionally there has been a huge range of tempi that don’t
match Beethoven’s indicated marks.
TS: If you are playing Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony in the orchestra, and the conductor
is taking a very quick tempo, what do you do about the articulation?
LC: For me, I just add slurs. And you know Mendelssohn’s “Scherzo,” every individual
has a threshold. I think there’s not much percentage in attempting what you know is not
going to come out. I think it is far better for the passage to sound well and maybe not be
totally accurate to the articulations that are written. But, that is my justification for
having a rather slow tongue anyway! [Laugh]
TS: Keeping in the tonguing mode, Beethoven’s Four, the final movement, the couple
measures of tonguing, any thoughts on that?
LC: It’s a lot easier when you play it in the context, because you are doubled with the
first violins. You are not all alone like the bassoon is. Again for me it is a judgment call
depending on the particular tempo that you end up playing it. Even when I am able to
articulate the whole thing, I do insert a slur starting on the sixteenth note before the grace
note encompassing the grace note and going into the sixteenth note after the grace note,
and it’s very difficult, if impossible, to tell that that’s not articulated because of the grace
note. So, I have always slurred over that bar line.
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TS: Actually at an audition there are certain excerpts that no matter how fast you play
them, they will always say, “Can you play it a little bit faster.” Every once in a while
that one will come up, and it is usually a bassoonist that will ask.
LC: Because they double-tongue it.
TS: Right. What should a clarinetist do in that case?
LC: I would tongue the first four and then do two and two and then do the stuff with the
grace note at the bar line [as described above] and do another two and two in the next to
last beat.
TS: Basically they are asking you to play it faster as a test to see what you would do in
that situation?
LC: Well, that could be, yes.
TS: The Mendelssohn “Scherzo,” how about that concerning playing it at an audition
versus playing it in the orchestra?
LC: Again it is far easier in the orchestral context, because when you begin, you are in
the middle of a lively voiced woodwind texture with the flutes on top, and then you
emerge for a couple of bars. I am happiest when the tempo is moderate to the extent that
I can articulate everything, but I have gotten used to knowing when I need to put in a
couple of slurs here and there. I guess my advice on an audition would be to choose that
more or less moderate tempo, say about 86 to 88, where you can manage to articulate as
written. I think a lot of players in an audition make the mistake of playing too short, too
heavy, too loud. It needs to be really piano; it needs to leggiero and not a machine gun
style of staccato, but a more rounded staccato.
TS: How about in the orchestra as far as dynamics? Would they expect you in an
audition to play louder or softer in this excerpt?
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LC: I think you need replicate as closely as you can what the orchestral context would
dictate. Then again if they have a question about it, they can always ask you to play it
louder or play it softer, and you know this happens all the time.
TS: How about Brahms’ Three, the slow movement? In audition this is really pulling an
instrument out of context, because you are not in that choral situation. How should one
approach that solo?
LC: There are a couple of major things that can go wrong and often do. The tuning
between the long “b” [b1] and the throat “a” [a1] and also the match of quality; these often
are off by quite a bit. I think a lot of players have the habit of resting the clarinet bell
between their knees, so they end up with a flat muted “b” [b1] and then they neglect to be
consistent with their wind flow shape, so they get a difference in quality between the “b”
[b1] and the “a” [a1] as well. The combination of those two things can really distort the
whole solo. The other aspect is the rhythmic underpinning. It is very easy to hurry the
first two eighth notes which immediately gives an uncomfortable rhythmic feel. Then in
the first phrase, the next to the last note, the “e,” [e2] is often under held, and as a result
ends in not exactly in the right place, which again makes a very uncomfortable feeling for
the listener.
TS: How about the slurs on the part [sings]?
LC: My opinion is that they should be observed precisely as in the part. Where they are
re-articulated they should be in a style that is complementary to the opening -- in others
words, not marcato, but very legato in the tonguing. But, I disagree with adding slurs
there, because Brahms was always very precise in that. I had a chance once to look at the
reproduction of the manuscript, and it is exactly that way. There is no question that that
is what he intended.
TS: Any difference with the dynamics? I know it is very precise where it is marked
piano and where it is marked pianissimo and so on. When you are playing it is in the
orchestra, you have the wind choral, are you just part of the choral or do you bring out the
solo line?
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LC: It should be a blend. I think it should be an equal blend, and if you have sensitive
colleagues, you can make that happen. But even if one person is playing too loudly, you
have to match that, and it gets all out of whack.
TS: Capriccio Espagnol, the very opening solo. Again any differences do you see, if
any, between playing it in an orchestra versus playing it an audition?
LC: There are several questions that come up here. The question of whether to use a trill
fingering or a regular fingering for the “d’s” [d3] in between the “c’s.” [c3] I think
because of the indication of con forza and the dynamic that I think it is a little more
exciting if you use a regular fingering; it’s a little more snappy. And the articulation on
the two and two, I think should be very crisp and very precise and very well supported.
And when you get to the trills, some people make a thing about requiring that all the trills
have double trills. I think that sometimes that is to the detriment of the rhythmic solidity,
because making sure all those notes get in there makes the up beat a little late sometimes.
So, I do a combination of single trills and double trills. I definitely do double trills on the
“g’s” [g3] that are slurred to the “e’s,” [e3] I think in the second part of the solo, so that
note is filled up all the way to the end. It is really important to get the forceful character,
the forza.
TS: When one chooses a tempo in audition, of course you don’t have the luxury of
choosing the tempo in the orchestra, is it better to choose a slightly slower tempo and
capture the essence or to play at a faster tempo, but machine-like?
LC: Well, I think you’ve answered that question. You know if you play with a range of
conductors with a range of repertoire, you are going to get a lot of different tempi and a
lot of different results. So, the answer to that is, it is possible to play it a little bit slower
if you are playing with more character and better style. Fast is not necessarily good.
TS: Concerning the slow opening of Sibelius One, what sort of things at an audition
would you be looking for? I know that intonation is always difficult, but also you don’t
have the underpinning timpani roll.
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LC: Well, that’s not as big a factor as the relative intonation of your own instrument.
Quite frankly I don’t think I consciously relate to the pitch of the timpani roll, which nine
times out of ten is not very dependable anyway. So, I think the placement of those “b-
flats” related to the opening “d” and then the “g’s” it’s real important, and also I think it’s
critical to have an awareness of how well your timbre matches from the bottom of the
second register into the throat register. Then the half note triplets that come near the end
before the fermata really should be exactly in time and not dragged out. It’s part of the
development of the line.
TS: In an audition is it better to use your own parts or the parts supplied to you when you
walk out on stage?
LC: My opinion is that the necessity of having your own parts in front of you shows
insecurity. You should know this stuff well enough that you could even play it from
memory. To hear someone shuffling around trying to find their part, you know audition
committees get a little bit restless and a little bit impatient. I think you should have the
ability to go right through the orchestra’s audition book and be quite comfortable with
playing their parts. And usually they are quite clearly marked as to where to start and
where to end; if you are playing from your own part, you don’t know that. In other
words, what I am saying that it is a good idea to have the ability to play from the parts
that are presented to you. I mean what can be on your part – a fingering?
TS: What if there is a slight discrepancy between the part you have been practicing and
the part that is on the stand at the audition? What comes to mind is Stravinsky’s
Firebird, and they have the extra two measures.
LC: I don’t even know what to suggest on that, because that scholarship is relatively
recent. Some people don’t even know about it.
[Regarding other discrepancies] I would refer you to Pete Hadcock’s book on that. He
has quite a long several paragraphs, and he’s done some research. It’s a good a source as
any.
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TS: At auditions, do you think people should change equipment or reeds? In an
orchestra performance you do have the luxury of changing reeds for different piece, for
example, play one reed for the Mendelssohn “Scherzo” and pop on other one for a
Mahler Symphony. But, what about auditions?
LC: I think it is risky for a couple of reasons. It takes extra time, and audition
committees are not necessarily patient. Switching reeds in the middle of any kind of
performance is always risky, because you might not get exactly the right placement on
the mouthpiece. A reed may have dried up a little bit; it could be a little warped. I
almost never change reeds.
Another thing is when you switch back and forth between and “a” and “b-flat,” I don’t
think it is necessary to warm up the instrument all over again. I think it is a sign of
insecurity.
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APPENDIX D
Telephone interview with Burt Hara
Principal Clarinetist, Minnesota Orchestra
Interview Completed October 28, 2004
TS: Before we start, Burt, you were also Principal Clarinetist with the Philadelphia
Orchestra for a while?
BH: Yes, I was, for one year.
TS: Ok, and if you wouldn’t mind, where did you study and who were some of your
teachers?
BH: I grew up in Los Angeles, and my first teacher was a student at USC, Michael
Arnold. After about two and a half years, I moved to Yehuda Gilad. I think he had just
graduated from USC. He is ten years older than I, so I was thirteen, and he was about
twenty-three. He is now the head of the department at USC, but at the time, he was a
student teaching at the USC Community School. I started studying with him, and six
months later I won a competition to solo with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. I soloed
with them when I was fourteen. When I was sixteen, I switched teachers, and I studied
with Mitchell Lurie my senior year in high school. After high school, I went to
Northwestern University where I studied with Clark Brody full time, and had four or five
lessons with Robert Marcellus that year. The summer after Northwestern, I went to the
Music Academy of the West for the summer of ’81 and the summer of ’82. After my
first year at Northwestern, I went to the Curtis Institute of Music where I studied with
Donald Montanaro from ’81 to ’84. So my principal teachers were Donald Montanaro,
Clark Brody, Mitchell Lurie, and Yehuda Gilad.
TS: So quite a diversity.
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BH: Yes.
TS: Well, as you know, this is generally on the comparison between different excerpts
and how one should prepare for an audition compared to how one actually plays the
excerpts in the orchestra. Generally what are the main differences that you have found,
maybe in your teaching or in your own experience, of playing an excerpt for an audition
versus how you would perform it in the orchestra.
BH: What I emphasize the most when playing excerpts for an audition is finding the right
tempi. In the orchestra, I am not the person who gets to choose the tempi. So, regarding
taking liberties in the orchestra that I don’t take in an audition, I play the excerpts the
same way in the audition as I would in the orchestra, except for certain dynamics. In the
orchestra, if I am playing a solo where I am competing against a lot of other instruments,
I have to play louder to get the same effect. For example, take the second movement of
Brahms’ Third Symphony. In an audition, I don’t have to play as loudly because I am
not competing against the bassoons and second clarinet in a chorale setting. Knowing
that the excerpt should sound soft and dolce, in the audition I play softer, making it easier
to sound dolce. It is like the difference between playing the Mozart Quintet and the
Clarinet Concerto. In many ways the sense of the piece is the same, but because of the
number of instruments competing against you, you cannot be as intimate in the Concerto
as you can in the Quintet. I feel the same way in an audition. I emphasize the
pianissimos more in an audition because logistically, I can. It helps because then I don’t
have to play as loudly in the fortes and my tone will be less likely to spread.
TS: If somebody was auditioning for the Minnesota Orchestra or say the Cleveland
Orchestra, do you think they should run out and buy the recordings of that orchestra and
try to play them like that? Do you agree with that, do you think they should listen and try
to sound like the school of clarinet playing they are auditioning for?
BH: Well, I would do it for a different reason. I would do something like that to get the
conductor’s tempi or to get the tempi that the orchestra is accustomed to. I think the most
important thing in an audition is to capture the character or the essence of the excerpt. I
find that tempo is the most important thing to accomplish that. When I have heard
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students playing excerpts and their tempi are fluctuating measure to measure or even
within a measure, that is a sign that they have not found the tempo that captures the
essence of the piece.
TS: Here we have an audition, and the audition committee is comprised of a lot of
different sections of the orchestra. I am not sure how it is in Minnesota, I know in some
of the other orchestras, it would include the principals of the wind section, plus maybe
some others, possibly a percussionist or the concertmaster, depending on what opening it
is. Do you think they listen differently? Do they listen in context to how the excerpts
would be played in the orchestra or do they just look at the page and that’s what they
expect to hear?
BH: Well, I think there is a little bit of both, and that depends upon the audition
committee; different orchestras listen for different things. First of all, I think audition
committees might say, “The former player never could tongue fast,” so first on their
agenda may be to find someone who can. There is a certain assumption that people
auditioning will be able to do what the former player did well, and the committee is
trying to fill in the blanks with those things that the former player did not do as well.
Does that make any sense?
TS: Yes, it does.
BH: The way I would answer that question is to put it the other way around. How do I
listen to an oboe audition? How do I listen to a flute audition? There are certain solos in
the repertoire that I have always wanted to play, but I can’t because I am not an oboist, I
am not a flutist. I want to hear it played the way that I would want to play it. I am going
to live vicariously through whomever I choose to sit in front of me for the next twenty
years. I would think that the oboist is doing the same thing for me. Looking at it that
way, I would say to myself that I need to play Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony so
someone on the committee is saying, “this is what I want to listen to for the next twenty
years.” The things that are really difficult technically for the clarinet, they care less about
them. Yes, they want it clean; I mean if you can’t play your part, they are going to have
reservations. They are not going to want to stop in rehearsals because the clarinet player
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cannot play his part. But, it is those few excerpts, take the oboe solo in the second
movement of the Brahms’ Violin Concerto for example. I have always wanted to play
that solo, but I can’t because I don’t play the oboe. It is more important to me that
someone plays a solo in a way that touches me, in a way that I would want to have played
it. I would think that would hold true the other way around. If someone were to come in
and play the Mendelssohn “Scherzo” from the Midsummer Night’s Dream ten ticks faster
on the clarinet than I as an oboist could play it, what does that do for me? I mean that’s
great, that’s wonderful, I like the fact that they can, but it is not necessarily as big a
priority.
TS: One question as far as the audition committee, do they ever confer with you on what
is customary? For example and we will get to it later, Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony,
the last movement, the tonguing passage. If somebody threw in a couple of slurs, would
the committee go, “Oh, it is all tongued, it needs to be all tongued,” or do they sometimes
ask your opinion, saying, “Is it customary for people to slur this note or that note?”
BH: Most of the audition committee has probably added slurs, and their predecessor was
adding slurs, so I don’t think that would necessarily be held against them. If I can’t play
the last movement of Beethoven Fourth at 160 without adding slurs, I would play at a
tempo slightly slower, also slower than my absolute top speed, knowing that they may
ask me to play it faster, and I could give it to them faster. I would probably play it with
slurs added, but not all slur two, tongue two. If they wanted it faster, I would be able to
speed it up a notch. I always prefer that someone play cleanly to someone play all
articulated but sloppy or out of character.
TS: So, strive more for musicality.
BH: Exactly. Now there is a point. If I hear a candidate play Mendelssohn “Scherzo” at
76 to the dotted quarter, I know that person does not have the fastest tongue. It does not
have to 96 or 100, but 76 is just too slow. There is a point where people will have
questions about a person’s ability to tongue at a certain tempo. When I think of the
orchestras that I have played, I don’t know of an orchestra where every single member of
the wind section has a blatantly fast tongue. So, I don’t think they would necessarily
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expect the same from me. They are not robots on the other side of the screen. They look
at the tempo markings, and they know that 90 percent of the time they don’t play those
tempi.
TS: Yes, and if you ever find an orchestra where everyone can tongue at that blazing
speed, please warn everybody! Moving on, as we know, the Mozart Concerto is asked on
every single audition. Usually it is the first thing that you walk in and play through the
arpeggios at the end. What are your reasons for asking that piece on an audition? Is it
just so someone can warm up or there is more to it?
BH: No, there is a lot more to it. As far as quality of articulation, intonation, rhythm; it is
such a pristine piece that shows everything. I haven’t actually listened to a professional
clarinet audition. Maybe I would hear a hundred Mozart Concerti and would say, “Wow,
they all sound good, what’s the point?” But I have yet to hear a Mozart Concerto that I
thought sounded absolutely perfect. Not perfect as far as every “i” dotted and “t”
crossed, but one that absolutely captured the essence of Mozart; one that made me forget
that I was listening to an audition.
TS: I know there are so many different interpretations. Look how many different
recordings there are of the Mozart. I guess one of the questions when you approach it in
an audition, should you perform it any differently than you would if you were the soloist?
A couple of things that come to mind is all the added embellishments and now all the
different editions with, for example, the basset horn going down instead of going up. Of
course, at an audition one wouldn’t bring a basset clarinet, but there is the new Sabina
Meyer edition where a lot the runs are broken so they continue low and go all the way up.
Would it be detrimental to a person auditioning to play in that way, instead of the
traditional Marcellus, straight ahead edition?
BH: If embellishments were added in a tasteful way, I would not penalize someone for
that. I would be hard pressed to say that I would give someone two thumbs up saying,
“Wow, that embellishment was so incredibly beautiful, I want that person.” If someone
did it just to stand out, I don’t think that would happen. Personally, I don’t embellish the
Concerto because I find the piece is so pristine, and I don’t think that anything I could
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offer would improve it, so I am the wrong person to ask. As far as changes in register,
that doesn’t bother me. I don’t need to hear Marcellus’s recording played back to me at
an audition for me to say, “Yes, that is the person for the job.”
TS: Would you recommend your students then to approach the Mozart when they play it
at an audition, just to play it as you would as soloist?
BH: That’s what I think. You know my whole feeling about auditions. I don’t believe
one needs to take a lot of liberties to make a piece play. I feel that there is a certain
“truth” to music, and if you pick the right tempo, and know your role at that point in the
music, you do not have to deviate from what is on the page. It’s funny, when I was
seventeen and studied with Marcellus, I wasn’t that way. When I heard him play or
would hear him teach, there were times when I thought, “yes, but I want to be more
artistic than that.” The older I get, the more I realize the music itself is so pure that it is
not necessary if other things are in place.
TS: Do you find that with other members of orchestras, that their maturity comes
through, and you can tell that they have played excerpts so many times that it’s just
natural the way they play it, next to somebody that sounds studied and a little bit
contrived?
BH: More the other way around. I hear when a student is just trying to dot every “I” and
cross every “t,” but doesn’t pull the music off the page. When I hear someone capture
the essence of the excerpt, I forget the fact that I am listening to an audition. Then I
know I would want to sit next to them for the next twenty years. You asked if I were
going to audition for the Cleveland Orchestra, would I take out old recordings of the
Cleveland Orchestra and try to copy them? I would. If I were auditioning for Giulini, I
would listen to Giulini recordings, and would probably play slower tempi at my audition.
But, if I tried to play like Robert Marcellus in an audition., all I would offer is a cheap
imitation of Robert Marcellus. The only thing I do better than anybody else is play like
me. If I play in a way that doesn’t interest that orchestra or that committee, why would I
want to play in that orchestra? I would be miserable if I had to be someone that I am not.
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So, yes, there is a question of being able to pay the mortgage, but I would not want to be
a musician that I am not. Why would I want to spend my life doing that?
TS: I have a list of a couple of the more popular excerpts that even if someone were
auditioning for a regional orchestra or even a community orchestra, these excerpts are on
there, and I think most people have studied, I don’t know if you can ever study an excerpt
too much, but Beethoven’s Sixth comes to mind -- the ending, the infamous K to the end.
If you were teaching this to someone, is there anything that you would tell a student to
play at an audition, because I have heard it many different ways with people doing it with
crescendos at the end on recordings and then doing the taper down, are there different
ways that you would approach this?
BH: I approach Beethoven, actually most music, the same way, not from the vantage
point of a clarinetist, but from that of a conductor. It is an issue of pacing more than
anything. The crescendo, let’s see what measure would that be, where it goes c [c2],f-
sharp[f#3], a[a3] [sings descending arpeggio figure] where the whole orchestra comes in?
The orchestra adds the tension that you need for the resolution, but if you think of the
pacing, [sings end of the excerpt], you resolve most of the issues that people have with
the diminuendo and slowing down. If you were the conductor, there is no way you would
slow down the diminuendo. We as teachers say, “Don’t slow down,” but the question is,
why? If I were conducting the piece, I wouldn’t slow down. I wouldn’t say, “Don’t slow
down, because Robert Marcellus doesn’t want you to slow down.” I’d say, “Listen to the
piece, and the excerpt in context. There’s no reason that it should slow down.” As far as
the crescendo, it is more important to get the sound of the dolce [sings arpeggiated part],
because you’ve got the whole orchestra to help you. The whole sense of the excerpt at
letter K is like a ride in the country. It’s the Pastorale Symphony after all, it has to be
pastoral.
TS: It can’t all of sudden get to K and become the clarinet excerpt.
BH: Right, and the quality of the articulation. I hear about people taking an audition,
and getting comments back from the committee. For the same excerpt, one person said
the articulation was too short and another person said the articulation was too long,
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conflicting comments about the same excerpt at the same audition. What the audition
committee is saying is the articulation did not capture the essence of the piece. In the
case of Beethoven’s Sixth at letter K, if the articulation is too short, it doesn’t have a
pastoral, effortless feeling to it, and if it is too long, it might not sound playful and easy
going. So regarding articulation, one should choose articulation that captures the mood.
TS: Right. Moving on in the Beethoven, the second movement, of course, there is the
big long solo starting at D, and this is the one with the arpeggios going up and down. As
we all know that is very treacherous in an audition just because of the counting –
miscounting or stretching beats too long. Any difference in the approach here or again is
it just about capturing the essence of the entire work?
BH: The tricky part about the second movement is playing the grace notes and the
sixteenth notes in a way that sounds easy and effortless, but in tempo. It is hard to play
the grace notes in a way that is fast enough to be in tempo, but slow enough to sound
lyrical. When I played it with Klaus Tennstedt, he wanted it out of rhythm, because he
was more interested in lyricism than perfect rhythm. I am more forgiving than others
about counting rests perfectly after two or three beats. When I play in the orchestra and
hear the orchestra play, it is very easy to count those rests. If I am in the audition and my
heart is racing at 150 beats per minute, it is more difficult to count perfectly. I was at a
master class of Richie Hawley’s a couple summers ago, and he was talking about
subdividing sixteenth notes versus the eighth notes[sings]. That’s a great way, with
smaller increments, to prevent yourself from rushing and counting too fast. The counting
thing started from someone saying, “Does this person know the excerpt or not?” We
should not expect a candidate to read the mind of the person behind the screen beating
time or conducting the piece to know whether it is exactly right on. If it is blatantly off,
an entire beat or two, obviously that’s another story.
TS: To back up a second, you were mentioning about Tennstedt, if somebody came in
and played that excerpt so musically, but at the same time slowed the beat and stretched
the beat here and there, played a little rubato, do you think that would be detrimental
during an audition?
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BH: It would depend on how they did it. You know I am not really giving a fair answer
to that, but I…
TS: I guess what I am trying to ask is, if you could tell that someone was just incredibly
musical, and I am not saying they distorted the rhythm so much that you couldn’t
recognize what they are playing, but they let up on a measure to bring out something and
put their own personality, even though they wouldn’t get a chance to do that in an
orchestra, because the conductor would get the final say. Would that be detrimental or
would it be better to play it just as it is on the page? Or should you go for the way you
feel and you are convinced it should go? I am probably making no sense.
BH: No, you are making absolute sense. It is a difficult question to answer, because you
are asking for a general answer, and it would depend how they did it. I would prefer
someone to play the second movement of Beethoven’s Sixth and be slightly out of
rhythm, but have the grace notes be lyrical. I would prefer that to someone who played
the grace notes quickly with absolutely no enhancement to the musical line just to try to
get it in rhythm.
TS: Ok, that answers my question.
BH: There is a point where I think, “That’s a little ridiculous; you can’t do that.” There
is a point in which I can tell someone does not understand what is going on under the
solo, and there is a way to play a solo where you are not exactly with...When I was a
student at Curtis, I remember listening to Jorge Bolet play a recital. While his left hand
played the accompaniment figure, his right hand played the melody, but his hands did not
play together. He did that intentionally to give a sense of rubato, but you knew the right
hand knew what the left hand was doing. He would delay the first note, where it didn’t
line up exactly with the left hand, just enough to make it sound like someone else was
singing the melody. But you can tell the difference between someone who understands
what is going on underneath the melody and someone who doesn’t.
TS: Moving on, the little solo in the “Scherzo” of Beethoven’s Sixth, and this is the one
where the clarinet comes in after the oboe and has the famous [sings solo], there’s always
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a question about that big run, the arpeggio going down. Again this is an articulation
issue, and from your previous answers I can almost guess what you are going to say, but
would it be wrong to add a few slurs here and there depending on again the tempo or is
there any difference in the way to approach that whole solo, because I know in the
orchestra, you can actually be a little more playful and play out a little more than you
probably can at an audition, or should you?
BH: Well, I think the character of the solo should sound like you are playing out, but you
may not have to play it as loudly. In the orchestra I do more crescendo on the descending
eight notes to the subito piano on the g[g] simply because I have to. But so much of that
is the character of [sings] the first measure or two. If you capture the right character
there, the rest takes care of itself. As far as adding slurs, specifically with that solo, I
would question adding more than one. If this were an issue, I would recommend playing
it slower. In general, when I play auditions, I play everything a notch slower. I do that
because I am assuming that I am going to be nervous and my heart will be racing, so it
just keeps me from getting derailed. I can feel really on top of it. If I am asked to play it
faster, I know I can.
TS: Yes, that is always a good thing to do, because I know people that have gone in [an
audition] and really have lost it, especially on some of the quicker excerpts, because of
that. Moving on to Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, the “Scherzo.” I know
on the few audition committees that I have sat on, this is the one that not only perks the
ears of clarinetists, but also flutists, as far as how to play the articulation and the
dynamics. How softly do you have to start the “Scherzo,” because the passage is marked
piano at the very beginning? Is it ok to play out a little bit more or should you really try
to keep in the background?
BH: I play that solo softer at auditions than I do in the orchestra. Alone onstage, that
solo sounds louder than when you are in the orchestra. The whole point is that you r are
trying to capture the color of the piece, and the color should sound light and airy, easy
and effortless. When no one else is on stage, especially in a live hall, it is going to sound
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much louder. Inevitably, every audition committee is going to ask you to play it softer,
so I would say make sure to play if softly the first time.
TS: Ok. What about the articulation? The way it’s marked, like the 16th notes, I’ve heard
people play them staccatissimo, but really they don’t have any articulation under them, as
far as on the [sings]. Do you think they should be short or should they be of some length,
so they don’t sound too pecky.
BH: Well, you just answered with the same answer I was going to give you. You have
to define staccatissimo for me. If you play it fast enough, you cannot play it too long.
When I play [sings], I don’t try to play it short, but I think it sounds short. I play the
eighth notes as short as the sixteenth notes. [Sings] That makes everything sound short
without getting pecky, because pecky doesn’t sound like nymphs dancing around. You
don’t want it to sound like a machine gun. That’s a case where someone might say the
articulation is too short, or the articulation is too this or too that, but it is really a question
of whether it captures the same character as the flute? When you think of flute
articulation, can a flute play [sings very short] pecky? No! Why would you want the
clarinet under it to sound pecky? So my answer to your question is...staccatissimo, if it
doesn’t sound pecky, great, but I don’t give someone extra credit for that. It has to sound
effortless.
TS: How about the speed of the “Scherzo,” because again in the orchestra you don’t
have any control. What would happen if a conductor came in, and he goes, “Ok, here’s
the tempo, and it’s going to be 110,” do you just have to make do with it?
BH: Absolutely.
TS: You can’t revolt?
BH: Well, look I’ll play it a certain way. This is probably what would happen, I
mean110, I would be lucky if I could play it at 100. If a conductor were to say that to me,
and I would play it, I would say to myself this is the character he wants, how do I go
about getting this character. Personally I am going to add a whole bunch of slurs to make
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it at that tempo. So, I do that, and then if the conductor says, “Do you need all those
slurs, and I say, “Yes at this tempo I do.”
TS: So, there could be some give and take.
BH: Well all I can say, you pick your tempo; you are going to have to live with it. I will
the best I can, but this is what I can do to make it sound like what you want. I will say
this with the Mendelssohn “Scherzo,” I have probably played it ten times, I don’t know,
I’m guessing maybe more, maybe less, and I would say eight times out of ten, I have
played it slower than I would in an audition. Actually in memory I can only think of one
time that I played it faster than I would in an audition. And I don’t play it that fast; I only
play it at 88. I am much more concerned with rhythm. I am much more concerned with
quality of articulation and rhythm in the trill passage.
TS: Ok. Let’s jump ahead a little bit to Rimsky Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol. At
auditions, sometimes they’ll start right on the solo, and sometimes they’ll start four or
five bars before the solo, which I think can throw some people’s breathing off. When
you play it in the orchestra, first of all do you play the entire opening before the solo or
do you drop out a beat or two before to get a nice big breath?
BH: I leave out the eighth note before the solo, that’s it.
TS: Ok. It is marked con forza. How loud does one really have to play it? I mean in the
orchestra you probably have to play that extremely loud. But, in an audition, should you
back away from it some so that you get a richer sound or should you just project out, so
that the committee can tell you have that presence.
BH: No, that is a case where I do not play as loud in the audition, but I play it with the
same character. It would be like playing con forza in the Brahms Quintet versus con
forza in the orchestra. The question is, did this person capture the character of the piece?
I play Capriccio Espagnol differently at Carnegie Hall than I do at Avery Fisher Hall,
because of the different acoustics. I do different things with my sound to play con forza
in a small recital hall versus a huge concert hall. You make adjustments. The point is,
you make them without thinking about them, without talking about them, and you make
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them because you’re saying, “this is the character of the piece and this is what I need to
bring out.” You are not doing anything differently except you have less competition
when you are alone playing an audition. You can get con forza but you do not have to
fight against the sound of an entire orchestra.
TS: That is a good question about auditions in general. A lot of times you are placed in a
situation where you don’t really a chance to warm up in the hall or the audition room.
What happens if you walk in, and you find that the hall is really live, and you had put on
a reed that is too hard for that acoustic. Would it be proper to just to take a time out and
switch reeds, to put your best foot forward, or do you just have to go with what you have?
BH: I am not one to switch reeds. In the orchestra, I use the same reed for the whole
week. When I choose a reed, I know what it can and cannot do. If I change midstream, I
don’t know what to expect. I have no issue with people who switch reeds on a regular
basis. If someone were to take a second to switch reeds in an audition, it would not
bother me at all. Now if they switched reeds between every excerpt, and I were sitting
there waiting to have lunch, I would get a bit impatient. When I auditioned in Minnesota,
the principal horn, Kendall Betts said later that it sounded like I changed reeds, because
in subsequent rounds, it sounded better and better. It was obvious that I got more
accustomed to the hall and did what I needed to do to make it sound good in the hall.
TS: I know that sometimes there are people who walk out with a different reed for every
piece, and then again that delays the process, and one doesn’t always have that option of
switching reeds.
BH: When I pick a reed for an audition, I want a reed that will play Mendelssohn’s
“Scherzo,” Rachmaninoff’s Second [Symphony], and Beethoven’s Sixth [Symphony]. If
I can get a reed that can do all three of those excerpts, then it has to be pretty much
middle of the road. If I try to pick a reed that is only going to make Rachmaninoff’s
Second sound my best, I will probably crash and burn on Mendelssohn’s “Scherzo.”
TS: I have another general question. I think most orchestras have their own set of parts
for most of the major works. I know that when I was at Juilliard we had the opportunity
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to use some of the New Philharmonic parts, and we were told not to erase under any
circumstance, because they were Toscanini markings. If you are at an audition, and they
put a part in front of you and it has, for example, breath marks in a place where you
personally don’t normally breathe, do you think you should observe the markings in those
parts or should you do what you have practiced.
BH: As far as a breath mark, I would do it as I practiced it. As far as different notes, I
would ask. Ask the proctor, say in measure so and so, this part has a note…. I have rarely
seen a case where it isn’t common knowledge. But, that is what I would do.
TS: What comes to mind is Stravinsky’s Firebird; the added little run that was in the
flute part. I have seen where that has been put on an audition, and people are surprised
and say that is not really in the part – do I play it, do I not play it. So, if that is thrown at
you, it seems like one should just ask the proctor. And I guess the other thing is we have
all the excerpt books, we have the McGinnis books, the International Edition, and we
have the Bonade book. Of course, the Bonade book is his interpretations on how to play.
Do you think that if somebody walked in and they were using the Bonade book, that that
would be detrimental or do you think a person should obtain the orchestra part and work
from them?
BH: There are many misprints in the International McGinnis Excerpt Book, even a
missing measure in the Ninth Symphony of Shostokovich. In the Bonade book, he does
not differentiate between what is original and what is Bonade. The short answer to your
question is, yes, I would hold that against them. Now, they can bring any book they
want, and if they correct the mistakes then I don’t care at all. If someone is using the
Bonade book, and obviously never heard the piece, I would have serious issues. You
asked, “Do you use your own music or do you use their music at the audition?” I have
never taken an audition where I didn’t have my music basically memorized. It takes just
a moment to look over their music and see if there are any major discrepancies, and then
play off their part. One of the things that I cannot stand is when people use their own
music, a proctor will say, “Play from letter A to B,” but they end up playing more
because they don’t have the brackets in their own part. After listening for many hours at
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an audition, it gets old very quickly, especially if you don’t think that person is playing
well in the first place.
TS: Then six minutes that you are required to listen seems like six hours.
BH: Exactly. The last thing you want is to have to scream, “That’s enough, thank you.”
You don’t want to do that, because you are afraid of psychologically scarring that person
who may think, “Oh my goodness, they hate me, they are stopping me.” You avoid
doing that, try to be polite, and then they continue playing for another ten or fifteen
seconds. That is my personal peeve about people using their own parts.
TS: Also the amount of time between excerpts. You expect that a person might take a
few seconds between excerpts to change mood and character, but even in performance,
for example right before you play the solo from Rachmaninoff’s Second, you don’t have
time to meditate for several minutes.
BH: Right. I wouldn’t say that I would encourage you to hurry and go from excerpt to
excerpt, but there is something about someone just going from one to the other. I mean
not immediately, but pretty quickly and just nailing something. It is a statement, “You
can put anything in front of me, and I will be able to play it. I am that prepared, and I am
that good.” As a committee member, when I see these long pregnant pauses I am
wondering, “What is going on? What is the problem?”
TS: They are trying to learn it [laugh].
BH: I am not even going that far. I am thinking what is going on psychologically with
this person? I think as one taking an audition, you gain momentum through the audition,
and if you are thinking, “Okay, Schubert Unfinished? Boom. Period. Now what do you
want to hear?”
TS: Yes. Well, that’s all the questions I have. Thank you very much.
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APPENDIX E
Telephone Interview with Ricardo Morales
Principal Clarinetist, The Philadelphia Orchestra
Interview Completed October 10, 2004
TS: At every audition the first thing they ask you is the Mozart Clarinet Concerto.
RM: Right.
TS: And it is usually the exposition. How would you recommend playing the Mozart
Clarinet Concerto at the audition as far as tempo, style?
RM: The expression should be measured in smoothness and dynamic contrast. It is
tricky, because everyone seems to have his or her own take on the piece. For auditions,
even though my own personal preference is a little more relaxed style to the piece, for
auditions it doesn’t work, because you are listening to a lot of people, so you need a more
solo approach to the piece. You have to take a slightly brisker tempo, between 116 –
132.
TS: How about some of the different editions. Should people stick to a more standard
edition, or could they add say the F-natural [sing]?
RM: Actually I would think the F-natural is the better choice musically speaking, and I
don’t think it’s that different. The committee would just be judgmental on musical
interest. Now if it is for say a second clarinet position, then I would not go too crazy with
changes.
TS: One excerpt that is always asked at an audition is the end of the first movement of
Beethoven’s Sixth, letter K to the end. When you are playing at an audition, what would
you aim for versus how you would play it in the orchestra?
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RM: If you start with too much of a forte, you will sound too aggressive at the audition.
You need to have a fullest sound you can produce without being aggressive, so you can
show the dynamic contrasts. I would say that my approach is that it always has to be a
beautiful sound, whether it is Beethoven’s Sixth or Miraculous Mandarin, you still need
to have substance.
TS: Overall would you say that you need to play things softer then you normally would at
an audition?
RM: No, you need to do both. Things have to be softer and louder. At the same time you
have to do it about eighty percent capacity, because there are certain excerpts like
Tchaikovsky’s Sixth, starting on the high E [e3] or the Mendelssohn “Scherzo” that you
need to have room to play softer if asked. It is also the same with tempo. If you play the
Mendelssohn, they could ask you to play it faster.
TS: How much should someone taking an audition adjust to the orchestra that they are
auditioning for? If someone was auditioning for the Philadelphia Orchestra should they
try to play like the orchestra’s recordings?
RM: No. No one ever knows who is listening. It is not like years ago when there was
one music director for a long length of time, like Szell and Ormandy.
TS: In the slow movement of Beethoven’s Sixth, how much rubato would be acceptable
at an audition?
RM: You have to do it in a way that the people who want to hear you be expressive and
free, you satisfy that concern, but at the same time not offend the other committee
members. There is unfortunately always a time beater in every audition [committee], so
the rubatos need to be minimal in some excerpts such as that one. More of just sprinkled
sugar on top of the phrase.
TS: Let us move on to another Beethoven symphony, Beethoven’s Fourth. Would you
say the same things about this slow movement as you did with the Sixth symphony?
M: Yes, there is no real difference. Just go for the musicality.
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TS: In the last movement, the tonguing passage, what are your comments on speed,
articulation….
RM: Do it as fast as you can play it beautifully. Always go for the beauty! If the
tonguing is way too slow, meaning that you can tongue the sixteenths at 120 or 126. I
think for this excerpt your safe from 136 upwards. Remember 136 is conservative. But it
always has to sound nice. There are many people who can tongue fast, but not
beautifully, so that’s useless. The dynamic before the solo is forte, so at the dolce you
could use a legato tongue, it doesn’t need to be extremely short. So if you play it more
legato, you can add a slur and get away with it better.
TS: If someone auditioned for you and could not tongue it fast and had to add a slur,
would that person be disqualified?
RM: No, I would disqualify someone who tongued it all and sounded ugly before I
disqualify someone who added some slurs and played it always artistically. To me it tells
a lot about the musical integrity of the player. For me it is always a priority to be moved,
to hear the best quality of the music.
TS: So always being musical is the main emphasis.
RM: The truth is that a lot of the players, the traditional superstars… the guys from the
generation that set the standards like Marcellus and Wright, many of them had a lot of
technique, but this was not necessarily their super forte. And even though they could
play all the stuff, you can hear on their recordings that they added slurs when they needed
to. The important thing is what they did with the music. They made the music special. It
is important that one knows the tempo, the traditional tempos, and play at a tempo that
sounds comfortable for you within the parameters of how the music goes. Like
Beethoven 4, some recordings go very fast. If you can’t go quite that fast, but make it
sound great, it is better then going fast and sounding good or ok.
TS: On the Mendelssohn Midsummer Night Dream, at an audition, are you listening to
the speed, or the quality of the tonguing, or the dynamics, or what?
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RM: For me it is the quality of the articulation and the quality of the phrasing. How they
have to have a light spirited approach. Again there are people that can play it fast, but if
it sounds desperate, no good. People play slow and lethargic, no. It has to have bounce
and if you get the bounce right, it can work at a more conservative tempo. It has to have
the pure quality of a scherzo. The committee might ask different tempos to check the
flexibility of the player, because there are people who can tongue fast but not slowly, and
in the orchestra you don’t have control over the tempo, so they can see how you would
handle the situation. So I would say at an audition, go for a tempo that is brisk, but one
that you could [still] go two or three notches faster, and if you had to go slower that it
would still sound like a scherzo.
TS: How about dynamic wise?
RM: Everything is relative. If you are playing in a hall, you don’t have to play as softly,
but you always have to leave yourself a little bit of room. You know, like the beginning
of Tchaikovsky Sixth, no matter how soft you play it you’ll always get “Can you try that
again softer?”. [laughs] So you always need a little room.
TS: On the excerpts that we were speaking about, how much leeway do you usually get
in the orchestra to do what you want to do?
RM: Boy, that depends on the conductor, that’s for sure. And it also depends on the
piece, you don’t want to go completely maniacal on a Beethoven symphony, but on a
piece like Mandarin or Galanta they expect you to be bold.
TS: Any thoughts on Capriccio Espagnol?
RM: Clean and exciting. Again you don’t want it too slow, but it doesn’t have to be fast.
You want to capture the music, style, and spirit.
TS: Brahms’ Third, the “A” clarinet switch in the first movement, once again musicality,
tempo…
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RM: Tempo. That is the one thing. Most people play that excerpt too slow and too
square. Conductors don’t conduct that thing in nine; usually they do it in three. So, you
have to have swing. The trick is how to get swing without it being too much.
TS: Thank you very much Ricardo. Is there anything you would like to add?
RM: The best preparation is the most musical preparation. By musical I don’t mean the
rolling of the shoulders or playing a million notes. How come the hardest thing to play is
the G major arpeggio in Beethoven Sixth? That is what I recommend people knowing,
the function of the clarinet in the orchestra, because that ends up showing a lot.
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APPENDIX F
Interview with Timothy Paradise
Principal Clarinetist, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
Interviewed in St. Paul, Minnesota
Interview Completed September 21, 2004
TS: Thank you for doing this interview, Tim. My first question is when preparing for an
audition one of the first things that is on an audition is the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, the
exposition, and I know that recently you had a chance to perform it with the St. Paul
Chamber Orchestra. When preparing for an audition, one thing I think the auditioners
wonder is should they play it as they would if they were actually performing it with an
orchestra or should they tailor it for the audition.
TP: I know on one audition that I didn’t win the job, the conductor did remark while
other people played it, that I played it the best, and I know that I just played it as if I was
playing it with the orchestra, although it was with a piano, of course. So, I didn’t even
think about that. Now another time I thought about playing it on the basset clarinet for an
audition, but, of course, that would be really stupid, because nobody else would, so how
could they compare. You should play it on a regular clarinet.
TS: Now I know that these days people have been changing things…[interruption in the
interview]. So, you wouldn’t find it distracting, if you were listening to someone
auditioning for you, if they did displace some of the runs.
TP: Actually I find it more distracting if they just played it the old fashioned way. I
would think, “Don’t you know what is going on here?”
TS: So, if you were advising a student, who was preparing for an audition, as far as
knowing “what’s going on,” do you think that it is important, say I was going to audition
for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, should I go out and buy all the available St. Paul
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Chamber Orchestra recordings of the various works that are on the audition and listen to
your interpretations?
TP: No, you should figure it out for yourself by looking at as close to the original part as
you can get. What was actually intended for the basset clarinet, and then you should
figure out how to approximate that on the regular clarinet, and you should do your own
version.
TS: Do you think somebody could go overboard, as far as adding cadenzas, etc. Would
that be too much?
TP: Well, it depends on how talented they are. [Laugh]
TS: That’s true. [Laugh] Yes, talent always plays a factor in these things, doesn’t it?
I know that recently you have played all the Beethoven Symphonies in one season, which
I know a lot of people would be very envious of, even though it’s grueling. The two that
are almost always on an audition are Beethoven’s Fourth and Beethoven’s Sixth. In
Beethoven’s Fourth the last movement, the tonguing passage, how important is it at an
audition to pace it so that you can tongue everything or would it be ok to put a slur in?
TP: You know one of the reasons I might put that on an audition is to see how smart
somebody was. I mean not to see how fast they could tongue, but just to see if they
understood the character of that passage. Because in an audition, if you want to see how
somebody can tongue, if they can tongue fast, you can always pick a better excerpt, like
the “Scherzo” from [Mendelssohn’s] Midsummer’s Night Dream.
TS: So, you are looking more to see if the person can approach it musically?
TP: Yes, to see if they understand the piece, and you understand what role that passage
has in that movement. But, I wouldn’t even put that last movement on an audition.
TS: How about the second movement in Beethoven Four, which has such a nice slow
singing solo. When you are taking an audition you are on stage by yourself and you have
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this lyrical solo, how do think you should pace yourself in the environment of the
audition.
TP: It is really important to keep a steady rhythm. I have heard so many people who
cannot keep a steady beat without the accompaniment. And right there, they’re gone.
TS: But, you do allow for flexibility in the phrase, like if they taper off and slow down at
a little bit at the end?
TP: At the end, maybe. But, you have to play it like there is an accompaniment. The
accompaniment has to keep going.
TS: How about dynamics? That’s a very treacherous soft solo, especially when you get
in the upper register.
TP: I wouldn’t do anything different. There again, I would just try to play it as if I was
playing with the accompaniment. I would be hearing the accompaniment while I was
playing it.
TS: So, you wouldn’t pace it, as far as trying to play it a little bit softer or a little bit
louder.
TP: No, I would do it just as if they were strings.
TS: How about in Beethoven’s Sixth, letter K at the end of first movement, when we start
the articulation [sings arpeggiated figure], and the clarinetist has to do the diminuendo,
do you think that you would play it any differently in an audition, or something that’s a
little more impressive, since you don’t have the accompaniment?
TP: I don’t know, I think that whole thing is set up by what you do before. And I think
that last passage is over stressed in importance, those last two bars. That G major
arpeggio… the D, the high D, [d3] is the tricky one, especially the last one, getting it not
to pop out loud. If you can make that last one quiet, it makes everybody think you
diminuendoed even you haven’t done that much. But, if you made a really pretty
diminuendo, and that last D [d3] kicks out really loud, then it is like you didn’t make a
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diminuendo. So, it is one note that you have to worry about. The most important think in
that passage is the shape of what’s before that, because it can be really quite lovely if you
shape it, but most players I have heard just sort of play it like an etude.
TS: All they are trying to do is the arpeggios nice and clean.
TP: And the length of notes are really important in that, because you change lengths in
that passage.
TS: And you would rather they all be the same…
TP: No, I don’t play it that way. I like to hear somebody use some creative thinking on
that.
TS: How about the old trick of making a little crescendo before making the diminuendo?
TP: Sure, so you have somewhere to go from.
TS: Now Beethoven’s Sixth, the slow movement, once again the thing to watch for is the
counting?
TP: Yes, that’s right. That’s about it, isn’t it? Yes, because it is not hard to play.
TS: It is impossible to count, though, I don’t know why. [laugh]
TP: It’s those compound triple meters. [laugh]
TS: A question about Beethoven’s Sixth “Scherzo”, and this relates back to the excerpt in
Beethoven’s Fourth, the famous [sings passage], after you have that nice little [sings], we
have that arpeggio going down, and it’s all tongued. Would this fall into the same
category as Beethoven Four, see how smart you can be on this one?
TP: Yes, I think so, although you have to put some tonguing in there. Both of them you
need to have some tonguing going on. The main thing is to stay in rhythm and have the
right dynamic and shape.
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TS: Because of, I am trying to think off the top of my head, because actually it’s marked
forte, but doesn’t it…
TP: Crescendo to the bottom. Of course, the lower notes are not going to come out like
the high note comes out.
TS: So, you really have to [crescendo]….
TP: or not play the top so loud?
TS: Ooh, that’s an idea too.
So, we might as well keep on the subject of tonguing, we have Mendelssohn’s
Midsummer’s Night Dream “Scherzo.” I am sure you have played this many times. How
fast is too fast in an audition? Are you looking for quickness or are you looking at the
tonguing? What’s the main purpose of having this excerpt on an audition?
TP: Well, obviously, you want to see if someone can keep going on a single tongue
evenly. Everyone’s different, but I realize too that people select reeds for an overall
audition, and maybe in any one passage, the reed they selected may not be quite what
they would play in a concert. So, if somebody isn’t super quick on that, that wouldn’t
scare me, but if they were uneven, it would or if they didn’t have the right shape to the
phrases. I think it is more important that they be… well, I mean they can’t go much
below 88 to the quarter and make it. I know that Marcellus said that they told him ahead
of time that he had to play it as 96, Szell told him, so he practiced it at 96 so he could get
it. Well, if you have that kind of warning and then you get a reed that will do that. But,
if you are in an audition where you have to play something really loudly and expressively
plus play a lot of light stuff, something is going to give on one end or the other.
Generally in that piece, I always pick a light reed anyway, so fastness is what you are
going for here and you don’t need to project.
TS: What about the dynamic level, because the whole movement, except for a couple of
things, ranges around that piano/pianissimo mark?
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TP: Yes and there is a difference between the Chicago Symphony and St. Paul Chamber
Orchestra, right?
TS: Yes, that’s true. We know this orchestra [St. Paul] can play very softly and very
precisely.
TP: Yes, you don’t get away with… You know that the demands in the big orchestra are
different, so they would have to play it out more than we would.
TS: Yes, but even at an audition you think that it would be better… if you had to choose
between speed and dynamics, I mean ideally everything would be perfect, someone
would walk in and play it at 96 and pianissimo, every articulated note would be perfect.
TP: And big shapes
TS: Yes, beautiful shapes, but for the audition basically, if somebody has trouble, I
wouldn’t say trouble with tonguing, I mean has to jack up the dynamics a little bit or
suffer in the tonguing, which…
TP: Yes, you have to judge each person, kind of get a feel for how they are doing on
other stuff to know. Some people are not going to give you that break, though. Some
people are just waiting for a chance to get rid of you. It just depends who you run into on
the committee. I mean, but if I heard someone stumble a little, I certainly would give
them a second chance at it. I know that I have been given a second chance at that before
on auditions.
TS: I know that at the few auditions where I have been on the committee, flutists tend to
listen for the end to make sure that it is quick enough.
TP: Yes, because they have to double tongue. That’s right, you have to be fast or else
the flutist is going to die.
TS: Let’s see, some of the other excerpts that I would to talk with you about include
Dances of Galanta. On the cadenza, especially, would this be a case where you go just
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for the musical idea? Or should someone try to tailor it to what he/she thinks the principal
clarinet is looking for?
TP: I think that’s death for someone to try to do that. I would never do that for anybody.
Maybe I haven’t won some auditions because of that. I always figure if I want to use
vibrato here or I want to play this straight or if I want to do play this a certain way, I am
going to do it, and if they don’t like it, they don’t want me in the orchestra anyway,
because they are not going to like my approach to making music. So, I’d sit there and I
would be uncomfortable and they’d be uncomfortable, so I just better show who I am and
what I am about, and somebody will like it somewhere, and they did.
TS: On Dances of Galanta, you have those beautiful expressive cadenzas that are always
on auditions, any suggestions?
TP: Yes. That is a really tough one, because you have to have a strong enough reed to
play that opening bravura passage, and it has to have some solidity in the sound, so you
can cut through without sounding skinny. And there you are with kind of a hearty reed,
and then you have to play quietly, which can help you, because it can give you a nice
dark sound to that passage, but you have to really have enough flexibility in the reed that
you can color it. And that passage has to have color in it. You cannot play that with a
straight sound all the way through it, because that is just not the style that those guys over
there play, because I heard Horvath, the guy who has been for many years the principal of
the Budapest Symphony, play that when we were both in the Munich Competition, not
that piece, but that style of music. And he had this big vibrato, kind of tárogató style on
some Hungarian music that he was playing, and he was very straight on everything else
he played. So, I know that this should have some vibrato in places and slides like gypsy
music. That’s the way it’s meant.
TS: I wonder how much that might turn off….
TP: Yes, some conductors have told me not to do that. The last person who came
through did not want slides, and so I didn’t put slides in, so big deal.
TS: You are at the whim of the conductor.
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TP: Yes, it is their week. I can do it any way you want, so what do I care?
TS: That’s true. As far as overall markings, I know a lot of times at auditions they’ll put
the music in front of you and you’ll see articulations that you haven’t seen before,
especially if it’s someone’s personal part or if they are using some of the orchestral
excerpt books like the Bonade Book where he has his own interpretations in there.
Would it be better to follow the part they put in front of you or would it better to use your
own part?
TP: No, you better follow it, because I know of two cases where I was given parts that
were Bonade excerpts, I couldn’t believe it, and one of them was a major orchestra. I
know I was doing, for instance, Rachmaninoff Second Symphony, that beautiful solo,
and I didn’t breathe where the Bonade breath marks were. It was in the finals, and I saw
a troubled look on the conductor’s face, and I knew I was history right there, because I
didn’t breathe where Bonade said to breathe. You know you can’t predict. If they put
that part up there, you had better play it just like it is.
TS: I guess that holds true for dynamics too. But, you would think that the conductor
would say, “Oh, can you do it this way,” instead of just expecting someone to play it
exactly the way it is on that part.
TP: Well, maybe it is just the way they learned it or heard it or maybe their best friend
was a clarinetist who used that book. Who knows? Maybe they never thought about it
any other way; that’s probably more likely.
TS: Do you think in the audition process that the conductor, committee, whoever is
listening take into account the environment? Are they a little bit forgiving, because you
are the only one playing, or do they focus in on the inadequacies or faults? It seems that
when you play in an orchestra, little inadequacies are not as obvious.
TP: I don’t know. Everyone sounds horrible in an audition compared to how they do in
an orchestra, that’s true. I guess that’s my fault, when I listen to people in auditions, I am
always dissatisfied. There are always basic things like rhythm that just drive me nuts,
because they’re are not even. But it seems to me there are two things that you have to
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have right, and that is rhythm and pitch. I mean if your intervals are not in tune and you
are not playing in rhythm alone, it means you have not practicing alone properly. So, if
you haven’t been practicing alone properly, it means that there is some sort of lack of
musicality or some sort of lack of musical discipline. So, I would never go for anybody
who had rhythmical or pitch problems of any sort that they couldn’t fix. If you say,
“There’s an interval that is out of tune, can you fix it?” which I have done to people, and
they still keep playing it wrong, they’re gone. Sometimes people will fix it, and then that
immediately makes you much more liberal towards anything else that may have been
wrong. You go back and ask them to play something else again and change that. You’ll
find all of a sudden some people that you might not have thought were so great, when
they can change stuff on the spot, that’s what you are looking for.
TS: As we know pitch is one thing if it is bad everyone in the orchestra suffers. It can
destroy everything. Real quickly, one or two of the other excerpts, Capriccio Espagnol.
Have you done that recently?
TP: I have done that a lot when I was young.
TS: It is always about the trills, as far as how many trills…
TP: One.
TS: [Laughs] Does this again go back to musicality?
TP: Well, you never know. I had the same conductor, who had me reading off the
Bonade part for the Rachmaninoff, also asked me to play like I had a bad reed, like I
would just play a real loud sound on this. I was kind of set up to play the Mozart
Concerto, Beethoven Symphonies, you know I could only sound so crass as hard as I
tried.
TS: Yes, that is the hard point about auditions is the flipping between things….
TP: A Clarinet, B-flat clarinet
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TS: Once again people have set-ups for Don Juan and the next thing that you are going
to play is Beethoven.
TP: The audition committee has to be a little bit hip to what is going on; they have to
know that is not a real world situation.
TS: And I have a feeling that is not always the case.
TP: Probably never or rarely is that the case.
TS: I don’t know what the make-up of the audition committee is for St. Paul when the
audition is for a wind position.
TP: It would be all the principal winds and then two or three from the other sections
involved.
TS: So, a lot of times what you would be concentrating on would be entirely different
than say a flute or oboe or bassoon or especially the strings would be concentrating on?
TP: Oh yes, it is wild listening to string auditions, they’re worried about kind of strings
the guy or gal is using, what position they are using, and I am listening to pitch and
rhythm, and phrasing and tone. So, I don’t know how to judge those string players very
well.
TS: Yes, the few audition committee that I have been on, for example, you’ll be listening
to a clarinetist play Tchaikovsky Sixth, and the bassoonist is listening to hear how softly
the person plays at the end of that cadenza, whether it is realistic or not. So everyone has
their own [agendas]. It is a no no-win situation among the entire [committee].
TP: Yes, it cancels out.
TS: After playing in a larger orchestra and then moving to a chamber orchestra, have
you had to change your…
TP: Oh yes, it is very different.
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TS: Do you think that when a person auditions for a chamber orchestra, like the St. Paul
Chamber Orchestra, that they should come in with the mindset of a chamber orchestra
size?
TP: Yes, definitely. If they don’t realize whom they are playing for, why are they there?
Are they just there because they want to get a job? Forget them. They have to want to be
in this orchestra. So, to be in this orchestra, you have to tailor your audition to the
demands of what a smaller orchestra will want.
TS: Right because I know from my own experience, it is very different to play with a
chamber orchestra like St. Paul than with a larger orchestra in terms of articulation, the
ensemble, the sound of the orchestra. It would be something that the whole committee
[of your orchestra] would be looking at when someone auditions.
TP: Sure, just like any of us would go out and audition for a big orchestra, you can’t
expect to go in there with a sound adapted to a chamber orchestra. You have to know
whom you are playing for.
TS: And still show the individuality.
TP: That’s right.
TS: So let me get this straight then, it’s good pitch, good rhythm, individuality, knowing
how to play well, and forgetting about the Bonade Book. [Laughs]
TP: [Laughs] That’s pretty good, Ted.
TS: [Laughs]. Well, thanks Tim, and I am sure I will edit that last comment out.
TP: [Both laugh]. You’re welcome.
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APPENDIX G
Interview with Michael Rusinek,
Principal Clarinetist, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra,
Interviewed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Interview Completed October 8, 2004
TS: What, if any, are the differences in playing excerpts at an audition compared to
playing them in an orchestra?
MR: The way I view playing excerpts at an audition is, I try to use each excerpt as a
short solo piece, and I treat the audition like it is a recital. Each excerpt I use as a short
solo piece to show an aspect of my playing. So, basically I feel like I need to sell myself,
sell my ability as a player. I am using each excerpt as a vehicle to show off a certain
aspect of my playing. Generally what I will do, in addition to having a very specific road
map of how to play each excerpt, I will also have a one or two word catch-phrase at the
top of each excerpt just to put me in the mood of what I am trying to convey in that
excerpt. And I always use my own music for auditions. So, generally what I will do is
that I will have my own book of the excerpts, and then when I go into play the audition, I
will take my book with all my music, and then when they ask me the excerpt, I will look
at their part and compare it to my part quickly to see if there are any differences. If there
are any differences, I will play what is in their part. Otherwise I will use my part, and I
will quickly look at the two or three word or one sentence phrase that I want to convey, it
brings me in the mood of what I want to convey, and then I use all the preparation that I
have done and the carefully planned road map for each excerpt. In the orchestra itself, I
feel a lot more freedom to be more spontaneous. In the orchestra, for me it is all about
taking chances – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, I don’t mind. In an audition I
want to take chances, but I want to make sure that those chances are within the
framework of what I have planned for each excerpt.
TS: So how do you come up with these words that you put up at the top of the page?
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MR: Some of them my teachers have given to me, and some of them I just try to capture
the spirit of the excerpt, and that’s my own of what I want to bring to it. [For example] I
might write “elegant” at the very beginning of the Mozart Concerto. I might write
“delicate and accurate” at the beginning of the Mendelssohn “Scherzo.” Things like that
just to put me immediately [in the right frame of mind], this is what I want to show. I am
not looking just to play perfectly, but I am looking to express and convey a meaning. It’s
not just about playing perfect, you have to play perfect, because if you don’t, somebody
else will. But, it’s not about playing perfectly; it’s about playing perfectly within the
meaning you are trying to create for each excerpt. You want to say something with each
excerpt, and when I say I played a perfect audition, it’s that I know that what I was trying
to say was heard by the listener. A lot of the times you think you are doing something
when you are playing, and it is not perceived by the listener. My goal in playing an
audition is making sure that everything that I want to be heard is heard by the listener.
I am religious taper of myself before auditions. So, I prepare by taping run throughs of
the auditions, and then going back and listening to it and making sure that everything that
I want to do is being heard, not just I feel I am doing it, because a lot of the time you feel
you are doing certain things, but it is not heard. I remember once talking to John
DeLancie, after he had listened to me play one time, and he had said, “It’s like looking at
an opera singer on stage, and you see her from the audience and she looks beautiful, and
you go backstage to congratulate her, and she is wearing tons of makeup.” What I try to
do when preparing for an audition is I try to apply that makeup to my playing so that
from the audience, it’s beautiful, not just from where I am sitting, but from out there
everything I doing is heard.
TS: Since an audition committee consists of members of the orchestra other than
clarinetists, do expectations change, that is, do they expect you only to play what’s on the
page or do they give a little leeway here and there?
MR: I think that with standard orchestral repertoire, there’s an expectation of playing
stylistically correct. But within that style and within what’s marked on the page, there
really isn’t an infinite amount of variation that one can do. I look for a real adherence to
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the markings on the page, but I also look for them to bring out the meaning of what’s
marked on the page. If one does not bring out the meaning and the natural beauty of the
music through the markings that are written on the page, then it will take a lot for me to
pass them on. Now by the same token, I don’t want someone who merely plays
accurately. I want someone who has excitement in their playing, but by the same token
they have to be true to what’s on the page. What’s interesting, though, I find with
clarinet players is that too much time is spent worrying about the sound, because most of
the people on the committee are not clarinet players, and they don’t know sound.
Obviously you have to sound good. But you can sit on a committee and somebody is
going to say, “They sound bright.” Someone is going to say, “It’s too dark.” And then
there is my favorite one, “It wasn’t in tune.” I think that is one of those things that people
say at auditions, because that is the only thing they can say, and you really can’t dispute
that because it is so subjective. Intonation, that’s one that people say, “It was out of
tune,” and then what are you supposed to say, “Well, my ears aren’t good enough to say
that…” I mean I do that on audition committees. People will say that the playing was out
of tune, and I’ll say, “I didn’t really hear it, but I did hear this.” And so with sound it’s so
personal, and even if you are clarinet player, it’s so personal. I’ll see people preparing
for auditions who are trying different mouth pieces or different reeds – “Which one
sounds better? This one or this one?” Well, maybe if you tried them, if you played two
auditions back to back with different reeds, there would be a difference, but to me it
doesn’t matter. You want to take a reed, and this is a difference from playing in the
orchestra, in the orchestra, you need a reed that will allow you to play what you have to
do that night. In an audition you need a reed that allows you do everything. So for me, I
choose a reed that’s comfortable in playing all the dynamic ranges and all the
articulations that I need to do, a very responsive reed that plays in all the dynamic ranges.
TS: Do you take one reed for the whole audition?
MR: I take one reed. I don’t even bring other reeds out with me. I take one reed, and I
play it, and that’s it. I make the commitment to it. I worry about my reeds right up until
the time that I am called to go out on stage, and then I forget about it, because no reed is
perfect. So, I try to find the best reed that I can for the day that will allow me to do as
much as possible, which is different than in the orchestra where obviously if you are
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playing something that requires a little more delicate touch, you are going to take a
different reed than if you are playing something that requires a big blow. So, what I do is
I tell my students and I tell other people don’t worry so much about the particular sound
of it, but once you find a reed that’s comfortable for you, then you have to work what
you’re going to do with each excerpt. Period. The sound doesn’t matter so much,
because most people on the committee aren’t clarinet players. Even if they are, how
often do you get three out of four clarinet players in a section that agree a hundred
percent on sound. So, I don’t worry so much about sound. I worry about how you are
going to differentiate yourself in those three minutes from the other hundred people that
are playing.
TS: How about in the orchestra when you are playing, do you worry about the sound
quality then?
MR: Of course sound quality is always an issue. You always want to worry about
sound, but I think that sound comes from inside of you. I don’t think it comes from the
equipment. I can take my equipment with my reed and my mouthpiece and have the best
reed and give it to somebody else, and they have no idea, and they’ll never sound like I
do. Let’s take the argument to the extreme. Someone that has never heard the clarinet
before, and they have no idea what the clarinet is supposed to sound like, they are not
going to make a nice sound on it. So, I think sound comes from inside of you, and I
going to make anything I play more or less sound like me. It’s just going to be a question
of what I am able to feel comfortable doing on that set-up. But, I think that in the
orchestra, I am not really concerned about the sound. What I am concerned about is what
I am going to do with the sound.
TS: Can you tell me how you would play each of the following excerpts differently in
an audition compared to how you would play them in the orchestra? The first one is the
Mozart Concerto, the exposition.
MR: Well, I am going to say in general how I would play differently in an audition than I
would play in the orchestra. Like I said before, I want to show off different aspects of my
playing. So, at an audition I might play certain things softer than I could play in the
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orchestra. When I am playing them at the audition, I know that I couldn’t play it in the
orchestra that softly, but this is what I can do. What I want to show at an audition is
show what I can, not necessarily what I would do. This is what I am able to do, and
therefore if you get me, you know you have somebody who can do anything. If I show
exactly how I would play in the orchestra, I think it would take a little bit off…, it
wouldn’t necessarily show everything that I could do. That’s what I was saying before
with I use each piece as maybe a thirty second solo piece, and I am going to use it as a
vehicle to show off what I am going to do. So getting back to the Mozart exposition, how
I would play it differently? I want to make sure that it sounds as elegant and refined.
Those would be the two words [that I would write at the top of my music]: elegance and
refinement. I would make sure that it is as elegant and refined as possible, realizing that
in the orchestra when you have got eighty people playing behind you, you are going to
have to play a little bit differently. But, in the Mozart Clarinet Concerto I wouldn’t say
there would necessarily be a big difference between how I would play it the orchestra.
TS: Would you play it more soloistically?
MR: I would play it very soloistically [at the audition]. As a matter of fact I would be
prepared most of the time to play it with piano at auditions. I would prepare it
rehearsing with a pianist to make sure that I am comfortable playing with the pianist and
maintaining a good tempo through out and getting use to playing intonation-wise with a
piano, because I think it is very easy just to play it in isolation. Then if you have to play
it at the audition with a piano, god forbid you are not used to playing with a piano, and
then it is out of tune. I think intonation is very important auditions, and I listen very
carefully for intonation, especially when you are playing with piano. So, I know that it is
kind of a contradiction that I said that intonation on a committee is very easy to criticize,
but when I tape myself I make sure that I am not hearing any glaring errors. But, I also
play the Mozart Concerto with piano to make sure that it is in tune and that I am used to
playing it in context. But, I play it very soloistically at the audition. Very soloistically.
TS: What about Beethoven’s Sixth, the last solo in the first movement from K to the
end?
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MR: What I make sure when I prepare it for the audition, play it at the audition, is that I
make sure that I hear very clear dynamic progression. So, once the triplets start, after
[sings], on the open g [g1] that I hear three levels [sings], and I make sure that I don’t
start the diminuendo at the end too soon, so that I don’t get too soft too soon, so that it
sounds like I am making a very gradual diminuendo. And then I get very soft. But, if
you get too soft too sound, you have nowhere to go.
TS: How about in the orchestra; how would that differ?
MR: I try to make it sound the same way, only it has to ride on top of the orchestra. So,
in general I am playing a lot louder. But when I am playing at an audition, I also want to
make a really big dynamic contrast. For me the most important thing is that the “c” [c3]
is brought out and not the high “d.” [d3] So I make a little diminuendo to the high “c”
[c3] to make sure that where the fortes are printed on the “c” [c3] that’s what I hear.
[Sings the passage in two ways to illustrate his point] It is very easy because of the
register to have those top notes brought out. So I listen for that. I make sure that the
articulation is very crisp, it’s perceived as crisp out there, and I make sure that the
dynamic, the terraced dynamics are perceived. And I try to do that in the orchestra as
well.
TS: How about the third movement articulation? [Sings the excerpt]
MR: Well, I double tongue, so that I try to show off my articulation. I play it at a crisp
tempo, and I really try to nail that [sings]. So, I do the same thing in the last movement
in Beethoven Four. [sings the excerpt.]
TS: How about if somebody couldn’t double tongue? Do you think they would be
penalized for throwing in a slur?
MR: No, I don’t think they would be penalized for throwing in a slur. I don’t think my
double tonguing is going to win me an audition, but I think that if there is someone there
that, all things being equal, can do it, why not. They are going to get the gig. Personally
I don’t have the fastest single tongue. I don’t have a terribly slow single tongue, but I am
not one of these machine gun rapid single tongues, so I had to teach myself to double
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tongue precisely for Beethoven’s Sixth and Beethoven Four and so many other passages
that require rapid articulation. But, in Beethoven Four I double tongue that, and I make
sure that I get a very loud grace note [sings passage emphasizing grace note.] And I do
the same thing in the orchestra.
TS: Great. What about Mendelssohn’s “Scherzo”?
MR: Mendelssohn’s “Scherzo” I try not to play to fast in an audition, because for me at
an audition the most important thing is playing very cleanly and giving myself time to
show everything. I think if you play too fast, you are not giving yourself a large enough
canvas on which to paint what you want. If they want it faster, they can always ask for it
faster. But, I don’t want to play it too fast; I want it very accurate and very crisp. My old
teacher used to tell me the faster you have to play the slower you should practice. So
when I am preparing for audition, I always practice very slowly and very systematically,
and with the Scherzo I try to play very crisp and accurately. For me the speed of that is
not what I am trying to go for; it’s the crispness in articulation and the accuracy.
TS: What about the dynamics? Is there any difference in the orchestra versus playing the
excerpt in an audition?
MR: I might play it softer in an audition, just to show off that kind of soft control. But, I
find generally that for all these excerpts that are so nerve-wracking and we pull our hair
out preparing are so much easier in the orchestra. The two excerpts for me that stand out
as being very difficult to play excerpt-wise, but very easy to play in context are the
Brahms [Symphony No.] Three excerpts.
TS: Actually that was the one I was going to ask you about was the slow movement of
Brahms Third Symphony.
MR: Brahms Three for me, I make sure that I have a very clear road map about how I am
going to play that dynamically and how the sequential nature of the phrases and how I
develop those dynamically and how kind of melting it is from note to note and that no
notes are accented, as DeLancie would say, “Music is one note that swims, and that each
note melts into the other.” But, when I am playing it in the orchestra, I forget about that,
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and I just try to sing more hymn-like on top of the support of the other winds. It is so
much easier when you are playing it in context than when you are playing it alone.
TS: How about Capriccio Espagnol at the very beginning?
MR: Again Capriccio Espagnol I find is another one that I don’t try to play too fast, but I
try to play it very cleanly and very excited. I don’t obsess over how many trills I am
going to play; I am not like that. For me the important thing about Capriccio Espagnol is
having it very brilliant and very crisp and very clear and making sure that it is very
exciting. So I make sure, for instance, that the end of the slur is not clipped. I spend a lot
of time working on that so that it doesn’t sound like [sings clipping the end of the slurs],
but [sings how it wants it], so that I really lead from the second note, so that I am
grouping really 2,3,4,1, 2,3, 4,1, as opposed to 1,2, 3, 4, 1, 2. And that’s when I really try
to open up dynamically and make sure that I am really playing as brilliantly as possible.
This is one to really show off bravura playing.
TS: What about when you are playing it in the orchestra, do you play it any differently?
MR: No, I don’t do a lot of things differently when I am playing them in the orchestra,
except that I don’t worry when I am playing in the orchestra. I am not playing for my
job. I have my job, so I can take more spontaneous chances, but my road map is the
same. Look, the function of the notes never changes; that’s not up for discussion. The
function of the notes is always what they are. It doesn’t matter whether you are playing
them in the orchestra or you are playing them at an audition, and therefore the way I
interpret the excerpt itself is going to be the same musically speaking. The execution is
going to be a little bit different, because I don’t have anyone playing behind me at an
audition, and it has to be perfect. In the orchestra it doesn’t have to be perfect. Now
when you don’t worry about perfection, chances are you might get it, but I don’t worry
about that. So obviously when there are a hundred people playing with you, there are
things you can’t do that you can do when you are playing alone. Again I will repeat
myself, when I am playing the excerpts at an audition, I am going to use it as a vehicle to
show off what I can do. I am going to use it to show what I can do, but I am also going to
be able to do more things because I am by myself. I can expand the dynamic range to the
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lower end and to the higher end as much as possible, whereas in the orchestra, you can’t
do the low end so much, because you have to project.
TS: Dances of Galanta, any differences there?
MR: No real difference there. When I am playing it an audition, just generally speaking
one thing that I find is that it is very easy to play too slowly after the cadenza. I think one
has to maintain the tempo that one is going to play in the orchestra. So I play pretty close
to the metronome marking that’s printed, the slow end of the metronome marking. But,
most people don’t; most people play it way too slowly.
I really try to tell a story with that one. Again most of it is a cadenza, so when you are
playing it in an orchestra, it is going to be the same anyway. But, I really try and have a
road map of what I want to do dynamically and be true to that.
Generally speaking, I think that in the orchestra I use the preparation from auditions and
from how I prepare the excerpts to show me the road map to playing the excerpts. When
I am playing in the orchestra, I feel much more free to take chances and be spontaneous
and not worry about if it works or not. I am not concerned about perfection when I
playing in the orchestra, but perfection is my absolute focus when I am preparing for an
audition. I want to play the perfect audition.
TS: Should you listen to a recording of an orchestra that you are auditioning for?
MR: No, I am firmly against that. You should never try to second guess what the
committee is listening for. You cannot listen to recordings of the conductor or the
orchestra and say this is how they play it, this is how I am going to play it for them. You
have to go in there with your own personal conviction of how these things are going to go
and play them that way. You can’t go into an audition trying to play the way the guy that
left the job sounded or the way of the tradition of the orchestra. You have to go in and
present yourself the way you are. If you are going to get the job, you are going to get the
job and that you really have license to play the way you are. What better way to have a
job, because they want you, not they want you imitating them. So, I do not listen to
recordings of the orchestra I am auditioning for. I listening to recordings of me playing
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the excerpts and making sure I am communicating what I want to communicate. Then I
go into the audition, and I try to give as true and as pure a representation, and if they like
it, they’ll give me the job, and if they don’t, they don’t. And you know I am very
philosophical about it, and I have taken enough auditions to know that if you don’t win
one, there’s another one that’s coming up just down the road. I used to put a lot of stock
into every audition; I don’t any more. If I don’t win one, it doesn’t matter. What I am
more concerned about is if I don’t advance out of the first round. If you consistently
don’t advance out of the first round, there are things to reconsider. But if you are
advancing out of the first rounds and getting into the semi-finals and getting into the
finals, then I think it is just a matter of time.
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APPENDIX H
Interviewed Clarinetists’ Biographies
Laura Ardan
Principal Clarinet – Atlanta Symphony Orchestra since 1982
Teachers:
Roger Hiller
Stanley Drucker – The Juilliard School
Leon Russianoff – The Juilliard School
Tad Calcara
Principal Clarinet - Utah Symphony
Teachers:
Franklin Cohen – Cleveland Institute of Music
David Breeden – San Francisco Conservatory
Charles Russo - Manhattan School of Music
Leon Russianoff - Manhattan School of Music
Larry Combs
Principal Clarinet – Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1978
Former Assistant Principal and Eb Clarinet – Chicago Symphony Orchestra
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Former Principal Clarinet – Montreal Symphony
Former Principal Clarinet – New Orleans Symphony
Former Clarinet – Charleston Symphony
Teachers:
Stanley Hasty – Eastman School of Music
Leon Russianoff
Burt Hara
Principal Clarinet – Minnesota Orchestra since 1987
Former Principal Clarinet – Philadelphia Orchestra
Former Principal Clarinet – Alabama Symphony Orchestra
Teachers:
Donald Montanaro - Curtis Institute of Music
Clark Brodie – Northwestern University
Mitchell Lurie
Yehuda Gilad
Ricardo Morales
Principal Clarinet – Philadelphia Orchestra since 2002
Former Principal Clarinet – Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Former Principal Clarinet – Florida Symphony Orchestra
Teachers:
Anton Weinberg
Edward Palanker
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Timothy Paradise
Principal Clarinet – Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra since 1977
Teachers:
Kalman Bloch
Yona Ettlinger
Michael Rusinek
Principal Clarinet - Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since 1998
Former Assistant Principal Clarinet - National Symphony Orchestra
Teachers:
Avrahm Galper - Royal Conservatory of Music (Canada)
Donald Montanaro - Curtis Institute of Music
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APPENDIX H
Interview Consent Form and Human Subjects Approval Memorandum
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Appendix J
Sample Interview Questions
1. What is you current orchestra position? Please describe briefly for me your
musical background and education?
2. Generally what, if any, are the main differences when one performs excerpts
at an audition, as compared to when one plays them in the orchestra?
3. Since the audition committee is comprised of members from different sections
of the orchestra, do you think they would listen for different things than you
as a clarinetist would? Would you expect them to want to hear excerpts
performed exactly as they are on the page or in the manner they are
accustomed to hearing in the orchestra?
4. Why is the Mozart Concerto asked at all auditions, and what do you and/or the
audition committee look for in an applicant’s performance? Should the
applicant perform the work as he or she would in a solo situation or does he or
she need to tailor their performance to the audition environment?
5. What are the differences, if any, in performance practice (articulation,
dynamics, style, etc.) between playing for an audition and actually playing
with an orchestra in the following excerpts?
a. Beethoven Sixth Symphony – end of the first movement (from K); second
movement solo; third movement solo
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b. Beethoven Forth Symphony – second movement solo, last movement
tonguing passage
c. Mendelssohn – “Scherzo” from Midsummer Nights Dream
d. Kodály - Dances of Galanta – cadenza in beginning and slow theme
e. Rimsky Korsakov - Capriccio Espagnol - Opening solo
f. Brahms Third Symphony – first movement “A” clarinet solo; slow
movement opening
6. Would you use your own orchestral parts or the parts that are placed in front of
you at an audition? What do you do if the part they play in front of you has
different markings?
7. Should you listen to recordings of the orchestra, conductor, or principal clarinetist
for which you are auditioning?
8. What, if any, are your thoughts on changing reeds or equipment during an
audition and/or performance?
9. Do you have any additional thoughts that might not have been addressed?
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Bibliography
American Federation of Musicians. “2003 – 2004 ICSOM Wage Chart.” http://www.afm.org/member/wageinstr.htm (2004)
Ardan, Laura, principal clarinetist of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Interviewed by
author, 10 October 2004, Atlanta. MD recording.
Bonade, Daniel. Orchestra Studies for Clarinet by Daniel Bonade. Kenosha, WI: G. Leblanc, 1947.
Calcara, Tad, principal clarinetist of the Utah Symphony. Phone interview by author, 4 October 2004. MD recording.
Campbell, Karen. “Auditions: The Player’s Opportunity.” Symphony 46:3 (May 1995):
32. Combs, Larry, principal clarinetist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Phone interview
by author, 22 October 2004. MD recording. Craig, Karen Lynn. “Larry Combs: Interpretation of the Clarinet Symphonic Audition
Repertoire.” DMA diss., University of Oklahoma, 1993. de Kant, Ronald, David Niethamer and Marta Schworm Weldon. “Symphonic Corner.”
The Clarinet 24:3 (May/June 1997): 48-52. de Kant, Ronald, Kimball Syker, Thomas LeGrand, and Peter Hadcock. “Symphonic
Corner.” The Clarinet 17:2 (February/March 1990): 23-25. Green, Elizabeth A. H. The Dynamic Orchestra: Principles of Orchestra Performance
for Instrumentalists, Conductors, and Audience. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1987.
Hadcock, Peter, Bruce Ronkin, Aline Benoit, and Marshall Burlingame. The Working
Clarinetist: Master Classes with Peter Hadcock. Cherry Hill, NJ, USA: Roncorp, 1999.
Hara, Burt, principal clarinetist of the Minnesota Orchestra. Phone interview by author,
28 October 2004. MD recording. Kulikowski, Cheryl. “A Survey of Orchestral Clarinet Audition Repertoire.” The
Clarinet 28 (June 2001): 72-77. Orchestral Excerpts for Clarinet with Spoken Commentary. Larry Combs, clarinet.
Summit DCD 161, 1994.
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Morales, Ricardo, principal clarinetist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Phone interview by
author, 10 October 2004. MD recording. McGinnis, Robert, and Stanley Drucker. Orchestral Excerpts from the Symphonic
Repertoire for Clarinet. New York: International Music Co, 1950. Noble, Charles. "Position vacant." Strad 110, no. 1311 (1999): 700. Palanker, Edward. “The 1997 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Second Clarinet Audition-
A Learning Experience!.” The Clarinet 25:2 (February-March 1998): 70-73. Paradise, Timothy, principal clarinetist of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Interviewed by author, 21 September 2004, Saint Paul. MD recording. Rusinek, Michael, principal clarinetist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
Interviewed by author, 8 October 2004, Jackson Hole, Wyoming. MD recording. Sharp, Erica. How to Get an Orchestra Job…and Keep It: A Practical Guide Book.
Encinitas, CA: Encinitas Press, 1985. Stewart, M. Dee. “Audition Advice.” The Instrumentalist 44:6 (January 1990): 32-35. Walthall, Charles. “A Survey of Clarinet Orchestra Audition Lists.” The Clarinet 17:3
(May 1990): 35. Yeo, Douglas. “Winning an Orchestral Audition: Some Tips for Wind and Brass
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Musicians of the United States and Canada 91:5 (November 1992): 4.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Theodore Schoen currently teaches applied clarinet and saxophone at the
University of Minnesota Duluth. He received his B.M. and M.M. degrees from the
Juilliard School and his D.M.A. from Florida State University. His teachers were Stanley
Drucker, Joseph Allard, and Charles Russo. Dr. Schoen frequently plays with the St.
Paul Chamber Orchestra, and he has performed, toured, and recorded with the Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra, including its recordings of Mahler’s Symphonies No. 2, 6 & 7 and
Mozart’s Requiem. He has served as the Principal Clarinetist with the Atlanta Opera
Orchestra and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as Bass Clarinetist with the
Florida Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Schoen also has performed with the Grand Teton
Festival Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, Florida Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony,
Colorado Philharmonic, and orchestras throughout the country. In 2000, Mr. Schoen was
invited to be Guest Clarinet Professor at the Ural International Summer Music Academy
in Novouralsk, Russia where he played two recitals, one classical and one jazz. In
addition, Mr. Schoen also performed the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Ural State
Philharmonic in Ekaterinberg, Russia.
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