Re: Tarras's clarinets

[SamWeiss <SamWeiss...>]

At 10:22 AM 10/9/02, Messiah701 (at) aol(dot)com wrote:
>contact andy statman, who now owns tarras' clarinets-- im sure he knows-- 
>i do believe that he used an A clarinet on the trio recordings (along with 
>a size 4 reed, as appose to his earlier recordings on a 3 reed)-- MW

I forwarded the response quoted above to Kurt Bjorling, who -- besides 
writing his own response to the original query (which I posted the other 
day) -- was interested in any further discussion on the topic.  He wrote me 
as follows:

>I am reasonably sure that Tarras does not play a clarinet in A on any of his
>recordings, but it would be fascinating to learn that he did.  I wonder
>whether 'MW' has any particular recording in mind as an example of this.  I
>am also surprised by the statement that Tarras plays with a #3 or 4 reed.
>How is this known!?  Again I am reasonably sure (as certain as I can be
>without physical proof) that he typically used very soft reeds, but it would
>be very interested to learn otherwise.  But then I would have to wonder, how
>does he get a #4 reed to sound like a #1?!  (I know more than one
>classically-oriented clarinetist who cannot stand to listen to Tarras because
>of his soft-reed tone, and I know of one who points to this as proof that
>Tarras was not really a good clarinetist, and therefore not worthy of
>emulation.  This quality in Tarras's sound does not bother me, but a similar
>quality in Sam Muziker's tone does bother me.  But I have noticed that
>non-clarinetists don't recognize these qualities at all.  Live and learn...)

To which I replied:

>Isn't possible that he knows this from Andy Statman, who would have known 
>it directly from Tarras?

To which Kurt replied:

>Yes - it is possible, and I'd be interested to know more than I do - but even
>Andy said that Tarras said...  I would doubt it.  The same
>guy who pretended that he had always only played a Bb clarinet could just as
>easily pretend that he had always played on a harder reed!

Kurt B.


_____________________________________________________________
Cantor Sam Weiss === Jewish Community Center of Paramus, NJ

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