Word: clarineting
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Richard Stoltzman wants to be the Casals of the clarinet...
Richard Stoltzman is the first to admit it: the clarinet, his chosen instrument, is no musical prince. To begin with, there is the clarinet's tendency to be loudmouthed and crass. It is the sharp-tongued marcher in high school bands, the instrument everyone loves to play badly. In orchestra pits, the clarinet is a foot soldier, sturdily seconding the melodies of the grander piano, violin and cello. Few composers have favored it with solo works. Few Benny Goodmans exist; although there have been outstanding clarinetists, they traditionally have belonged to orchestras and thus missed the dazzle...
...career over an orchestra seat, Stoltzman has an almost magical rapport with his instrument. His recent sell-out appearance in the Mostly Mozart series at Manhattan's Lincoln Center, where he wore a velvet jacket and what he calls his "dress sneakers," turned into a celebration of the clarinet's possibilities. In Mozart's Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in A Major, which he performed with the Tokyo String Quartet, Stoltzman glided effortlessly through long, sustained phrases. He caressed his instrument into whispery trills and treble work and then commanded a full-bodied tone as smooth...
...Avery Fisher prize, awarded by Lincoln Center to "exceptionally talented younger instrumentalists." He has performed as guest soloist with many major chamber groups. He has released two solo albums; the latest, The Art of Richard Stoltzman (Desmar), is a marvelous collection of 19th century French clarinet pieces. He will make his debut with the New York Philharmonic next year. Says Violinist Isaac Stern: "Rarely have I heard such a virtuoso use of the clarinet. He has searched out its possibilities, and he has the sort of solo quality about him that makes him equal to any performer...
Stoltzman's technique is strikingly subtle. (A recording engineer once told him, "Oh, you're the guy who has no beginning to your notes.") Says Stoltzman: "I don't like how the clarinet sounds most of the time. In the official style, you don't have enough freedom to wander." His own clarinet, by turns, mimics the fluttery delicacy of a flute, the finespun song of a violin, a bassoon's dark, melancholy air. His playing refuses to sound well-schooled. Even Mozart runs take off so spontaneously that Stoltzman might almost be improvising...