National Philharmonic presents Richard Stoltzman; conducted by Piotr Gajewski
Where: Music Center at Strathmore
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 17
Info: $29 to $79, ages 7 to 17 are free; 301-581-5100; nationalphilharmonic.org
Clarinetist Richard Stoltzman ignored the experts, followed his own muse and created a glorious sound that reverberated around the world. With more than 50 recordings to his credit and a healthy collection of Grammy Awards, he is equally at home with the classical masters and contemporary pops compositions.
A very special National Philharmonic evening showcases his virtuosity in clarinet concertos by Mozart and Aaron Copland, together with Gershwin works that seem to have been written with him in mind.
“When I was little and first heard the ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ clarinet glissando, it sent chills up my spine and I wanted to play just like that,” he says. “Gershwin actually wrote it as a scale, but during the rehearsal the clarinet player was fooling around and played it as a smear. Gershwin liked it and it’s been played that way ever since.”
Gershwin composed the score of “Shall We Dance,” one of the Astaire-Rogers musicals packed with gems that have become vocal standards. At the last minute, the director asked him for “some dog music” to accompany an unscripted pantomime. Stoltzman will treat the audience to the jaunty little instrumental, “Promenade,” or “Walking the Dog.”
Throughout the years, he has appropriated the Copland Clarinet Concerto commissioned by Benny Goodman for his very own. He approaches the cadenza in communion with other members of the jazz quintet, always alert to inflections of color and sound and attentive to the phrasing and how the melody ought to move.
“The second movement is totally a chamber music piece with jazz elements played by piano, strings and harp,” Stoltzman says. “The strings and clarinet imitate each other and the bass player slaps his instrument as Copland suggested in a way you don’t hear in chamber works. My mom always loved the harp and called it ‘the harp piece.’ It’s usually situated behind the other instruments on stage, but I bring it out front when possible.”
His next project is a Carnegie Recital Hall reception in honor of the 90th birthday of Kalmen Opperman, his clarinet teacher.
“He is unknown to many, but he is a miracle to me,” Stoltzman says. “He understands the clarinet like nobody else, he makes them, and he even makes the machines that make them. People will be coming to honor him from as far as Japan and Sweden.”
