Famous Clarinet PlayersGrammy Winners and Nominees, etc...Fame and clarinet: Who are the famous clarinet players? If you were to ask the man or woman on the street, they might say Kenny G. (not knowing he’s a saxophonist) or give you a really funny look and return the question - “Uh, famous clarinetists?” This “person on the street” from the 1930s to at least the 1990s would say Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw or Woody Herman hands down. These famous clarinet players were the bandleader/clarinetists that rocked the world during the big-band era. Maybe, if you live in Great Britain, the common man or woman might say, “What is that kid’s name that plays clarinet? Oh! It’s Julian Bliss, he’s a famous clarinet player.” And, Mr. Bliss currently studies and collaborates with Sabine Meyer (probably currently the greatest German clarinetist and also one of the top clarinet soloists in the world now). While clarinetists today aren’t necessarily household names like Britney Spears and Tom Cruise (thank goodness for us and the players), there are clarinet superstars among the classical, jazz and klezmer styles. Here is a small selection of names of famous clarinetists listed alphabetically: Clarinet soloists - Martin Frost, Sabine Meyer, Richard Stoltzman Orchestral players - Larry Combs, Karl Leister, Harold Wright Jazz - Don Byron, Eddie Daniels, Paquito D’Rivera, Buddy DeFranco, Pete Fountain Klezmer - Dave Tarras, Andy Statman, Janfie Van Strien (clarinetist with the Amsterdam Klezmer Band) Historical – Anton Stadler, Richard Muhlfeld, H. Klose, C. Rose, Ralph McLane
If you ask a clarinetist who the most famous clarinet players are, they might give some of the aforementioned names, but more than likely they’ll give you their spin on the greatest clarinetist alive or dead and why that person is the greatest. And, they’ll subdivide the players into musical styles, or countries and continents like: the greatest American clarinetist, French clarinetist, German clarinetist, Jazz clarinetist, Klezmer clarinetist, Greek clarinetist, etc… Then, you have the category of the most famous clarinet players of all time. It’s hard to compare this category because recordings didn’t become available until the late 1880s (cylinder disks). But, you can guess that the historically famous clarinetists would include Anton Stadler (Mozart’s friend and inspiration to write the Clarinet Concerto and Quintet) and Richard Muhlfeld (Brahm’s friend and inspiration to write the Clarinet Sonatas, Trio and Quintet). Matter of fact, Brahm’s had decided to quit composing completely until he heard Richard Muhlfeld play as principal clarinetist of the Meiningen Court Orchestra in Germany. Thanks to Stadler and Brahms, the clarinet world has music written by two of the greatest composers that ever lived; written specifically for clarinet; and during the most mature time period of the composer’s life. So, how does a young clarinetist figure out who the MOST famous clarinet players are now-a-days? Well, let’s start with the Grammy awards. The “person on the street” knows what the Grammy awards are, right?
Famous Clarinet PlayersGRAMMY WINNING CLARINETISTSThese Grammy winning recordings include soloists, chamber and jazz. As you might imagine, the recordings that win Best Classical Performance, Best Orchestral Performance, Best Choral Performance, etc… nearly all had clarinetists in the ensembles. This list does not cover these categories. This list holds names of clarinetists who primarily play clarinet. If you are wondering where names like Paquito D’Rivera are, try
Grammy winning saxophonists who also play clarinet.
To see the recordings and years these players won their Grammys and a full list of nominees, go the
Clarinet Grammy Awards.
Famous Clarinet PlayersORCHESTRAL PRINCIPAL CLARINETISTSWinning the position of Principal Clarinet in a major symphony orchestra is a massive undertaking. You could say it is American Idol times ten. The competition is stiff among really talented, trained and already extremely professional musicians. Imagine this, and then the fact the principal clarinetists hold onto their jobs for a long time. Now, you come into famous clarinet player range.Especially in large cities like New York City, the principal clarinetist is Stanley Drucker. He won a post with the orchestra in 1948 and became principal in 1960. He will retire in 2009 having played with the orchestra 61 years and as principal a total of 49 years. Can you imagine a professional football player still playing competitive “on the field” football for 61 years? These famous clarinet players perform the greatest orchestral literature of all time and premiere the new works of the day. As each orchestra produces professional audio and video recordings (like Live from Lincoln Center) often, these principal clarinetists execute perfectly musical phrases both in live performance and under the microphone. The entire section of a major symphony orchestra is “famous” to clarinet players, especially in the host city. However, I’ve only chosen to list the principals of some major orchestras here. The orchestras are listed alphabetically. Principal clarinetists of selected major symphony orchestras Berlin Philharmonic - Wenzel Fuchs Boston Symphony Orchestra - William R. Hudgins Chicago Symphony Orchestra – Larry Combs Cleveland Orchestra – Franklin Cohen Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam, Netherlands) -- Jacques Meertens Israel Philharmonic Orchestra – Richard Lesser London Symphony Orchestra – Andrew Marinner Los Angeles Philharmonic - Michele Zukovsky Metropolitan Opera Orchestra – Steve Williamson and Anthony McGill New York Philharmonic – Stanley Drucker Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra – Ricardo Moralis Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra - Michael Rusinek San Francisco Symphony Orchestra – David Breeden
My recommendation is that if you live with-in two hours drive of one of these orchestras, try to talk your parents into buying recordings of that famous clarinet player and eventually go see them in a live concert. If you live far away from any of these orchestras, look up the local orchestra in the nearest city, and find out the name of the principal clarinetist and/or whole clarinet section. Then, see if they have any recordings and better yet, see the orchestra live. Also, once you know the name of this clarinetist, seek-out master classes or clinics they might give in the area.
To see a complete list of orchestra clarinet sections of orchestras worldwide, go
here.
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