America’s #1 clarinet likes it smooth and easy
Album Of The WeekFrom the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
The principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic can claim with some ease to be America’s finest. He has played for a decade at the Met, serenaded Barack Obama at his inauguration, commissioned screeds of new music for his instrument, and is professor at Juilliard, actively seeking students from under-represented backgrounds.
As for the music, he has few peers…
Read on here.
And here.
En francais ici.
In The Critic here.
Whatever problems the BSO is currently experiencing they don’t include their superlative Principal clarinet of nearly 30 years William Hudgins.
McGill and Pacifica have also recorded the Brahms and Mozart Clarinet Quintets. That CD is superb too.
this is news to me and many other musicians…
Ricardo Morales in Philadelphia is worth his salt as well. He was recruited by the NPO when Philly filed for bankruptcy. After a trial he decided to return to Philadelphia. That’s when NPO signed Anthony from the Met orchestra.
He can claim all he wants, he isn’t.
Right… so, who is, in your opinion? (not that it matters – neither the competitive aspect nor your opinion). You should add an “o” at the end of your name. Then you would (in Spanish) be a ‘memo’, i.e. a dummy.
Ricardo Morales, who went to Philadelphia also from the Met, is considered to be one of the stars of that orchestra and isn’t too shabby in his own right.
Anthony McGill is a great clarinetist, to be sure. But without naming names, let’s just say there are lots of great clarinetists in the United States. But thanks for the tip about this recording.
I’m not crazy about assessments like, “best” or “finest.” What I can say is that in 47 years as a professional orchestra player I have never heard/seen ANY instrumentalist play more relaxed, with greater ease, and intelligent, heartfelt musicality that Mr. McGill possessed during performances of the Nielsen Concerto with our orchestra last season.
“…Richard Danielpour writes a pleasant kind of pseudo-classical once favoured by the Disney studios…”
One of the in-house studio histories relates how Disney showed his song writers a reel of “Bambi” with some orchestral music as a temporary track and asked for something of similar effect.
“But… that’s Tchaikovsky!”
None-the-less they rose to the challenge and created a score of appropriate mood and impact.
Ever heard of Richard Stoltzman? Unique.
Anthony’s brother , Demarre McGill , is
also a brilliant musician !
He has a different Instrument and Ligature in every photo.
I found his Mozart/Brahms Quintets to so bland, maybe it was the Backun Clarinet, which he no longer appears to use.
Anyway, MY Principal Clarinet can beat up Your Principal Clarinet.