Spectrum of clarinets
May 9, 2010 - In addition to his professional Yamaha
clarinet, which is made of black granadilla wood, Topilow
performs on white, green, red, and blue LeBlanc Vito plastic
student clarinets, but using his professional Vandoren
mouthpiece and top-of-the-line Legere reeds. "I wouldn't play
the Mozart (clarinet) Concerto on them", he says of the plastic
instruments. "but I would play 'Clarinetist on the Roof' or
'Clarinet Candy.' " (The later with Pops colleagues John Stavash
and Lou Gangale on clarinets of different hues.) Of the plastic
clarinets, the Leblanc website is forthright: "This body holds
up well under even the most brutal student use." As Topilow puts
it, "We make it work."
Peggy Turbett, The Plain Dealer
Cleveland Pops conductor Carl Topilow's collection of clarinets
includes plastic versions in white, green, red and blue.
CLOSE UP
Conductor's kaleidoscope of colorful clarinets brings whimsy
to concert
Hues add a layer of harmony
If one clarinet is called, well, a clarinet, how would you
describe an assortment of these popular reed instruments? A clamor
(No, too loud). A cornucopia (Nope, too hornlike). A conclave
(Nah, too ecclesiastical). If you're Carl Topilow, you just might
consider the exceedingly un-alliterative term rainbow. At least
the word suggests the extent of the colorful collection )(aha!) of
clarinets that the versatile conductor-clarinetist has amassed to
play concerts with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, Topilow, who
studied at the Manhattan School of Music and heads the conducting
department at the Cleveland Institute of Music, began going past
his professional (black)clarinet with the Pops in 1998, after the
release of the film "The Red Violin." As he recalls thinking at
the time, "Why not a red clarinet?". So he tracked one down, later
adding white, blue and green instruments - all student models made
of plastic - to his clarinet coterie. (Hmm.) The rest is Pops
history.
By mixing and matching parts (joints, bells, and barrels) of
his various plastic clarinets, Topilow can perform pieces ideally
suited to these hybrid instruments, including "Stars and Stripes
Forever" (red, white, and blue; what else?), Christmas tunes (red
and green), and Hanukkah selections (blue and white, the colors of
the Israeli flag). He picks the intact blue clarinet for "Rhapsody
in Blue" and "Stardust," the red for "My Funny Valentine", and the
green for "Danny Boy." It's a no-brainer which one he's pondering
for "White Christmas."
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