David Shifrin plays Mozart Clarinet Concerto 3rd Movement with the CC Youth Symphony Orchestra with a customized replica 1700's clarinet hand-made by Selmer Signet after retirement. Because the clarinet has been shortened and simplified during the nearly two centuries since Mozart's death, modern instruments are not capable of reaching the low notes in the original works. When musicians play the Concerto and Quintet on the modern clarinet today, parts of whole phrases are transposed an octave higher. Much of the clarinet voice in the Concerto, for example, suffers from breaks in mid-phrase. So Shifrin set out to remedy this problem by designing an instrument that would accommodate the lower register of the Concerto. The result: an extended-range clarinet built for him by the distinguished wind-instrument maker, Leonard Gullotta. Shifrin attaches a unique lower joint, incorporating a system of alternating keys for the little fingers, to the top half of his regular clarinet. Though this adds about eight inches and five pounds to the instrument, and in the soloist's words, "looks like an awful lot of hardware," the music "takes on a more bittersweet quality, deeper and fuller." |
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