Friday, November 16, 2012

Dominique-René de Lerma: Marcus Eley, Clarinetist


[But Not Forgotten: Music by African-American Composers for Clarinet & Piano; Marcus Eley, clarinet; Lucerne DeSa, piano; Sono Luminus DSL-92156 (U.S. release date July 31, 2012)]

Clarinetist Marcus Eley
by Dominique-René de Lerma


Among African American concert clarinetists who come to mind certainly is F. Nathaniel Gatlin (1913-1989), on Virginia State's faculty from 1947 until his retirement in 1978 and founder of the Petersburg Symphony Orchestra.  Currently there is Bryant Crumpler (of Atlanta's El Sistema program); Anthony McGill (principal clarinetist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra); James Gholson (retired this year from his post as principal  clarinet with the Memphis Symphony), Tom Jones (conductor of the Afro-American Chamber Music Society in Los Angeles, who died in 2011); Antoine Clark (formerly of Baltimore's Soulful Symphony), and Kenneth Keeling (formerly of Carnegie Mellon University).  Unlike their counterparts in the jazz world, these players normally do not double -- even on saxophone, much less other winds.  And there are those who left the instrument for the podium: Paul Freeman (founder-laureate of the Chicago Sinfonietta), Leslie Dunner (Joffrey Ballet), and Rudolph Dunbar (1907-1988, who was guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic).
              In 2009 appeared the first CD dedicated mainly to clarinet music of Black Americans, performed by Marcus Eley.  This, which is probably the first recording with that repertoire, has now been followed by a second.  And very few CD releases have received so much attention in the press -- all very enthusiastic -- certainly not those for a solo woodwind (note must be made of Lecolion Washington's superb issue on Albany of 2008, where the repertoire was dedicated to the bassoon).
              I knew Marcus when he was an undergraduate student of Bernard Portnoy at Indiana University.  It was immediately evident this handsome young man had an iron-clad dedication to the cause, ready to be invested in a major career as soon as the time was right.  He had been born in Indianapolis in 1954.  When only nine, he and a sister entered a competition to identify orchestral works.  With only one out of ten answers incorrect, he was defeated by his sister, all of whose responses were correct.  Yet he is the one who became a professional musician.
              He stayed in Bloomington to earn his master's degree (1979), whereupon local support awarded him the opportunity to enroll in Vienna's prestigious Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, where he studied with the clarinetist of the Vienna Philharmonic.  He later added private study work with  other legendary artists, such as Cleveland's Robert Marcellus and Franklin Cohen, and Chicago's Clark Brody.  That is an extraordinary foundation!
              It is astonishing, however, to know that he was not then picked up for membership in a major orchestra, but he disliked the impersonality of auditions (which, avoiding prejudice, has the players hidden from the jurors and their entrance  made on a carpeted floor to diminish the sounds of high heels).
              It becomes even more surprising when Mr. Eley established an international reputation, visiting China twice for recitals and lectures on Black American music, performing on a series of recitals in London, participating in professional conferences in France, Belgium, and Australia.  And now, resulting from his tours of South Africa, comes his second CD.
              He has filled out his time representing Rico International, a firm that responds to the world's clarinetists and saxophonists, and teaching at California State University-Los Angeles.  He expanded his vita becoming Dean of Students at the New England Conservatory of Music for the 1965 school year and has since worked for the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and Local 47 of the Musicians' Union.  He has also worked in the theater as actor and playwright, with Los Angeles as his base.
              His recorded repertoire includes a composer-arranged movement from Samuel Akpabot's Scenes from Nigeria (he had acquired this directly from the composer, a quarter-century ago).  It illustrates a non-jazz essay by Alvin Batiste and Oliver Nelson, whose manuscript sonata, originally for saxophone, Eley located at the Library of Congress.  David Baker, one of the most prolific composers since Telemann, is represented most substantially, and we have the too-rare opportunity to hear music by Dorothy Rudd Moore -- which Lucerne DeSa, ever serving as his colleague,  has a chance to prove herself an intelligent and very musical pianist.  Eley has made his own transcriptions of Joplin and Burleigh.  Let us hope that a CD of chamber works for solo clarinet will be forthcoming.  Can we nominate literature, beyond the splendid quintet from Coleridge-Taylor's youth?  Might not Eley's command of the instrument stimulate new repertoire?
              The challenge has been set.  As Washington and Eley have identified works by those gone, but not forgotten,  the role of researcher-artist should now be accepted by flutists, oboists,  horn and trumpet players.

              The repertoire for both CDs follows.  In all instances, Lucerne DeSa is the pianist (2009, Welcome home, Arabesque 6703; 2012, But not forgotten, Sono Luminus DSL-92156):

Akpabot, Samuel.  Scenes from NigeriaPastorale.   Sono Luminus.
Baker, David.  Sonata, clarinet & piano.  1. Blues; 2. Loneliness; 3. Dance. Arabesque.
Batiste, Alvin.  Episodes.  Sono Luminus.
Burleigh, Harry T.  Deep river.  Arabesque.
Cochran, Todd.  Soul-bird.  Sono Luminus
George, Thom Ritter.  Sonata, clarinet & piano.  1. Allegro moderato; . Adagio ma non troppo; Cantilena; 4. Allegro molto quasi presto.  Arabesque.
Hilliard, Quincy.  Coty.  1. Daybreak; 2. Sunset; 3. Dance.  Sono Luminus.
Joplin, Scott.  Weeping willow; A ragtime two-step.  Sono Luminus.
Moore, Dorothy Rudd.  Night fantasy.  1. Largo; 2. Allegro.  Sono Luminus.
Moore, Undine Smith.  Introduction and allegro.  Sono Luminus.
Nelson, Oliver.  Sonata, saxophone & piano.  1. Drammatico 2. Largo; 3. With vigor.  Arabesque.
Price, John E.  Blues and dance.  Arabesque.
Stevenson, H.  Amazing grace.  Sono Luminus.
Still, William Grant.  Romance. Sono Luminus.
White, Clarence Cameron.  Basque folk song.  Sono Luminus.
Wilder, Alec.  Sonata, clarinet & piano. Allegro moderato; 2. Andante; 3. Grazioso; 4. Allegro con fuoco .  Arabesque.

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Dominique-René de Lerma

[Samuel Akpabot, Scott Joplin and William Grant Still are profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a complete Works List for William Grant Still by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com]

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