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A conversation with clarinetist and author Albert Rice

Albert Rice, author of the recently released Notes for Clarinetists, sat down with Oxford University Press to answer a few questions about the clarinet and beyond. Besides playing music and writing books on the subject, Rice also works as an appraiser of musical instruments. In our talk with the multi-hyphenate, we touch upon loving music from an early age, his personal influences, his dedication to research on the history of the clarinet, and how a car accident and subsequent hospital stay ended up positively changing his music career.

Why did you become a musician, was your family musical?

Yes, my mother was an opera singer in southern California. I was exposed to music and concerts at an early age and my father was an opera buff.

Was the clarinet the first instrument that you played?

No, I played the piano a bit and had a few accordion lessons, but neither really interested me. My mother knew a clarinetist in the neighborhood and suggested that I try it. I was more formally introduced in elementary school at eleven, and soon, my parents engaged a good private teacher. I played in school bands through high school and college, as well as school and community orchestras. In 1970, I played in the Pasadena Rose Parade.

Who were your most influential clarinet teachers?

Kalman Bloch, principal clarinetist of the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra; Mitchell Lurie, at the University of Southern California; and Rosario Mazzeo, in Carmel, California, formerly bass clarinetist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I also worked with Harold Wright, principal clarinetist of the Boston Symphony at the Tanglewood Music Festival in 1978. Working with these outstanding teachers and musicians and hearing them perform were major influences.

Who were other influential musicians that you worked with?

Charlotte Zelka was a very fine pianist who I worked with for many years in the Jugenstil Trio for piano, violin, and clarinet and in the Almont Ensemble for piano, clarinet violin, viola, and cello. We performed widely for years and recorded several works during the 1980s and 1990s. A number of clarinetists, violinists, violists, and cellists that I have worked with over the years have been influential, as well as hearing and meeting professional clarinetists at meetings of the National and International Clarinet Society, beginning in 1973.

"Clarinet" by Richard Revel, Public Domain via Pixabay.
“Clarinet” by Richard Revel, Public Domain via Pixabay.

What started you on clarinet research?

In 1971, on my 20th birthday, I had a solo automobile accident that caused a compound broken femur. (I was fighting a spider and ran into the freeway center divider.) I was in traction for 30 days, and then 25 days to recuperate and do physical therapy. I was very bored and had previously read two books on the clarinet, F. Geoffrey Rendall’s The Clarinet: Some notes on its history, and Oskar Kroll’s, The Clarinet. I asked my mother to bring me these books to re-read while I was stuck in bed, and I thought about a lot of subjects and details in these books. I promised myself that I would re-check the research these authors had presented. That was the beginning of my obsession with clarinet research.

When did you start becoming interested in early clarinets?

This was in 1976 and 1977 when I researched and wrote my Master’s dissertation at Claremont Graduate School on Valentin Roeser’s 1764 Essai d’instruction. During the 1980s, as a graduate student, I saw the clarinets in the Curtis Janssen Collection at the Claremont Colleges and later was allowed to write a brief description of each of them for the curator. In 1987, after finishing a Ph.D. at Claremont Graduate School, I became the museum’s curator (half-time) and began compiling a computer based inventory of about 500 instruments in the Kenneth G. Fiske Museum, as it was then called. In addition, I attended annual conferences of the American Musical Instrument Society, a group of curators, restorers, enthusiasts, and collectors. During these trips, I was able to study instruments and clarinets at collections through the U.S. and Europe.

How did you become a professional appraiser of musical instruments?

A professional appraiser and restorer of mechanical musical instruments who had consulted at the Fiske Museum suggested that I learn the profession of musical instrument appraisal. I took classes and attended meetings of the American Association of Appraisers. Since 1990, I have prepared written appraisals for all types of musical instruments.

How many books have you written?

Five. The first three were on the history of the clarinet and partially based on my doctoral dissertation finished in 1987. They are The Baroque Clarinet (1992), The Clarinet in the Classical Period (2003), and From the Clarinet d’Amour to the Contra Bass: a History of Large Size Clarinets, 1740-1860 (2009), all published by Oxford University Press. In 2015, I wrote a catalog describing about 600 musical instruments of all types for my friend Marlowe A. Sigal, who lives close to Boston. His collection is the finest and most comprehensive in private hands, the title is Four Centuries of Musical Instruments: The Marlowe A. Sigal Collection, published by Schiffer Publications. The most recent book is Notes for Clarinetists: A Guide to the Repertoire published in 2017 by Oxford University Press. It is written for undergraduate college students and other clarinetists. It discusses 35 solo works by composers from Johann Stamitz to Karlheinz Stockhausen. A musical analysis is in each chapter with information on the composer.

Have you written articles and on what subjects?

I have written 75 articles, mostly on the the clarinet, its history, clarinet method books, and different types of instruments, including, contra bass clarinets, small sized clarinets, and a clarinet automaton. I have also written on brass instruments, the early saxophone and its dispersion through Europe and America, musical instrument makers, 35 reviews of books, and many encyclopedia articles.

Featured image credit: “Clarinet Music Melody” by Imaresz. CC0 Public Domain via Pixabay.

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