OT:Dale Clevenger retirement

[ChrisH]

Dale Clevenger lead horn of the Chicago Symphony is retiring this year.  He was surely one of the greatest horn players I've heard on record or live.

I thought this might be of interest to the board as he played on many great Mahler recordings.

[Don]

Some said it was about time... but for me who first heard Mahler through the CSO and Solti and heard him live in the Mahler 7 ca 1972, he will be remembered as the premiere horn of his generation.

He started his career here in KC as principal horn of the then Kansas City Philharmonic.

[Roland Flessner]

Mr. Clevenger has had a most distinguished career here in Chicago. However, in recent seasons his playing has been unreliable, and that was pointedly noticed when the CSO played in New York last fall.. He has been absent from many concerts in Orchestra Hall, and when he played M5 under Semyon Bychkov, he had an understudy next to him. He played like his old self in that concert.

He was not on stage Tuesday for "The Water Goblin" by Dvorak, Rach III with Garrick Ohlsson, and the Sibelius First. It was a terrific concert, conducted by Sir Mark Elder. Ohlsson was excellent!

And, the horn section sounded magnificent, which is part of Mr. Clevenger's legacy.

Let me add that I adore "The Water Goblin," along with the other symphonic poems based on Erben ("The Wild Dove," "The Golden Spinning Wheel," and "The Noon Witch"). The reviewer for the Tribune called "Goblin" minor Dvorak, but I think it shows the composer at the height of his powers. I'm glad that this series of works is gaining more attention lately.

[barry guerrero]

Yeah, that's a nice program and I completely agree with your assessment of the late Dvorak tone poems. They're 'proto-Mahler' in my book.

I've only heard Clevenger once and that was when the CSO came to S.F. to play Mahler 5 under Solti. To my ears, Clevenger sounded 'bracky' and harsh, as though he were blowing too hard on too small of a mouthpiece. In fact, the whole orchestra sounded pretty bad. However, they were pretty exhausted and disgusted as they're plane got in late to S.F., and their instruments were somehow lost for a while - some such story, anyway. Solti was terrible. He flipped his arms all over the place, which seemed to have nothing to do with what was going on in the music. He also had his head buried in the score far more than I would have expected. I was not impressed.