I met the Belgian clarinettist Ronald Van Spaendonck in November 2018, when he came to the city of Buenos Aires to give a masterclass and recital at the DAMUS (Department of Musical and Sound Arts) of the University of the Arts. Years ago, that beautiful building was the seat of the beloved "Carlos López Buchardo" National Conservatory, where I studied.
I listened to his French music recital (works by Saint-Säens, Pierné, Cahuzac and Poulenc) and his masterclass. I liked it a lot... obviously he is a great clarinettist and teacher, extremely musical, with great technical mastery, etc.
After that day, I looked up other recordings of him, and that's when I began to admire him more. In particular, I was AMAZED by a video in which he performs the famous "Méditation de Thaïs", written by Jules Massenet (1842-1912), accompanied by harp. It is a very, very delicate piece, in the high register, originally written for violin, and Van Spaendonck plays it in the original key of D major (that is, E major for B-flat clarinet). If you want to know the sheet music for violin (there are two pages in PDF), you can download it below:
Going back to Van Spaendonck, in the "Méditation de Thaïs" video, his control of the sound, the beauty of the phrasing, the tuning, the handling of the slur, the nuances, are really REMARKABLE. Those of us who are clarinetists know or can imagine how difficult it is to play this piece with such quality. Playing badly is easy. On the other hand, playing really well is hard.
Now I leave you with the video for you to enjoy!
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