Brahms met Richard Muhlfeld in 1891; he had recently decided to retire from composing large orchestral works to concentrate on chamber music. He was to write a chamber piece for viola and upon hearing Muhlfeld play, the story goes, decided to write for the clarinet instead. The clarinet trio op.114, clarinet quintet op.115, and the two sonatas for clarinet and piano op.120 (the viola may be substituted for the clarinet in these).
There are three predominant "schools" of clarinet playing today: French, German, and American. By school is meant the characteristic traits associated with the sound and performance style and techniques of players with roots in those particular countries. In the case of the French and the German schools these roots go back a couple of hundred years more than in the American. There are many differences that, as many clarinetists point out, exist between these different styles, but they may be summarized as follows:
The German style is generally known for it's very dark timbre, fullness of tone but somewhat spread and less focused than in the French style.
The French players ar known for playing with a brighter timbre with a more pointed or focused tone and are also stereotypically known to emphasize brilliant technique or flashiness. Use of vibrato is more common.
At the beginning of the twentieth century there was an influx of European wind players to the USA, French in particular. Daniel Bonade was the most distiguished of the French clarinetists in the USA and during his tenure in the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski, gave birth to the American style of clarinet playing also known as the Philadelphia school of clarinet playing. Many of Bonade's students went on to occupy positions in the various major orchestras in the country. The American style is, no surprise, a hybrid of French and German concepts of clarinet sound, and attempts to combine the depth of tone of the German players with the flexibility and tonal center of the French. To some European players the American clarinet sound is lacking personality; I disagree.
As I pointed out in my first post, the issue of Leister sounding more like Muhlfeld is mainly speculation, since no one really knows what Muhlfeld sounded like; but it is an accepted fact that concepts of tone production and performance style are handed down from teacher to student from generation to generation. This is particularly true in the case of the older players since they were less influenced, during their years as young developing artists, by the blurring of nationalistic styles that is the result of having access to many recordings of foreign players and orchestras. The older players are also more likely to have more experience in orchestra environments where there was not as much of the modern day phenomenom of the endless stream of foreign guest conductors.
So in light of all this, and the simple fact that Leister is a German player who studied in Germany (his father was his first teacher) and consequently was influenced by the playing traditions handed down to his teacher by his father's German teacher etc., I don't think that it is too far of a stretch to say that Leister's style and approach to the instrument is probably closer (and I suspect a lot closer) to what Brahms heard in the playing of the great Muhlfeld, than those of Wright or Kell.
As an interesting footnote it should be noted that the quintet op.115 was written for the clarinet in A not the more common clarinet in B flat. There are two reasons for this: the clarinet is a transposing instrument so that the quintet, being in the key of B minor would result in the B flat clarinet part being in the key of C sharp minor. If the clarinet in A is used the resulting transposition puts the clarinet part in the key of D minor; a much easier key for the player to negotiate technical passages. The second reason that composers often choose the A clarinet over the B flat clarinet is that the A clarinet being a slightly larger instrument (it reaches a half tone lower than the B flat instrument) produces a deeper, darker and more opulent sound.
Happy listening and Happy Holidays.
