MIRANDA HEGGIE After the success and popularity of similar workshops with erstwhile Edinburgh Youth Orchestra soloist Nicola Benedetti, this year's EYO soloist, clarinettist Julian Bliss, has been taking a series of workshops for young clarinettists and woodwind players across Scotland. Twenty clarinettists were present at Edinburgh Academy on Tuesday afternoon to hear, and be heard by, the internationally acclaimed young musician.
The afternoon began with all 20 of them performing Colin Cowles's seven-part piece for clarinet ensemble, Paean, which gave each of them a chance to play and to get a feel for what it is like to play as a group. Bliss then played Francis Poulenc's Sonata for two Clarinets, along with Calum Robertson, principal clarinettist with EYO.
"It is amazing to be able to play with someone my own age who is of such a great standard," said Robertson, who is in his final year of secondary school and has been playing with the orchestra for the past three years. "Also, it is nice to have a woodwind player as our soloist after having two string players."
Robertson and Bliss played with such a fantastic blend of tone and infallible precision that it was hard to believe they had only performed the piece together for the first time that morning.
Bliss will play Mozart's Clarinet Concerto with the orchestra next month. Although it is a very well-known piece of music, it is now unusual to hear it played on the basset clarinet, the instrument for which it was originally intended. This instrument differs to the standard clarinets in A or B flat, as it is able to produce much lower sounds. Bliss gave a demonstration of his instrument, which was specially made for him by Morrie Backun in Canada, who makes all of his clarinets for him. Although there is in fact very little written for this particular clarinet, Bliss feels it worthwhile to have his own specially-made instrument: "Mozart is so much requested, and I find it better to play on the most original instrument you can get."
This particular concerto is not the only one in Bliss's repertoire. He claims to have seven or eight tucked up his sleeve - not something that can be said by most 17-year-olds. However, Bliss is something of a child prodigy, having taken up the clarinet when he was just four years old. He played his first concerto at the age of eight, and took his first masterclass at 16.
Although neither of his parents are musical, Bliss always knew he wanted to play an instrument. Despite his tender years, he'd tried a few different ones before discovering the clarinet. "It was like I always knew it was what I wanted to play," he says of his first encounter with the instrument. "I just didn't know at that point what it was actually called."
Bliss has not yet played with the orchestra, but will join them on their Easter course, and at concerts in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. Julian Bliss plays the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with Edinburgh Youth Orchestra at the Usher Hall on April 7; City Halls, Glasgow, April 8; and the Music Hall, Aberdeen, April 10.
