Just before World War II a question was put to a very old viola-player, sometime conductor of the Duke of Devonshire's Orchestra, about the playing of Mühlfeld. The old man had occasionally been called in by Joachim to play in his quartet, and on several occasions had played the Brahms Quintet with the great Mühlfeld. Of the clarinettist's playing he was most enthusiastic, saying that three things mainly stuck in his memory. 'He used two clarinets, A and B flat, for the slow movement, to simplify the gypsy section; he had a fiery technique with a warm tone - and a big vibrato.' Asked again by a startled questioner if he didn't mean to say 'rubato' the old man looked puzzled. 'No,' he said, 'vibrato - much more than Joachim, and as much as the cellist.' (It will be recalled that Joachim was reputed to play with little or no vibrato.) << less