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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000061.txt from 2006/12
From: Richard Ramey <rcramey@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [DR-L] Nutcracker 1st bassoon part
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 15:04:35 -0500
Kevin,
It's not that difficult. There are, however, a few places that need
practice time each year. For me, the hardest lick is the high A to
high B trill near the opening of Act II. I've found a good solution
where each note of the trill sounds very close to the timbre of the A/
B using regular fingerings. But because I use harmonic fingerings to
do the trill, that adds to the difficulty of getting the high B
out. Tchaikovsky loved the bassoon, as evidenced from the myriad of
solo passages throughout his orchestral works but had no mercy on the
players' complaints..continuing to write awkward passages high and low.
The short passage quoted in my original email isn't that big of a
deal, but still bugs me each year that I can't get it out 100% of
the time cleanly.
Another fun aspect of Nutcracker is after having played the entire
piece, Tchaik. writes a simple quarter note passage in octaves for 31
bars...by this point, the 2nd and I just want to go home..not endure
this passage!
Richard
Richard Ramey
Professor of Bassoon
University of Arkansas
member, The Ramey Trio
On Dec 19, 2006, at 1:38 PM, Kevin H. Moore wrote:
> The current discussion of "The Nutcracker" 1st bassoon part caused
> me to
> remember all the work I put in on my orchestral reduction of this
> piece. I
> noticed that both clarinet parts and the first bassoon part are
> longer than
> the flute parts. So, clearly, there's a lot of playing.
>
> But how hard is the 1st bassoon part to play? I'm just curious,
> given all
> the work on this piece that I've done over the past couple years.
>
> Thanks -
>
> Kevin H. Moore
>
>
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