| Brought to you this hour by |  | Advertising and Web Hosting on Woodwind.Org! |
Doublereed Archive - Posting 000034.txt from 2007/05
From: "HAROLD" <harold@-----.br>
Subj: [DR-L] What time's the next Swan?
Date: Sun, 06 May 2007 18:37:19 -0400
Dear David,Jerry and the List:
I have just performed my second Swan in this lifetime(the first being the
Swan Lake of Tsch) and would recommend that everyone who plays oboe/EH go
through this experience at least once in this musical lifetime.My opinion of
Sibeliuses music goes up higher and higher with every year as I get
older.Mozart and Gershwin were my beloveds in my teens,Brahms and Schumann
in my 20s,Mahler in my 30s ,Villa Lobos and Rachmaninoff in my 40s
,Stravinsky never,etc and as we go to "senior citizen :Sibelius.
Unfortunately back at Music and Art High School--my alma mater--I was
subjected by a tyrannical conductor to rehearsing not only Beethoven's 5th
but one of Sibeliuses more mundane(in my opinion) works:Finlandia for one
whole year,five times a week!
This abundance of Sibelius(and Beethoven) gave me the wrong idea about one
of the greatest composers of the 20th century.
The Swan and the Symponies of this great Finnish master hit something in my
gut and heart.
But I must warn "beginners"(like myself until today) to Sibeliuses
"Swan"that living and performing it for almost two weeks is a very difficult
and trying experience because the Swan is so sad,depressive(in Scandinavian
suicidial style),etc. I liken playing Sibeliuses Swan to an actor reciting
Hamlet. My temperament tries to be on the sunny side and this great work has
an effect.
But it is so lovely for an EH to play with strings.Wonder if the work has
ever been tried on the bassoon with strings(the arrangement says it can be
played by Eb alto sax or tp)?
For what I have learned here are my tips: (1)Get the piano reduction and
play from it.(Better memorize the piece and play it by heart!)
(2)Despite my own esteemed teacher's advice to "sit down,"I performed the
work standing ,nearby(on the side) of the conductor(a blonde Brazilian who
looks like a Viking descendant).I tried sitting in the orchestra and sitting
in front of the orchestrato play my Swan but came to the conclusion--thank
you Delmar for the suggestion--that for ME and my breathing and the
sound(everyone agreed) best was playing in front of the orchestra,standing.
(3)Practice at
home with the recording. This might be the most important moment of your
double reed career (and my first solo in front on the orch. on EH) but it's
only a small part of the program.(Our concert included the Sibeliuses 1st
and a Brazilian piano concerto). Nevertheless I did manage to get in five
short rehearsals with the last one being this morning at 9:30am prior to our
10":30am concert(German tradition:Sunday morning concert before lunch).
(4)Carry that
drying out spray can in your pocket and spritz the G key before going out
and bore. (We use heavy air conditioning and fortunately nothing gurgled but
the F# was getting wet by the end via water in the E key). English horns
also have other problems which are worrisome:will the reed fall off the
bocal, if I have to take apart the EH to clean it ,where will I put it,will
I lose my bocal,etc?
(5)Have 3-5
reeds prepared(I like both the Chudnow silver and gold eh tubes) and use
what is most comfy on the day of the concert
(6)The
triplets --the Swan's wings(?)--are not to be rush but played slowly and
calmly.(A member of the audience actually told me she saw a swan as I
played!)The high Bs,As and Cs are written ff but really it might be better
to hit them lightly and crescendo into them.Vibrato should be controlled or
otherwise you might sound like an old goat instead of a Swan!
(7)Courage,a
good yoga lesson,a tranquillizer or Rescue drops or whatever you use from
Beta blockers to passion fruit juice(maracuja in Brazil) and tranquility are
most important in the world for this work. Accustomed to playing oboe
concertos where technique is always the most important item, playing the
slow Swan is really a challenge.
Well there goes one Swan! What time 's the
next Swan?
Rgds,
Harold Emert
Rio-Brazil
AM
Subject: Re: [doublereeds] BrazilianSwan in Niteroi
> Congratulations, Harold!
>
> How did it go?
>
> David
>
> At 07:57 PM 5/4/2007, you wrote:
>>May 6 ,Sunday
>>10:30am, CineArte UFF
>>Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro ,Brazil
>>
>>Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional
>>
>>Program
>>
>>Sibelius :Swan of Tuonela
>> (soloist:Harold Emert,eh)
>>
>>Sibleius: Symphony no. 1
>>
>>Vilani-Cortes:Concerto no. 3 for piano and orchestra
>>
>>Soloist:Fabio Luz
>>Ligia Amadio,conductor
---------------------------------------------------------------------
For personal help: email doublereed-owner@-----.org
Doublereed is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org
