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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000050.txt from 2007/05

From: "Dave Metzger" <dave_metzger9@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [DR-L] What time's the next Swan?
Date: Mon, 07 May 2007 12:14:51 -0400

WTH?! Do you ever talk about something that is not about you?

No regard,
Dave

>From: "HAROLD" <harold@-----.br>
>Reply-To: doublereed@-----.org
>To: <doublereed@-----.org>
>Subject: [DR-L] What time's the next Swan?
>Date: Sun, 6 May 2007 19:37:19 -0300
>
>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

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