Brought to you this hour by

Advertising and Web Hosting on Woodwind.Org!

Doublereed Archive - Posting 000055.txt from 2007/05

From: Arri Bachrach <abachrach@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [DR-L] What time's the next Swan?
Date: Mon, 07 May 2007 13:30:10 -0400

DM?????
what the hell do YOU care........ dont read his stuff if you are not
interested.

Regardless,
AB

>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
>
>Exercise your brain! Try Flexicon.
>http://games.msn.com/en/flexicon/default.htm?icid=flexicon_hmemailtaglineapril07
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>For personal help: email doublereed-owner@-----.org
>Doublereed is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org

---------------------------------------------------------------------
For personal help: email doublereed-owner@-----.org
Doublereed is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org