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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000062.txt from 2007/05
From: Barbara Trautwein <mzeztee@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [DR-L] What time's the next Swan?
Date: Tue, 08 May 2007 12:21:54 -0400
hEAR, HEAR !!!
b
David Lurie wrote:
> At 12:14 PM 5/7/2007, you wrote:
>
>> WTH?! Do you ever talk about something that is not about you?
>>
>> No regard,
>> Dave
>
>
> Dave,
> I find your msg here just gratuitously nasty for no reason having
> anything to do with Harold. Most of the people I know talk incessantly
> about things that are only of interest to them, or of themselves, just
> like you probably do. I'm not saying you do that, but the chances look
> pretty good that's the case, unless you are a very unusual person. But
> there is no need - outside of your own personal anger - to speak so
> nastily to Harold. IMHO, you owe him an apology.
>
> David Lurie
>
>
>
>>> 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
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
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> Doublereed is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org
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