Klarinet Archive - Posting 000804.txt from 1996/03

From: Mitch Bassman <mbassman@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Symphonic Contrabass [Corigliano]
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 1996 18:56:57 -0500

Whoops, I was too late responding; Benjamin Maas beat me to the fact that:
> There is a contra part (and even a small solo in Corrigliano's Symphony #1.

I'd like to add something about this symphony. I went to a National
Symphony Orchestra performance of John Corigliano's symphony this past
November. Corigliano was in Washington for the series of concerts
featuring his symphony because the NSO performances were being recorded
for release on CD later this year. Three live performances (Thursday,
Friday, and Saturday evenings) plus a short touchup session following the
Saturday concert were to be edited digitally to produce the "live"
recording.

The contrabass clarinet part is quite prominent. The instrument is used
effectively in conjunction with the contrabassoon, tuba, and string
basses. Presumably because the bass clarinet is sometimes used
concurrently with the contrabass, the contra part was played by the NSO's
E-flat player, Bill Wright. Two things amazed me (in retrospect, they
shouldn't have; he's such a marvelous musician): (1) He had at least one
very quick change from E-flat soprano to the contrabass (or the other way,
I forget which). Both exposed parts sounded beautiful. (2) He was
playing a wooden contra! I had never seen a wooden contrabass before that
night. I wanted to get a close look at it after the concert, but I didn't
get the chance.

Because I was attending the concert with one of Corigliano's composition
students (my son's roommate in grad school), I had a chance to meet with
him before and after the concert. Before the concert, he graciously
autographed the CD insert from my copy of the Stolzman recording of his
concerto.

After the concert, I was invited to join him in the Kennedy Center green
room, where the recording equipment was set up, for the touchup session.
(I admit that it was his student who was actually invited in; I was
allowed to join them only because I was his student's transportation.)
Nevertheless, it was both thrilling and educational to sit there while
John Corigliano, Leonard Slatkin, and the recording producer discussed the
strategy for correcting a few missed notes or not quite perfect balance
spots. It's amazing what they can do with 7 DAT systems and careful notes
about the spots to be adjusted.

The NSO musicians had changed out of their concert attire and were on
stage in casual clothes. As interesting as the recording session was, I
was equally interested in the time limit imposed on the session itself;
they couldn't simply stay there until they all agreed that it was perfect;
there was a man with a stop watch who periodically announced the time
remaining before the union musicians would turn into pumpkins. As the
time grew shorter, the strategy for deciding which measure in which
movement to re-record continued to change. When the count down reached
exactly one second remaining, and the orchestra was still playing the
final passage, the producer announced into the public address system that
could be heard in the concert hall by Slatkin and the orchestra, "That's
it. Thank you." And that was it, thank you. And we all exhaled.

By the way, Corigliano stated on several occasions that evening that the
Slatkin/NSO performances of the symphony had been as great as he had ever
heard. Look for this CD later this year. Oh, and listen for the
contrabass clarinet.

--Mitch Bassman
mbassman@-----.com