Klarinet Archive - Posting 000908.txt from 1998/07

From: Dodgshun family <dodgshun@-----.nz>
Subj: Re: [kl] MAHLER WAS A BIG CONDUCTOR ALSO!
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 23:54:43 -0400

At 09:27 PM 23/07/98 -0500, you wrote:
>On Thu, 23 Jul 1998, avrahm galper wrote:
>
>> Sergei Rachmaninoff, the famous Russian musician, relates in his
>> "Recollections" that he once heard Mahler in New York in 1909 conducting
>> Berlioz's "Life of an Artist" and that in the fourth movement (March to
>> the Scaffold) he obtained a crescendo of the brass instruments 'such as
>> I have never heard before. The very windows shook, the very walls
>> seemed to vibrate'.
>
>As I have posted, I very much admire Mahler the composer, and I know that
>he was regarded as one of the world's most outstanding conductors of his
>day, as well. However, it seems to me that getting a crescendo from the
>brass would be about the least of any conductor's problems. Now, if
>Rachmaninoff had said that Mahler had achieved a pianissimo in the brass,
>that would be something to write home about.
>
Couldn't agree more. In our orchestral setup (Chch Youth Orchestra), I
usually end up sitting slightly to the left of the trumpets, and in
consequence, although I'm still only 18, I can discern a noticeable
difference in how well each ear hears, with my left being better. And these
guys are still students, like me! The principal trumpeter in the Chch
Symphony Orchestra (a Russian who must have lungs like an whale) plays the
loudest of anyone I have ever heard - so loud that even with soundshields
and earplugs that at times it's still painful to be sitting in front of him.
And when he's playing piccolo trumpet the shrillness adds a new dimension to
the pain level.....the chariot race in Carl Davis' score for "Ben Hur" has
to have been the worst 15 minutes ever. Yet pianissimo brass can be
absolutely magical, if it's done well.

Anna
(hoping that her hearing won't be further damaged by overenthusiastic
trumpeters)

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