Klarinet Archive - Posting 000930.txt from 2000/06

From: MVinquist@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Eb solos - Heliogabolus Imperator
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 20:02:34 -0400

I wrote:

>Hans Werner Henze's "Heliogabolus Imperator" has a big cadenza for Eb. I
>heard the New York premiere by the Chicago Symphony several years ago, when,
>I believe, Julie DeRoche played it. However, the piece is a monstrosity --
>an hour long, calling for maybe 120 players, and not a note of music in it,
>even in the Eb cadenza.

>Ken Shaw

------------------------------

to which Gregory Smith replied:

>Ken,

> I'm afraid that this is not possible. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Eb
>clarinetist is John Yeh. A large Eb clarinet cadenza of this kind would have
>been played by him or another member of the section, not an extra (or
>substitute) player with the orchestra. Although I do not remember performing
>this work at Carnegie in my 16 years with the orchestra, I could assure you
>that the personnel was slightly different than you mention. Do you remember
>what year or span of years that you heard the piece?

>Gregory Smith

Gregory -

I do not remember the date of the concert, but it was certainly more than 16
years ago -- probably closer to 25. It may have been before Clark Brody's
retirement. At any rate, I'm positive that the Eb player was a woman.
Several months later, at the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute, I met
Grover Schiltz (the Chicago english horn player at the time), who had come to
learn baroque oboe from Michel Piguet. The conversation turned to how one
dealt with having to play everything that came along, even when it was
dreadful. I mentioned Heliogabolus Imperator as an example, and he agreed
that the orchestra members thought it was nothing but noise. As I recall,
his phrase was "a piece of s___."

I asked him about the Eb cadenza, and he said the woman was definitely a
"temp" and not a regular orchestra member. Perhaps the regular Eb player was
indisposed. At any rate, whoever it was did a dazzling job.

Grover Schiltz was a very funny fellow -- maybe 5'6", with his 6'2" wife, who
played the tiniest double bass I've ever seen. I believe they bred champion
dachshunds. He had biggest, roundest, most beautiful tone I've ever heard on
english horn. I was at a Famous Concert -- again, 25 years ago -- that
established a sort of professional wrestling atmosphere for Solti/Chicago
concerts in New York, where the reputation became as important as the
performance. They played Roman Carnival and the Symphony Fantastique, and
the english horn playing was mesmerizing. I remember that as much as I
remember the brass nearly bringing down plaster during the March to the
Scaffold.

If you talk with Grover Schiltz, I'm sure he'll remember the New York
concerts, and probably the Henze. Clark Brody should also remember.

Best regards.

Ken Shaw

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