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Author: William
Date: 2010-09-23 20:03
Absolutely "blown away" by the NPT live NYP concert from Lincoln Center. The Marcelles "Swing" Symphony #3 was stunning and marvelously performed by members of the NYP plus the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Also played was the Strauss, Don Juan and Hindemuth, Metomorphosis on themes of Weber, also played to perfection.
Aside, I couldn't help noticing the clarinets and Mark Nuccio in particular. For the "Swing" Symphony, he was playing a clarinet with a custom barrell that looked to me like a Backun (and no glasses). For the other "tunes", he was playing a Buffet clarinet with what appeared to be a stock barrel and using a vintage Kaspar ligature on his mouthpiece. His sound was a bit weak in comparison to the larger ensemble, but very focused. And, he was wearing his glasses. Hmmmmm. I was also surprised to see only two clarinetists plus the bass clarinetist, refreshingly, both women. Pasqual was not there for this opening event.
The concert televised on PBS was worth my DVR effort and I am saving it for a while to review later some time. Very impressive, the New York Philharmonic and Conductor Gilbert. Bravo from Wisconsin........
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2010-09-23 21:47
I think Forteza was playing on first half of the program, and Nuccio on the second half.
That Bari sax player made it sound so smooth. And some of those alto solos conjured up film noir.
There was one section when all the saxes seemed to be sopranos, and one was even smaller........any thoughts?
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: Koo Young Chung
Date: 2010-09-23 21:48
I enjoyed the performance too.
But IMHO,I think the orchestration is way too heavy.
He should have used much smaller orchestra.
100 players on the stage?
I think he could have much better result with 40-50 members.
Koo Young
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Author: Dileep Gangolli
Date: 2010-09-24 03:22
I thought it was a great concert. I esp enjoyed the Swing Symphony and thought it equivalent to any similar work by Ellington. Marsalis has really come into his own as both a performer and as a composer. Our generation is very lucky indeed.
Forteza was playing first in the Swing Symphony. Nuccio was playing on the Don Juan (which is only scored for three clarinets (2 sop, 1 bass)). I thought he sounded wonderful.
I am looking forward to the broadcasts that can be heard on the NYPO web site shortly after each series.
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Author: LarryBocaner ★2017
Date: 2010-09-24 13:33
To set the record straight: there is no bass clarinet in Don Juan -- only two clarinets. Symphonic Metamorphoses does have two clarinets plus bass -- probably the source of Dileep's confusion.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2010-09-24 14:40
I liked the Marsalis Swing Symphony a lot, but something strange came out in the intermission interview with Marsalis: The performance omitted two movements! It's a long symphony. I'm guessing the cuts facilitated fitting the whole concert into the PBS "Live from Lincoln Center" two-hour broadcast slot with the intermission close to the middle. Without any cuts, the Swing Symphony probably runs longer than an hour.
That's an awfully big compromise to make in the United States premiere of a modern American composer's score (and why did he premiere it in Berlin, I wonder?), with the composer sitting right there, not out in the audience, but contributing virtuosic licks in the trumpet section, no less. I thought the Strauss and Hindemith performances were excellent and I'm glad to have heard them, but if the broadcast couldn't run overtime, then I think it woud've made better sense to omit the Hindemith (the shorter of the three pieces on the program), give us the symphony intact and let the intermission come late.
I like the way Marsalis brings the swing tradition into the symphony by giving choruses/solos to most of his jazz section members, not just to first chair players. However, I also think the Lincoln Center Jazz group, so heavy on brasses, over-balanced the Philharmonic's strings and woodwinds. Some of that imbalance may have come from microphone placement. Except in the solo passages, the clarinets got drowned out much of the time in the Strauss and Hindemith pieces, too.
Came back later to add one other thing: It's hard to tell without ever having heard the music before, but I thought that performance of the Marsalis sounded as if it could've used another rehearsal or two for their first performance of a long, challenging score. There were what sounded to me like quite a few little whoopsies, mostly on entrances. Nothing huge, but just a bit of raggedy-baggedy, where the orchestra sounded slightly out of synch with the jazz band. No such problems in the second half of the program, with the orchestra alone, despite some extremely difficult cues.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
Post Edited (2010-09-24 14:48)
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2010-09-24 18:54
Interesting that the New York Times reviewer, Anthony Tommasini, says there was only one movement cut. Maybe I'm misremembering, but I'm pretty sure Marsalis said during intermission that there were two movements cut.
Tommasini clears up the question of why the work premiered in Berlin:
>The piece was jointly commissioned by the New York
>Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Los Angeles
>Philharmonic and the Barbican in London. >
I agree with Tommasini's high praise of the baritone sax player, Joe Temperley. I don't think Tommasini mentions the Philharmonic's principle oboist, but I thought he also sounded superb. I'd love to hear solo CDs from both of them. Tommasini also mentions the nifty finale that just fades away at the end of the Swing Symphony. I agree with him about that, too, but I'm already primed to squeal like a bad reed if it turns out that this performance lopped off the last movement and that great sound (reminds me of a New Orleans funeral procession marching away into the distance) isn't the real end of the symphony.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
Post Edited (2010-09-24 19:03)
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Author: William
Date: 2010-09-26 15:41
Dr Allen--the "smaller" sax may have been an Eb sopranino. The one that our Retro Swing Band sax player occassionally plays solos on is straight, very similar to the Eb soprano, but much shorter. Kind of the saxophones version of our clarinet families Ab sopranino (which I am still trying to buy somewhere, lol)
FWIW, I did see a curved soprano in the mix, but do not recall seeing a sopranino. Also, I wonder why Wynton ignored the bass saxophone when writing for the sax ensemble segments. Maybe, it was used in one of the two movements that were excluded for this concert. It has such a wonderful "big" low sound and is often a part of the NO's jazz scene.
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2010-09-26 23:29
Thanks, William.....The Eb Soporino sax was seen on the far right (of the TV screen) and is a straight instrument, while the soprano saxes in the section were of the curved type. I saw the soporino (or what I assumed to be a soporino) only briefly, and it appeared definitely shorter than a standard straight soprano....so I am guessing it was the soporino.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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