Alborada del Gracioso

We're performing Ravel's Alborada del Gracioso this weekend. Originally composed as a piece for piano solo, Ravel himself orchestrated it. In doing so, he gave the four short solo lines about a third of the way through the piece to the bassoon.

 Beginning at 9, the bassoon has four short unaccompanied solos joined by shorter and shorter impressionistic interludes by the strings and percussion.

Prior to the first solo there is a massive orchestral chord. Wait a beat or two before starting to let the air clear!

All grace note groups in these solos should start with a light articulation. Tongue single grace notes and the first of a group of grace notes. Accented notes and notes with tenutos under big slurs should also receive a light articulation. This will help bring them out and give them the necessary tonal weight required by the recitativo indication. Don't stop the air prior to articulation under the big slurs, simply give the note in question a gentle nudge!

Notice the rhythmic accelerandos in the first and last solos. These should be executed with some freedom. Play them a bit as if notated as an accelerando on the SAME repeated note value ("basketball bouncing by itself on the gym floor" effect). Don't let them sound like a musical math problem!

The middle two solos, being shorter and smaller in pitch compass, should be more mellow and understated than the outer two.

Notice the combination of "faster" (pressez) and "softer" during the triplets in the fourth solo!  These two indications do not often go together -- louder/faster is more common.

Tempo for these solos should be slower than the interludes and can vary. Try them at roughly half the tempo of the interludes ( ♩=♪).

A Month of Extremes, Pt.3 -- Ligeti's Piano Concerto

Bassoonists reading this may want to print the above image. This is the opening of the second movement of Ligeti's Piano Concerto. A close look reveals writing for the bassoon in the extreme. Very soft attacks on high Eb and high E in a passage that constitutes a duet with the piccolo. The texture is very light and every note you play up to Letter F is a solo.

The rest of the piece is extremely difficult as well, but we'll just deal with the high register issues confronted by anyone playing the bassoon part.

Many bassoonists have a special bocal for high notes. Here is mine:

It's a Fox #2CVX bocal. The black band is a piece of aquarium tubing. In the second photo you can see a pinhole drilled into the bocal just below the band. The band can be slid over the hole or beside it depending upon whether or not you want the hole to be available. In the third photo you can see a black line I scribed on the bocal so you can look to see if the hole is covered while counting rests. Important when you have rests between passages that contain high notes and those that don't (see "A major drawback below).

The hole is drilled at 1" from the tip of the bocal to a diameter of .020". I've seen a few other dimensions for this hole, but this one works well for me. Do not attempt drilling yourself. Take the bocal to a repair technician!

When the hole is open, high E's, Eb's and even F's pop out much easier and at "pp". I don't even have to use a specialty reed!

A major drawback:

This hole drastically weakens the ability of the bassoon/reed to produce tones in the third harmonic (Eb3 up to Bb4)! Notes in that range may speak as a multi phonic or not at all! Therefore, having the slider on the bocal is important. Closing the hole restores security to notes in this range.

High F's!!

The Ligeti contains two high F's.

Note his instructions at the bottom of the page: "In this register, even if the note doesn't speak correctly!"

Here's the other:

I love the indication, "It's possible, don't transpose!"

A Month of Extremes

The repertoire I'm performing this month dwells in the extremes of bassoon playing. 90% of what bassoonists do consists of starting and stopping notes predictably at the proper dynamic, etc. Very little of orchestral repertoire consists of solo work and most of it is part of something else -- a bass line to a melody, a note in a chord, etc.

For this month, very little of what I'm playing contains the everyday, mundane job of playing the bassoon in an ensemble!  Here's a short list of the pieces I'm playing:

Debussy: Pelleas et Melisande, Bsn3
Miguel del Aguila: Nostalgica and Malambo -- both pieces I commissioned for bassoon and string quartet
Ligeti Piano Concerto
Bernstein: West Side Story soundtrack with film

The Cleveland Orchestra began May with 3 staged performances of Debussy's opera, Pelleas et Melisande. There are 3 bassoon parts, so I was assigned to play the 3rd bassoon part. The opera starts like this:

The first measure is Bassoon 3 alone with lower strings. Much of the opera is written at "pp" and "p". This is particularly true of the 2nd and 3rd bassoon parts. Oddly enough there are many passages in which the two bassoonists double a single soft low note. Not sure what Debussy was thinking when he wrote this kind of thing!

Anyway, in order to play the D (and other passages later in the opera) in tune and soft enough with a predictable start, I made some modifications to reeds and my bassoon.

Bassoon mods:

1. Play D with low Bb key down. This stabilizes the pitch of the D and keeps it from rising up, all the while muting the tone somewhat.

2. Here's another modification to Low D that just may change your life for this note.

3. I used a mute in the bell to further dampen the sound. I played with this mute in for much of the opera! This is a stronger mute than the cone shaped ones with holes cut in. Warning: it cannot be used for playing low Bb!

It's made from packing material foam. I put a rubber band through the center to give me something to grab onto when removing. About an inch thick. A set of instructions for making one can be found here.

4.Other general modifications I made to my bassoon to achieve a soft, mellow timbre: Remove all lefreQues, change bocals, place a few layers of tape on the top band of the boot joint under the low E to whisper bridge key. This lowers the E pad and takes some of the brilliance out of the sound.

Reed mods:

1. Cut back collar. My reeds have a 1/8" collar normally. I reduced the collars on a couple of my reeds for this opera to 1/16". Cane can also be removed from the area of the blade just in front of the collar.

2. Carefully slide 1st wire with fingernails back towards 2nd wire one wire's width (about .025"). This has the affect of lengthening the vibrating surface of the reed. It eases the response and weakens the reed. Do not expect easy high notes or even an E2 that doesn't sag! I like this adjustment because you can always slide the wire up back into its original position if you like.

3. Thin the last millimeter of the tip. Putting a micro bevel on the tip of the reed improves response. The tips of the reeds modified for the opera measured about .005" at the very tip. Usual for me is .008-.010".

 All of these modifications helped lower my blood pressure when playing this exposed, low part over a 3 hour time span each night!

Firebird Berceuse

This week I had the opportunity to perform the 1919 Firebird Suite with the Milwaukee Symphony. As an Assistant Principal, I don't often get to play the first bassoon part, but have on occasion. The Cleveland Orchestra plays this piece regularly -- perhaps once every two years, and more often on educational concerts.

One of my most memorable experiences playing the Firebird was when we played the complete ballet with Pierre Boulez in 2005. I reacquainted myself with the contrabassoon by playing the second contra part!

So my experience with the piece may be a bit unusual, but as I found out in Milwaukee, maybe not all that strange!

As I sat in to play the piece in rehearsal, the MSO's Principal Clarinetist, Todd Levy leaned over to me and said, "It's nice to play the whole piece -- it mostly shows up in fragments on educational concerts." I wonder if this is how the piece is most often performed in orchestras now?

In a previous post, I discussed how I prepared the famous solo in the Berceuse. In that post, I avoided taking sides in the D natural vs. Db controversy.

I'll tackle that head on in this post in a minute, but first I'd like to explain how it came up.

The bassoon parts to the 1919 Suite require some study, not only because of the technical challenges, but also there are some questionable markings in the parts.

During one of the rehearsals, Beth Giacobassi (who played 2nd with me) asked about an inconsistency in the Introduction:

Should the series of eighth notes be played with the same length or is the second series to played longer because of the portamento marking (slur)?

I've always played the two sections using the SAME length of articulation -- tenuto, but with a separation between notes.

However, since I was a guest in the orchestra, I decided to defer and ask the conductor at the rehearsal break.

The conductor, the very fine and very courteous Christopher Seaman, answered the question by asking that both passages be played with separation. He stated that there were no slurs in the original, complete ballet and that the Suite contained a mistake here.

I checked later and found this not to be the case. Below is the 1911 score

As you can see, the portamento is consistent between the two passages. Perhaps the point he was trying to make was that the two passages should be played with the same length of articulation, there being no good reason for a difference. Nonetheless, he made it clear he wanted a separated group of eighth notes with each note having some substance to the sound.

Now, going up to the podium during a break to ask the conductor a question might be a more diplomatic method than having a back and forth discussion during the rehearsal, but it carries with it certain inherent risks!

Such was the case here. After the discussion regarding the eighth notes, he turned to the Berceuse, which we had just played in our run-through. I had played my favorite D natural in the solo and he asked if I would consider substituting Db.

Perhaps aware that some bassoonists have exchanged less than courteous words about which Stravinsky told them to play, he went to the piano to demonstrate support his argument.

First a little background.

The choice of D natural (once the question of what Stravinsky told "Your Teacher " to play is removed from the argument!) is often justified because of the voice leading. A D natural in Eb minor is the leading tone, and thus, provides better voice leading in the phrase than a Db since, after an interpolated Cb and a couple of Bb's, it resolves nicely to a Eb.

Another justification used is that it synchronizes with the D natural found in the violins exactly on the second beat of the bar (bar before 7):

However, you'll notice in this score (1919 Suite, Boosey and Hawkes), the bassoon part contains a Db instead of D natural.

Seaman made his argument by playing the passage on the piano with the Db in the bassoon line and the D natural in the violin line sounding together. He said this was an example of an English cadence.

If you go to the link, you can see and even play back the chord progression involved. Although it refers to its use by English composers of the 16th and 17th century, he was proposing its intentional use in a famous 20th century piece. Half of the voice leading is correctly followed by Stravinsky-- the Db does resolve to a Cb, but the D natural in the violins instead of resolving up to an Eb, goes down -- to a Db, interestingly enough.

Although Seaman's argument may seem a bit far-fetched in linking Stravinsky with 16th century music, we know that Stravinsky developed an intense fascination with music from that period, although much later in life.

Suffice it to say, I played the Db for him and he was satisfied. I'm not sure I'm going to change my habit to Db the next time I play it, but I've now heard a pretty convincing argument for the Db, instead of "it sounds better that way", or "my teacher said to play the D (natural or flat)"!

The Firebird bassoon parts, especially in the Kalmus or Boosey edition are a real mess. The copyist did a poor job of indicating note values and rests clearly.

The use of dotted lines to indicate half-bar lines and the sloppy job of indicating rests along with the accretion of pencil marks by nervous bassoonists of the past make the opening very hard to count!

In the Berceuse itself, some editions have some glaring inconsistencies and obvious omissions:

Notice how a Bb needed to be added by hand to measure 2 of the solo!  I know of one famous conductor (still working today) who insisted that the Principal Bassoonist of his orchestra play two quarter notes (Bb and D only) and a half note in the bar instead of the quarter, two eighths and a half!  They were touring with the piece, so on some nights the bassoonist would sneak the Bb back in to the solo, only to be called into the dressing room later and asked to leave it out the next night!

Also, notice the lack of a slur over the two bar group beginning at 7! Clearly this part is not perfect and legitimate questions arise about the details!

Farewell, Mr. Boulez!

Farewell, Mr. Boulez!

Yesterday, the world lost one of the great figures of Classical music, Pierre Boulez. Here is his
obituary.

His relationship with the Cleveland Orchestra started when he guest conducted in 1965. At the time, Music Director, George Szell, desiring to focus on the canonical works of symphonic music with his orchestra, sought someone who could balance the programming by bringing a repertoire of new music to Cleveland audiences. Boulez was the perfect choice.

Few music directors at any time would have the humility or awareness that they could not provide everything an orchestra and audience needed in programming and, thus, would seek out an excellent person to complement the orchestra's offering!  I can think of many examples in which a mediocre conductor has been engaged so as not to upstage a music director!

My first encounter with Mr. Boulez (it was always Mr. Boulez with us here in Cleveland) came in the winter of 2002 during my first year with the orchestra. We played Messiaen's "L'Oiseaux Exotiques". I felt as though I was eavesdropping on an old relationship. The orchestra's sound changed the minute he started conducting! His baton-less technique seemed perfectly natural to me from the start. His every gesture was meaningful, helpful and economical. The orchestra could be playing a huge "ff", and with a flick of the wrist he could bring us back to "p". He accomplished this with a small part of one hand while some conductors require a karate chop to get a similar effect.

I'm sure there will be much discussion about his legacy in the coming days. It should make for interesting reading.

I'll close with one anecdote that sums up Boulez's approach to music perfectly. From Time Page in the Washington Post. Read it here

In later years, Mr. Boulez was by all accounts a gracious, soft-spoken and self-effacing gentleman, much beloved by the musicians he worked with. In his composition and his conducting — which he managed with the brisk efficiency of a bank teller giving change — he was the antithesis of the romanticized stereotype of egoistic, heaven-storming musician.
“Perhaps I can explain it best by an old Chinese story,” he said to his biographer, the late Joan Peyser. “A painter drew a landscape so beautifully that he entered the picture and disappeared. For me, that is the definition of a great work — a landscape painted so well that the artist disappears in it.”
- See more at: http://slippedisc.com/2016/01/an-exemplary-boulez-obituary/#sthash.DNmpzSSI.dpuf

n later years, Mr. Boulez was by all accounts a gracious, soft-spoken and self-effacing gentleman, much beloved by the musicians he worked with. In his composition and his conducting — which he managed with the brisk efficiency of a bank teller giving change — he was the antithesis of the romanticized stereotype of egoistic, heaven-storming musician.
“Perhaps I can explain it best by an old Chinese story,” he said to his biographer, the late Joan Peyser. “A painter drew a landscape so beautifully that he entered the picture and disappeared. For me, that is the definition of a great work — a landscape painted so well that the artist disappears in it.”
- See more at: http://slippedisc.com/2016/01/an-exemplary-boulez-obituary/#sthash.DNmpzSSI.dpuf

Kent/Blossom Music Festival

Since many college bassoon students are preparing repertoire for summer music festival auditions this month, I thought I'd mention that I will be teaching at the Kent/Blossom Music Festival again this summer.

Kent/Blossom Music is a five-week festival that includes chamber music, private lessons, masterclasses and a chamber orchestra concert with a side-by-side piece with The Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Center.

Information for application/audition is found at:

http://www2.kent.edu/blossom/apply/index.cfm

A New Litmus Test?

Clean articulation is something to which all bassoonists aspire. If it is possible to say that bassoon playing has continued to improve over the years in America, cleanliness of articulation is one area that has gotten a lot of attention and where improvement over the years (as witnessed by recordings, etc.) has been vast.

The Past

Through listening to older recordings it is clear that a certain dirtiness in articulating notes built on harmonics on the bassoon (notes above open F) was tolerated until recently. Even the best players cracked.

Awareness and Improvement

It is thanks to awareness raised by Norman Herzberg and his students and the influential European tradition of the use of the vent keys that we no longer tolerate cracking articulation on the bassoon.

A lot of effort has been spent instilling the use of the vent keys of the wing joint for clean articulation. However, the vent keys can only be used for five notes (A2, Bb3, B3, C3 and D3) so there's still a problem if cracking persists farther up the range.

Most bassoonists can articulate these five notes cleanly using this technique. A recent trend in audition repertoire lists may indicate that it's time to clean up articulation on other notes in the high register.

In at least two recent auditions -- our Second Bassoon audition and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Principal Bassoon audition  -- the following excerpt was used to separate the clean articulators and the dirty ones:

It's the second page of Bolero.

We used this excerpt in the final round of our audition. All of our finalists played at a very high level. However, NO ONE articulated the G's cleanly!

Perhaps we bassoon players have become too comfortable with the sound of a high G that cracks!

The non-bassoon players on the audition committee found it especially puzzling that even these otherwise fine players would allow such an obvious lapse in their technique.

How to correct dirty articulation on this note? One can't flick G3 on the bassoon, so other solutions must be found.

One-Note Solution

The following fingering for G3 can help clear up the attacks:

1/2 x x / x o o Ab
        w   Bb

I'd be willing to bet that if you crack G3, Ab3 and other high notes are going to crack, too. So this fingering may solve the problem for this particular pitch, but obviously it can't be used for other notes that crack.

I'll offer a solution for that works for all notes on the bassoon in the next post.

Gareth Thomas joins bassoon section

At the beginning of the month we hired Gareth Thomas as our new Second Bassoonist!

Welcome Gareth!

Currently Principal Bassoonist with the Toledo Symphony, Gareth's teachers included John Clouser and Christopher Millard. He is originally from Ottawa, Cananda.

He will play with us next month for a series of concerts and then start formally after the New Year.

It will feel good to have a complete section again after a few years of vacancies.

What's In Your Bag?

What's In Your Bag -- Or Instrument Case?


My daughter is a talented photographer. Among photographers there's a lot of discussion about equipment, often starting with the question, "What's in your bag?"

Let's try that for the bassoon!

In Your Case

What do you routinely keep in your case?

In mine, I've got:

• small photos of my daughters -- got to get my wife's photo in there -- oops!!
• earplugs
• cigarette paper
• extra pivot screws (get these from your repair technician)
• grease and oil for keywork
• mini drill for cleaning out bocal vent (my favorite bocal seems to collect stuff from time to time)
• cork grease for the tenons
• US Customs Certificate of Registration for Personal Effects Taken Abroad
• metronome, tuner
• small screwdriver
• small brush
• swab 
• extra reeds in cases
• 2 extra bocals

What's in your reed tool pouch?

• 2 reed knives
• set of needle files
• sandpaper (400 and 600)
• reamer
• mandrel
• several placques (I lose them easily)
• cutting block
• razor blade
• file brush
• tweezers (for picking up screws, etc.)
• pad slick (for reseating a pad)
• small bit of stick shellac (for gluing a pad)
• two screwdrivers -- one large for pivot screws, one small for long screws
• pencil
• spring hook
• pliers

In my valise:

• music
• extra pencils
• extra ear plugs
• mute
• soakers (extra -- I tend to lose these, too)
• reading material
• phone

In my locker:

• extra seat strap
• neck strap
• another mute
• tails and dark suit
• black shoes and socks
• Nespresso coffee pods (!)
• coffee cups, spoons, sugar
• toothbrush, toothpaste
• small, hand-held butane torch
• low A extension

I asked repair technician, Ken Potsic what he would recommend bassoonists keep in their cases.  Here is his response:

2  screwdrivers, 1 for pivot screws and 1 for rods - or 1 small miniature screwdriver with interchangeable bits. 

Small spool of thread, like from a sewing kit.  This can be used for loose tenons and for binding pivot screws.  Sometimes, especially on a new instrument, when the weather changes some keys will start binding. This can usually be remedied by wrapping some thread under the head of the offending screw.  Better than just loosening it, as it will not fall out when tightened down with thread under the head.  Thread can also be used to bind a tenon cork which may be coming loose.  

1 almost spent (to save room) roll of electrical tape.  This can be used to cover a tone hole on the bassoon which may be leaking due to the pad falling out, or a key getting bumped.  This can be a lifesaver for those who have a separate back A-flat key.  That key often gets bumped and bent and can be easily taped over in the event of an emergency.  

An extra whisper key pad (usually 12mm on most bassoons) and a little chunk of pad glue.  One could also carry a mini Bic lighter, or hope to find one when/if the need arises.

A pack of cigarette paper for checking pads, drying pads etc.  Also might consider a few sheets of the Yamaha "Powder Paper" for sticky pads.  

Cork grease!  Especially if you have tight tenon corks.  Forcing tenons and bocals can cause bent keys, split bocals, and can even lead to a broken tenon like the one I repaired this month.

Swabs that work, of course.

So, what's in your case?   Please share!

Vienna -- Crypt Tours

Crypt Tours

The other crypts I toured don't allow photography, so you'll have to take my words as enough.

St. Michael's Church is near the Imperial Apartments, the Hofburg and many of the other Habsburg buildings in Vienna's center. It has one of the most extensive crypts of any church.

First a little information. The Habsburgs were mummified for burial. Thus, their vital parts had to be removed.

Their bodies are buried in the Kaisergruft, hearts in containers in the St. Augustine church (see the cannisters in the poster below),

and their viscera (lungs, intestines, liver, etc.) in the crypt at St. Stephens.

The tour of the crypt in St. Michael's church was excellent. It was given in English and German (like the one in St. Stephens) by a very enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide.  We viewed 2 coffins with mummies (very well-preserved) in them, lots of ossuaries and saw galleries with lots of beautifully decorated wooden caskets.  There is continuing renovation going on down below, with a majority of the galleries still walled off from centuries ago.

One musical person of note is buried in St. Michael's -- Pietro Metastasio (one of Mozart's librettists).

I later toured the crypt at St. Stephens and tried to go to the one at St. Augustine's church, but it was only available for tours after the Sunday services.

While morbid, I found these trips to be fascinating and certainly something we don't have here in the United States.

Vienna -- Kaisergruft

VIENNA

We ended the tour with three concerts in Vienna. I've been to Vienna many times. During this tour I had an unusually large amount of free time on my hands, so I tried to structure my free time with a theme.

I've been to many of the main tourist attractions in Vienna, so I was looking for a tour that would highlight something unique about this place.  

I had been told by some friends that the Bestattungsmuseum (Funeral Museum) was very interesting and something unique to Vienna.  Unfortunately, it is currently closed until fall next year.

So I settled on another plan. If you were a member of the Habsburg dynasty, you were given a very unusual burial. Several churches in Vienna have crypts that can be toured in which the Habsburgers bodies -- or body parts -- are interred! 

In the Kaisergruft (Emperors' crypt) he center city the bodies of the Habsburgs are laid to rest in elaborate coffins. Above is Maria Theresa's final resting place.

No expense was spared in the design of these coffins. Some of them have fresh flowers laid in front in front of them. Below is the coffin of Otto, one of the last Habsburgers, who died in 2003.

And here is Franz Joseph I, the ruler during Vienna's turn of the century golden period until World War I.

Here's a short tour of the crypt thanks to YouTube!! 

 

Tour -- Normandy

NORMANDY

This week on our day off, four of us rented a car and drove up to the coast of Normandy. You can get to the beaches from Paris in about 2 hours. We stopped in Deauville, had lunch and looked around for a bit and then drove to the area the of Omaha and Utah beaches.

You can spend the whole day, weekend or longer driving along the 50-mile stretch of beaches at Normandy, stopping where you want.  There are lots of memorials, museums, etc. There are also excellent guided tours.

Since we just had the day, we decided to go right to the American landing sites and look around for ourselves.

We arrived just as the flag was being lowered for the day at the American cemetary (see above). Below is a photo taken at sunset from the Point du Hoc -- an outcropping that was heavily fortified by the Germans.  You can see the bunker they built in the photo.

The landscape is dotted with similar cement fortresses, some more or less intact, others blown to bits and still scattered.  Shell craters abound.

The sacrifices made at Normandy are hard for my generation to imagine. Looking at the sheer cliffs, it's hard to imagine how our troops held the beaches, especially with fortified machine gun and artillery bunkers like the ones above overlooking the landing sites.

Tour -- Paris

Our next stop was Paris. We were booked for two concerts in the Salle Pleyel. The Salle is near the Arc de Triomphe, a few miles away from the center of Paris.

In a previous post I described some musical walks I took in Paris. This time I'd like to discuss where to go running. Paris is a big, busy city with lots of traffic of all kinds, so running can be frustrating and even dangerous.

However, there are some good places to go. The public areas around the Louvre and Tuileries are fine for short runs of a couple of miles or so. The Parc Monceau around the corner from our hotel is also fine for quick exercise.

If you want longer runs, though you have two choices (at least these are the obvious ones). The first follows the riverside promenades by the Seine. While these don't cover the whole length of the river through the city, they are very nice and give views of the city you can't get elsewhere.

The other place that affords the runner the opportunity to really stretch out and get away from the city while remaining reasonably close is the Bois du Boulogne.

This is a large area that has lots of woodsy paths of all kinds from dirt to pavement. There are numerous routes to take and plenty of things to view while running.

And I do mean plenty . . . for these woods have been used for centuries by those practicing the world's oldest profession! In the more remote areas, bikers, walkers and runners will encounter women plying their "trade" in various forms of attire (or lack thereof).  Some have vans or huts in the woods for use with patrons.

If prostitution is illegal in France, the law is certainly not enforced in the Bois du Boulogne. We saw plenty of cars stop and wait at curbside for the "workers" to appear.

One of Manet's most famous paintings deals with the subject of prostitution in the Bois.

Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe is the painting above.



















'

Tour -- Frankfurt and Beethoven

Next we traveled to Frankfurt for two concerts. We arrived in the early afternoon just in time to catch a breath and then go to a short rehearsal of the Beethoven Violin Concerto which we would perform that night with violinist Christian Tetzlaff.

The Alte Oper in Frankfurt is a hall which has been completely gutted inside and modernized. You wouldn't guess from the exterior which is in the 19th century heavy, Germanic style. Inside it is cavernous with a sort of raspberry colored hue on the seats, wall and floor. Banks of lights and  speakers betray its mult-purpose use.  The acoustics are also cavernous and comfortable with a lot of bass resonance.

Tetzlaff gives a very personal, stylish performance of the Beethoven Concerto, emphasizing its intimate side over the monumental.  He also avoids Joachim's cadenza, using his own patterned after the one Beethoven wrote for the piano arrangement of this piece.

Here is his performance with the Tonhalle Orchester on YouTube.  About 18 minutes in you can hear this cadenza.

There is a timpani accompaniment to this that's fun. It's not a very cohesive cadenza musically -- much of it seems to have little to do with the first movement themes.  But a nice change from the usual. Gidon Kremer also wrote a cadenza that challenges the tradition of Joachim.

The performance went well considering we just rehearsed once for an hour and then played the piece.

The next day I went for a rainy, cold run on the banks of the Main River, then sought out a music store near the hotel -- Musikalien Petroll -- which  has a basement full of used music. I bought parts and score to a Vivaldi Bassoon Concerto for 3 Euros.

That night we played the Beethoven Mass again.

Tour -- Hamburg

We flew overnight to Hamburg. Arriving in the morning we had the rest of the day free to settle in and get acclimated. My strategy for getting over jet lag is to stay up as late as possible the day of arrival with no napping and no alcohol. I try to get a lot of exercise, whether it's running or just a lot of walking. I expect to feel lousy all day, but I usually sleep well that night and feel better the next day.

Hamburg is a great city for biking and running. There are two lakes and many canals with paths around them. The larger lake, the Aussenalster is beautiful and surrounded by park land, yacht clubs and villas. It is just over 3 miles around.

Running has really caught on in Europe. Each time I'm here I notice more activity.

By contract we get the next day off to recover from jet lag. This is very helpful. You can practice, look around and rest. The instrument trunks, which are shipped separately from us, are often not yet loaded into the hall so they are sometimes not available. For each trip you have the choice to pack the bassoon or carry it with you.

However, if you play a larger instrument like cello,bass or contra bassoon, you have no choice. These cannot be carried on the plane, obviously.  Thus, those who pack their instruments are forced to spend  a few days away from them at the start of the tour. Some people enjoy the break, others don't like it.  One of our members has a fold-up cello he packs so he can practice during those free days.

In large European cities there are often other major musical events going on while you're there. Hamburg was no exception. Alan Gilbert was there conducting the North German Radio Orchestra the night before our concert. Previously our Assistant Conductor, Gilbert came to our concert and made contact with many of us. Also present was our Music Director Laureate, Christoph von Dohnanyi. He has roots in Hamburg where his brother was the mayor.

Brahms was born and grew up in Hamburg (see photo above). It is a city with a rich musical heritage.

Tour -- NYC

New York

To start our tour we made a short stop in New York. Not originally envisioned as part of this European tour, it was added after the fact. We played in Avery Fisher Hall as part of the White Lights Festival. The term comes from a quotation by Arvo Pärt in which he describes his music as having the characteristics of white light (White light contains all the colors of the light spectrum).

Our program was  indeed colorful, but perhaps Olivier Messiaen's "Trois Petite Liturgies" with its kaleidoscopic tonal palette fit the Festival's theme most exactly.

I played on the Beethoven Mass in C Major. Overshadowed by the  Missa Solemnis, it is a beautiful, concise work. We performed it with our Chorus and will feature it several more times during our tour.

The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus has not toured with us for several years. It is a pleasure to have more Clevelanders with us on this trip.  Their itinerary doesn't exactly match ours as there are several programs on this trip that do not use the Chorus.

They had a long day: travel, performance and then travel.  The Orchestra flew the Chorus back to Cleveland right after their performance to save on hotel rooms.  The Chorus will not join us until Frankfurt a few days later.

After the Avery Fisher concert, Phil Austin, his wife Emily, who is a Chorus member and I met Lenny Hindell, former Second Bassoonist of the New York Philharmonic for a late-night snack.

The next day I went for a run in Central Park. The finish gate for the New York City Marathon was still up (the race was two days earlier).  One day I hope to run THROUGH that gate!

After my run I cabbed uptown to the Manhattan School of Music where I gave a master class.  Before hand I stopped in for an espresso at Kuro Kuma nearby.

Billy Hestand, continued

In my last post I announced the resignation of Billy Hestand, our Second Bassoonist. I wanted to be sure to mention that Billy received positive first-year reviews from our Audition Committee and Franz Welser-
Möst. 

No one should gather from his resignation that he was let go or that he did anything but the finest job playing in our orchestra.

Billy's reasons for resigning are his own and I will not speculate upon them here.  New York will regain one of the finest bassoonists of his generation.  I wish him well!

Hestand Resigns

Billy Hestand Resigns Position With Cleveland Orchestra

Billy Hestand has resigned as Second Bassoonist with our orchestra.  His resignation caught all of us by surprise.  He did a good job adapting to the orchestra and playing second bassoon.  

Billy is an excellent musician and an easy person to work with.  We will miss him around here!  He has left to resume his career in New York.

We hope to use Phil Austin (recently retired Second Bassoonist) as a substitute this year. I'm sure an audition will be scheduled at some point this year.

Tchaikovsky 5th - hear it now

Tchaikovsky 5th Performance

In a series of posts a few months ago, I outlined my strategies for navigating the difficult parts of Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony.

Now you can hear our live performance of that work. Scroll down to "On Demand #1" to listen.

Improvising a concert

The life of a performing artist is one of highs and lows, routine and surprises. There can be periods in which it feels like you're just repeating something over and over and times when you suddenly need to call on all the special expertise you have to get the job done.

Sometimes it seems like nighttime driving.  Stretches of routine that can be boring are sometimes followed by moments of sheer terror!!

Last Wednesday night could have been one of those moments. While the concert certainly didn't promise to be boring, what ended up happening certainly got everyone's complete attention!

Wednesday was a regularly scheduled faculty concert at the Kent/Blossom Music Festival. On the program were four chamber works that included piano, including the Poulenc Trio (the only piece in which I was involved).

In the middle of the afternoon our pianist, Joela Jones was taken ill and could not play the concert. Danna Sundet, oboist and Festival administrator immediately got on the phone to try and salvage the program.

She called me from the room where I was teaching that day and we consulted.  We both knew another pianist, Elizabeth Demio. Liz is a gifted collaborative pianist with a huge repertoire.  She has played the Poulenc many times before.  In addition, she knows much of the double reed repertoire, being married to Mark Demio, a bassoonist and having played in the Plymouth Trio (with oboist John Mack and soprano Christina Price). 

As it turns out, Liz was free that night and willing to come help out! Danna likened the conversation about repertoire to the TV show, Iron Chef.  We discussed what pieces Liz had under her fingers that included oboe and bassoon and made a program. Here are the ingredients in the refrigerator, now make a great dish!

Danna would do the Poulenc Sonata and I would play the
Saint-Saëns Sonate with Liz.  I hadn't touched the piece since the fall, but have played it many times, as has Liz.

In addition, Ying Fu, the new Associate Concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra (and current member of our violin section) was supposed to play as part of the Elgar Quintet. With that now cancelled, he agreed to play the Beethoven 1st Sonata with Liz. The new program would now be:

Poulenc Oboe Sonata
Saint-Saëns Sonate for Bassoon
Beethoven Sonata #1 for Piano and Violin
Poulenc Trio

So we had a  program!

I think Liz arrived at Ludwig Recital Hall on the KSU campus roughly 2 hours before the 7:30 concert.  I taught until 6:00 and went out for a quick coffee to give me a burst of energy and focus my tired brain cells.  I had been teaching since 9:30 that morning!

Liz and I had about 10 minutes to touch the Saint-Saëns before the performance.  I think the others had about the same amount of time.  The Poulenc Trio got no rehearsal at all!

Perhaps one of the few advantages of being an old guy is that you've had this sort of thing happen before. There's nothing you can do about it, so you just leave your fate up to the gods (reed gods, God, whomever!) and try to enjoy yourself and really give a performance!

Old guys (seasoned veterans, if you prefer!) also have an advantage over young whippersnappers in that they have performed core repertoire like the Saint-Saëns many times.  I have played it numerous times and teach it and demonstrate it in lessons with regularity. So, while it was certainly a stretch to play it on Wednesday night, it wasn't out of the question for me.

The performance went well. It seemed like Liz, Danna and Ying all enjoyed themselves in spite of the pressure. The audience, who had been informed of the program change and last minute arrangements was enthusiastic and sympathetic.

The Collaborative Pianist


Great collaborative pianists are worth their weight in gold! These people have a generous spirit, a thick skin and a joy in making music with others. 

Some pianists are solitary figures who focus on solo careers.  Playing concerti with orchestras is their only interaction with others.

Collaborative pianists love making music with others and often feel a bit lonely playing by themselves. They put up with bad pianos and are expert at making instrumentalists sound their best. They know what to leave out in piano reductions of orchestral scores, are attentive to balance issues, can transpose a part to fit a singer's range and are generally good at coaching.

The discipline and aptitude required in these areas tends to weed out those less able pretty quickly. That leaves people with special skills and personality.

Collaborative Pianists I Have Known

We are blessed with several great collaborative pianists in our area. Liz, who saved our concert is one of the best.

Joela Jones (who recovered quickly, by the way) plays piano, organ, celeste, harpsichord, even accordion. She also accompanies our Cleveland Orchestra Chorus.

Randy Fusco, music professor at Hiram College, has recorded two CDs with me. With his encyclopedic knowledge of repertoire, he can make the piano sound like an orchestra.

Jim Howsmon, music professor at Oberlin College, can read an orchestral score at sight on the piano. He has adapted many bassoon accompaniments to make them sound better than what's printed.

Randy, Jim and another pianist, Jeffrey Gilliam were college classmates of mine.  I learned a great deal from them by performing with them, hearing them play, listening to their favorite recordings, comparing lesson notes, and talking about music.

I'm sure I've left a few out!

If you know someone like this, seek them out, befriend them, buy them dinner, you never know when you'll need to ask for a favor (like this Wednesday)!