Van Hoesen Teaching, Part 3 -- Reading and Listening

David Van Hoesen was interested in the overall education of his students. He encouraged his students to seek out recordings of the best violinists, pianists, singers and orchestras. He believed that a fine bassoonist should also have knowledge of literature and art.

Here is his reading and listening list:

The Best Perspective

Last week at the International Double Reed Society Conference I had a memorable experience.

The Conference was held on the campus of Lawrence University. On the bottom level of its Warsh Center was a wonderful cafeteria where many of the attendees ate lunch.

One afternoon I bought lunch and sat down at a table of bassoonists. We were all discussing various technical matters related to the bassoon when an elderly woman came by and sat down next to me.

She started a familiar conversation with me. She is 81 years old and had never heard a bassoonist play a solo before. I had played on the concert the night before and she heard me. Her eyes lit up with excitement as she described the wonder she felt at hearing what a bassoon sounded like up close. She said she'd waited 81 years to hear the sound of a bassoon!

I noticed she was not wearing the lanyard we all wore as Conference participants. She must have been one of the very few people in the cafeteria not directly involved with the Conference.

Unlike the rest of us who were there to advance careers, perform new pieces, sell merchandise, etc., she was attending just to hear the instruments and our music.

After lunch, I walked across the campus to another venue. On my way, she passed me on her bike (!) and wished me a good day!  She was a local resident, just taking advantage of the unique opportunity to hear music for double reed instruments on a particular week in June in her town!

It occurs to me that it is really people like this woman for whom we perform. Many people have heard a violinist play a solo, but I'm sure many of you share the experience I've had when I say, that after 40 years of a career as a bassoonist, I still hear from audience members who have NEVER heard a bassoonist play a solo.

As we seek levels of ever rarefied perfection in our practicing, it's vital for us to rememberthat the audience member's perspective is often that of someone hearing our music and our instrument for the first time!

A Cellist Hits the Road

Our newest member, cellist Dane Johansen is featured in a documentary about his experience walking the Way of St. James or El Camino de Santiago del Campostela.

The movie, called Strangers on the Earth, debuts at the Cleveland International Film Festival this week.

Scheherazade

Last week we opened the 2106 Blossom Festival with performances of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.

I'll discuss my interpretation of the solos and how I dealt with other difficult passages in this piece in my next post.

For now, I'd like to recommend you listen to a superlative recording of the piece. Fritz Reiner leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in what has been described as one of the best orchestral recording made of ANY orchestral piece.

Recitals!

I'm keeping quite busy on this sabbatical! Tonight I play a recital in the beautiful Harkness Chapel on the Case Western Reserve University campus.

Joining me will be my usual partner in crime, Randall Fusco at the piano. 

I will repeat the program (minus the Bach, plus the Mignone Duo with Albie Micklich) at Arizona State University this Tuesday. The recital will be webcast via YouTube (5:00 EST)

PROGRAM

Viktor Kuprevich, Andante and Scherzo                                                                                                                                

Glinka Sonata (Allegro)

                                    

Glazunov Chant du Ménestrel, Op. 71

                                                                                                                                       

Chopin Etude, Op.25, No.7  arr. by Glazunov

                                                                                                                                       

Tchaikovsky "Kuda, kuda" from Eugene Onegin, arr. by Stees

                                                                                                                                        

Tchaikovsky Melodie, arr. by Stees

                                                                                                                                               

Piatigorsky  Russian Dance   arr. by Stees                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

 Intermission

Mignone 6 Valsas from 16 Valsas para Fagote Solo

                                                                                                                                      

Aquela Modinha Que O Villa Não Escreveu

A Boa Páscoa Para Você, Devos

6a Valsa Brasileira

Valse Quase Modinheira

Macunaíma

Pattapiada

Mignone Sonata Para Dois Fagotes          (Albie Micklich, bassoon)

                                                                                                                                      

I. Allegro

II. Modinha - Molto lento

III. Rondo - Chorinho - Allo burlesco

Reis Seresta and Carioquinha                                                                                                                    

The first half of the program consists of short arrangements of Russian pieces for bassoon and piano, some of them my own.

The second half starts with William Waterhouse's arrangement of the Bach a minor flute partita, followed by six of the Mignone Valsas for solo bassoon. I think the juxtaposition of solo Bach and solo Mignone should be interesting. In the Arizona/YouTube recital, I'll swap the Bach out and play the Mignone Duo with Albie.

I'll close with two short pieces by Brazilian composer, Hilda Reis.

The choice of repertoire is a result of collecting and listening I've done over a couple of decades. I discovered some of the Russian pieces I transcribed from listening to a recording by cellist Andres Diaz. 

Pieces by Viktor Kuprevich were given me by a former student, Oleksiy Zakharov. Bassoonist Kathleen Reynolds' recording of the Glinka Viola Sonata inspired me to try it myself.

My history with the Mignone Valsas goes back to 1993, when the trombone professor at MSU brought back a bunch of Brazilian bassoon music for me from one of his trips down there. I struck up a friendship with bassoonist, Elione Alves de Medeiros and sent a graduate student to Rio to study with Noel Devos, the man for whom the Valsas were written.

Bassoonist and publisher, Bruce Gbur sent me copies of the Reis pieces. They are charming!

I hope you can listen!

A Special Recital

Last Sunday I traveled to Pittsburgh with my pianist friend, Randy Fusco to play a recital at Canterbury Place, the assisted living center where David Van Hoesen and his wife, Carol now reside. The center has a large room with a baby grand piano that is suitable for a recital.

I played a 45 minute set of arrangements of Russian music by Tchaikovsky, Glazunov and others. It will also be the first half of a longer recital I'm presenting in Harkness Chapel on the Case Western Reserve University Campus on Saturday, January 30th at 7:00pm.

Here is a photo with The Man Himself!

And one with our wives!

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

Radu Lupu Birthday

Today is Radu Lupu's 70th birthday. We have performed with him on numerous occasions. Among the memorable performances were a traversal of all 5 Beethoven Piano Concerti in Carnegie Hall several years ago.

This fall we performed the 4th Piano Concerto with him twice on tour -- once in Milan and once in Munich. While the Beethoven performance in Munich was especially memorable, it was his encore there that left us all in awe. His performance of the Brahms Eb Intermezzo made us forget that we were a tired group of touring musicians and reminded us of the power of music to inspire and soothe!

Here is Kirill Gerstein's tribute to Lupu. At the end is a video of his encore after performing with us in La Scala. Yours truly is barely visible at the beginning of the clip during the applause.

Inspired Reading

Happy Thanksgiving!

Those reading in the U.S. may have some extra time on this holiday weekend, so here are two recent posts to inspire you:

1. Cellist Steven Isserlis talks about what keeps him practicing and how the Beethoven Sonatas for Piano and Cello challenge and inspire him.

2. In a long essay, Gidon Kremer lists his top 10 favorite recordings of the Beethoven Violin Concerto with lots of insights in between. To read the essay, go here and click on the link at the end of the letter.

Happy Reading!

Inspiration and Discipline

I recently read the book, "Band of Brothers", by Stephen E. Ambrose about "Easy" Company and its progress during World War II from parachuting in prior to the D-Day landing in 1944 to the occupation of Hitler's "Eagle's Nest" at the end of the war. I also watched the acclaimed TV series adapted from the book.

The leader of Easy Company was Major Richard D. Winters. His training and discipline is outlined here in a post from the blog, "The Art of Manliness". I love the name of this blog!

Described here is the discipline and mental and physical preparation for sustained battle that he put himself through. While extreme, to say the least, it is certain that this training and a good deal of luck is what got Winters and his men through the D-Day landing, the Battle of the Bulge and many other major conflicts during World War II.

There is much food for thought in these paragraphs. Winters' single-minded, thorough devotion to physical and mental toughness says a lot about his character and maturity.

As musicians, we do not need to subject ourselves to this kind of asceticism, but perhaps there are methods here that can be adapted to our discipline as well.

The job market in the classical performing field is so tight, that a young player must adopt a serious and disciplined regimen for perfecting the art in order to succeed.

Read here about some things I chose to do while in music school in order to achieve success.