Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds
-the Bhagavad-Gita
RAVEL Menuet antique
LIEBERSON Neruda Songs
INTERMISSION
MAHLER Symphony No. 1
Bach Week Program
Concerto in D Minor for two violins, BWV 1043
Cantata: Non sa che sia dolore , BWV 209
Motet: Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied , BWV 225
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G, BWV 1048
Richard Webster, conductor
Monday
off
Tuesday
10-12:30 rehearsal
7:30 concert (Wagner, Chin, Berlioz)
Wednesday
12-2:30 3:30-6 rehearsals
Thursday
10-12:30 rehearsal
Friday
10-1 Bach Week rehearsal
Saturday
1-3 Bach Week rehearsal
Sunday
7:30 Bach Week concert
The lack of concerts in my schedule is no mistake. Even though it was not my turn, I volunteered to be on call this week to avoid the Mahler 1st Symphony. Over the years I’ve come to loathe the piece and so take advantage of every opportunity to get out of playing it. Unfortunately for me it is one of those things that comes up at least once a year. If I’m not mistaken, the orchestra played it at subscription concerts less than 12 months ago. What is the deal with that? I wonder if listeners get as tired of it as I do. Anyway, the frequency of programming makes for some tricky maneuvering in order to avoid it. Nevertheless, I think I’ve missed four out of the last five. This week came as something of a mixed blessing however. Since the Mahler will be played in New York in two weeks I had to attend ‘tour rehearsals’ so I am prepared step in should any colleague become unavailable. I’ve got to say, having to play four tour rehearsals for such a warhorse was ridiculous. So, in spite of my best efforts, I ended up playing through the piece three or four more times.
One interesting feature of this iteration of the Mahler is the conversion of the famous (or infamous) passage at the beginning of the third movement from one bass solo to all basses, tutti. According to Haitink, a bassist in the London Symphony (?) had some proof the passage was originally intended to be played by the group, but due to very poor results at the first performances Mahler cut his losses and figured he would be better off letting one guy go it alone. I’m curious to know if the bassist who brought this up to Haitink was a principal or section player.
The Mahler solo has always been something of an oddity in my mind anyway, a perfect time for the section player to clean off strings or apply an extra swipe of rosin. When played poorly, the solo is an obvious embarrassment. But even when played ‘well’ it often comes across as overly expressive, an odd little flourish by an attention starved prima ballerina, out of place at the outset of a solemn piece of music. It is a bit sad to think the standard of bass playing has taken more than a hundred years to match the composer’s original intention, but there it is.
Bach Week is always a pleasant gig, the perfect after dinner mint after a week of (at least rehearsing) Mahler 1.
Showing posts with label CSO Bass section. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CSO Bass section. Show all posts
Friday, May 02, 2008
Monday, August 27, 2007
The Shock of the Old
Here's a very interesting post I found on Jason's Blog:
I was ready to tear what's left of my hair out because a certain musician who had turned up on both of these gigs drives me insane with his playing. It is difficult to describe to civilians, but you musicians will know what I mean when I tell you what this man does to frustrate me: he plays way too loud, doesn't listen and, worst of all, rushes like a mo'fo' constantly. There is nothing I can do to make the music feel good because this guy is always phrasing way out in front of the beat. There were excellent drummers on both these gigs but there's only so much commiseration we can share via stolen looks and musical telepathy. We basically have to tune this guy out. Oh, by the way, he's a rhythm section player (I don't want to get too specific here).
As a consequence, I have to try to NOT listen to this musician, which is antithetical to the nature of playing music, especially in a small group. Adding to the maddening level of non-musicality is the unfortunate fact that I happen to like this man very much personally. If I didn't like him so much it would somehow be easier to loathe trying to create a groove on the same bandstand with him.
Read the entire post by Bill Harrison on Jason Heath’s blog here.
I was ready to tear what's left of my hair out because a certain musician who had turned up on both of these gigs drives me insane with his playing. It is difficult to describe to civilians, but you musicians will know what I mean when I tell you what this man does to frustrate me: he plays way too loud, doesn't listen and, worst of all, rushes like a mo'fo' constantly. There is nothing I can do to make the music feel good because this guy is always phrasing way out in front of the beat. There were excellent drummers on both these gigs but there's only so much commiseration we can share via stolen looks and musical telepathy. We basically have to tune this guy out. Oh, by the way, he's a rhythm section player (I don't want to get too specific here).
As a consequence, I have to try to NOT listen to this musician, which is antithetical to the nature of playing music, especially in a small group. Adding to the maddening level of non-musicality is the unfortunate fact that I happen to like this man very much personally. If I didn't like him so much it would somehow be easier to loathe trying to create a groove on the same bandstand with him.
Read the entire post by Bill Harrison on Jason Heath’s blog here.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
This week at the CSO
This week’s CSO program
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 9
Haydn Symphony No. 96 (The Miracle)
INTERMISSION
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 27
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor and piano
Monday
off
Tuesday
1:30-4 5-7 CSO rehearsals
Wednesday
1:30-4 CSO rehearsal
Thursday
2-4:30 CSO rehearsal
8 CSO concert
Friday
8 CSO concert
Saturday
8 CSO concert
Sunday
3 CSO concert (Beyond the Score)
The rehearsal on Wednesday was devoted to the beyond the score musical examples. The concert will be filmed and made available for download, like the Miraculous Mandarin, so the rehearsal Thursday was filmed to use as patch material. I had to wear my suit, which did not make me at all happy.
On Friday we played a short tribute in memory of Rostropovitch. I was wondering if John Sharp, our principal cellist, would play something but we stuck with the usual – Bach, air from Orchestral Suite #3. When did this become the piece to honor the dead?
Jeffrey Kahane has been wonderful to work with this week. I haven't heard a touch like his on the piano very often - very light and fluid. He is really working hard too. Playing two concertos and conducting the symphony would be enough. On top of that, there is the Beyond the Score program where he has to play and conduct the orchestra through 80 (cont ‘em!) musical examples from piano concerto #27 on the first half of the concert, including switching back and forth between piano and fortepiano. Then on the second half, he has to play and conduct the piece.
Lastly, I have to say that often playing weeks with a reduced section (4 basses this week) is often a disappointing, infuriating, or worse. This week however, Mark Kraemer is very capably heading the section and I am thoroughly enjoying myself.
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 9
Haydn Symphony No. 96 (The Miracle)
INTERMISSION
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 27
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor and piano
Monday
off
Tuesday
1:30-4 5-7 CSO rehearsals
Wednesday
1:30-4 CSO rehearsal
Thursday
2-4:30 CSO rehearsal
8 CSO concert
Friday
8 CSO concert
Saturday
8 CSO concert
Sunday
3 CSO concert (Beyond the Score)
The rehearsal on Wednesday was devoted to the beyond the score musical examples. The concert will be filmed and made available for download, like the Miraculous Mandarin, so the rehearsal Thursday was filmed to use as patch material. I had to wear my suit, which did not make me at all happy.
On Friday we played a short tribute in memory of Rostropovitch. I was wondering if John Sharp, our principal cellist, would play something but we stuck with the usual – Bach, air from Orchestral Suite #3. When did this become the piece to honor the dead?
Jeffrey Kahane has been wonderful to work with this week. I haven't heard a touch like his on the piano very often - very light and fluid. He is really working hard too. Playing two concertos and conducting the symphony would be enough. On top of that, there is the Beyond the Score program where he has to play and conduct the orchestra through 80 (cont ‘em!) musical examples from piano concerto #27 on the first half of the concert, including switching back and forth between piano and fortepiano. Then on the second half, he has to play and conduct the piece.
Lastly, I have to say that often playing weeks with a reduced section (4 basses this week) is often a disappointing, infuriating, or worse. This week however, Mark Kraemer is very capably heading the section and I am thoroughly enjoying myself.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Conductor makes helpful remark…!
Playing Tchaikovsky this week under Andrey Boreyko was generally a positive experience – he’s a nice man with good musical ideas. One thing he said stuck in my mind, enough to make me wan to write about it.
We were rehearsing one of the selections from Sleeping Beauty, the Panorama, I think. Anyhow, the movement in 6/8 has repeated 16th notes in the winds, a melody in quarter notes in the strings, with the basses playing pizzicato on the 1st and 4th 8th notes of the bar. Like this:
In our section unfortunately this can sometimes be a recipe for disaster. And sure enough, the bass pizzicatos came thudding in early and often. I should point out to students that this is a classic case where it is necessary to follow the moving notes (the 16ths ) and not get sucked in by the melody which might tend to rush or drag against the beat. Most experienced players would have figured out as much by the time they got into an orchestra, at least you would think so.
Boreyko ran parts of the movement several times and then stopped to explain how the theater in which Sleeping Beauty would be premiered had just installed what at the time was a technical marvel: a rotating stage. He went on to say that the Panorama music reflected this development, with the constant 16ths in the winds representing a kind of ‘mechanical’ force driving the music.
Usually orchestral players are resistant to these kinds of extra musical explanations, labeling them as perhaps some sort of relapse into amateurism. “You want that faster or slower?” (or something like that) is often the response when a conductor tries to wax poetic.
Whether Boreyko had the errant bass pizzicatos in mind or not when he made his comments, I have no idea. I think many conductors have given up on us since commenting on something like that often makes it worse rather than fixes the problem. But miracle of miracles, the next time through, the bass pizzicatos were more or less in he right places.
Shrewd calculation, or naïve accident – I’m still scratching my head.
We were rehearsing one of the selections from Sleeping Beauty, the Panorama, I think. Anyhow, the movement in 6/8 has repeated 16th notes in the winds, a melody in quarter notes in the strings, with the basses playing pizzicato on the 1st and 4th 8th notes of the bar. Like this:
In our section unfortunately this can sometimes be a recipe for disaster. And sure enough, the bass pizzicatos came thudding in early and often. I should point out to students that this is a classic case where it is necessary to follow the moving notes (the 16ths ) and not get sucked in by the melody which might tend to rush or drag against the beat. Most experienced players would have figured out as much by the time they got into an orchestra, at least you would think so.
Boreyko ran parts of the movement several times and then stopped to explain how the theater in which Sleeping Beauty would be premiered had just installed what at the time was a technical marvel: a rotating stage. He went on to say that the Panorama music reflected this development, with the constant 16ths in the winds representing a kind of ‘mechanical’ force driving the music.
Usually orchestral players are resistant to these kinds of extra musical explanations, labeling them as perhaps some sort of relapse into amateurism. “You want that faster or slower?” (or something like that) is often the response when a conductor tries to wax poetic.
Whether Boreyko had the errant bass pizzicatos in mind or not when he made his comments, I have no idea. I think many conductors have given up on us since commenting on something like that often makes it worse rather than fixes the problem. But miracle of miracles, the next time through, the bass pizzicatos were more or less in he right places.
Shrewd calculation, or naïve accident – I’m still scratching my head.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Muted Mozart
Since we played Mozart at the CSO this past week, I suppose it is a good time to talk about one of the traditions here. When I first started playing with the CSO I was surprised to see that the bass section played most baroque and many classical pieces (usually Mozart) with mutes on. Apparently this was meant to keep the section from playing too loud or is based on some weird interpretation of historical ‘performance practice’. As with many things that go on here, I’ve never managed to get a logical explanation for it. A number of players in the section don’t seem to agree with the practice and slowly began ignoring it – a sort of passive resistance movement. So that is why if you see the CSO playing Bach or Mozart you might notice one or two bass players with mutes on and one or two without.
A friend of mine who plays a lot of early music in Europe – I’m going to leave him out of this by not mentioning his name or the groups he has played and recorded with – once surprised me with the statement that the bass can ‘never be bright enough’. As I have thought about it over the years it has changed into my own personal mantra that the bass can never be clear enough. I’m referring mainly to Baroque and Classical era music. The role of the double bass changed in the 19th century and a simple generalization cannot cover all types of music. Nevertheless, I have always been disturbed by the idea of playing the older music with a mute on, particularly the rubber type that tend to make the sound more muffled than muted, at the very time when maximum clarity and articulation are called for.
Playing both softly and clearly is a difficult skill and can actually be very tiring. Playing Mozart and Mahler on the same concert can pose a challenge, but those are things players need to hone their skills to master. Slapping a mute on the bass and continuing to play in the same old way is not the answer.
A friend of mine who plays a lot of early music in Europe – I’m going to leave him out of this by not mentioning his name or the groups he has played and recorded with – once surprised me with the statement that the bass can ‘never be bright enough’. As I have thought about it over the years it has changed into my own personal mantra that the bass can never be clear enough. I’m referring mainly to Baroque and Classical era music. The role of the double bass changed in the 19th century and a simple generalization cannot cover all types of music. Nevertheless, I have always been disturbed by the idea of playing the older music with a mute on, particularly the rubber type that tend to make the sound more muffled than muted, at the very time when maximum clarity and articulation are called for.
Playing both softly and clearly is a difficult skill and can actually be very tiring. Playing Mozart and Mahler on the same concert can pose a challenge, but those are things players need to hone their skills to master. Slapping a mute on the bass and continuing to play in the same old way is not the answer.
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