What Allan is playing

[toledobass]

Keg stands with Doc Henning!!!! Woot!!!!

[Bogey]

New avatar Allan...I'm going to miss that last one.  Maybe there are some left-overs in the fridge.  At least you did not go with that sausage casing you posted a bit back, 

[MN Dave]

I like the new one.

[M forever]

How do you like that Gruenert bass? I only tried a few of those, various models, and while they are very well made from the craftsmanship point of view, I found their sound not really very special. They look like nice old instruments, but they don't sound like those. You don't play that in the orchestra though, do you?

[toledobass]

I know what you mean about Gruenert basses.  When I was looking at this one I almost passed up the trip to take a look at it just because of the name. At that point I hadn't heard any of his basses that I liked.  I played a few when I was looking at this one,  most of them sounded just as you say,  nothing special.  Mostly sounding like a good student bass.  This one is very different from the others I've experienced though.  It has a very powerful sound with a deep full low end.  It can really move some air and provide that cusion of sound for everyone to build upon.  One of my favorite things about the bass is the amount of fundamental it still gives when playing in the quietest dynamics.  A drawback is the top end can be a little brittle sounding and lacks the warmth and robust quality that the rest of the bass has, but it doesn't bug me all that much. It requires some attention to make sure bow pressure isn't too much for bow speed.  It has a small limit of what it'll take up top.  He does do a very nice job as far as cosmetics are concerned.  He did a sort of antiqued look on the varnish so it doesn't look like a modern instrument.  Many people are surpised when I tell them it's a Gruenert.  It doesn't look like a modern instrument and it doesn't have a generic sound like a lot of the modern instruments do these days. 

Allan

[toledobass]

New avatar Allan...I'm going to miss that last one.  Maybe there are some left-overs in the fridge.  At least you did not go with that sausage casing you posted a bit back, 

I may have to post my pig heart pics just for you.

Allan

[karlhenning]

I also knew that the one with real pull on this thread was Bill 

[toledobass]

I was a little more than dissapointed in the Bruckner performance last night.  It really felt uncomfortable from the first note till the last.  Although there were some memorable moments, the overall cohesion of the orchestra was severely lacking.  The whole time felt like gasping for breath.  Not a pleasent feeling, especially in this music.  Some intonation problems in the fiddles,  some botched entrances and miscounting didn't help me feel like we were giving our best. 

Audience reaction was gracious, but at the same time hesitant.  I didn't know what to chalk it up to, our performance or Sarge's Bruckner 9 theory.  Patrons to who I spoke afterwards thought the concert was excellent, though.  One person thought it was equall to any of the best perfromances we've given.  While I won't agree with him I'm hoping that there's a little of the 'what it feels like and what it sounds like' difference is huge.  I'll get thge concert recordings and find out for myself next week.

Here's a Blade review of sorts: Vallongo Bruckner review.

Allan

[toledobass]

Howdy,

This week in Toledo:

Schoenberg: Begleitungmusik zu Einer Lichtspielscene

Beethoven: Symphony 1

intermission

Brahms Piano Concerto no.2

Conducted by Stefan and our guest soloist is Marc-Andre Hamelin.  Never worked with Hamelin so looking forward to hearing him play.  Anyone ever hear him in this rep?

Tues: 7:30 Beethoven
Wed: 3 Schoenberg
        7:30 Beethoven/Schoenberg
Thurs: 3 Brahms
          7:30 dress rehearsal Brahms/Schoenberg/Beethoven

Friday and Saturday performances at 8.

Allan

[karlhenning]

The Schoenberg is a lovely (though brief) piece.  How do you like it, Allan?  Does it prepare moderately easy?  Is it A Bear?

[toledobass]

I've listened to the piece here and there Karl, but not really with the technical 'how difficult is the piece gonna be to put together' ear.  I like the piece, but of course most everyone else I talk to is keeping the piece at arms distance only because of the composer attached to the music.  Some haven't even heard the piece yet!!!!!  The individual part doesn't look too bad, but looking at the rehearsal schedule for the week we see an entire rehearsal dedicated to the piece plus some time in another rehearsals.  So at least 3 hour not including dress for a piece that is about 10 minutes or so.  So either it's gonna be rough going ensemble wise or he's gonna be as detailed as he was in the Bruckner.  I'll let you know how things lie tomorrow.



Allan

[bhodges]

Brahms Piano Concerto no.2

Conducted by Stefan and our guest soloist is Marc-Andre Hamelin.  Never worked with Hamelin so looking forward to hearing him play.  Anyone ever hear him in this rep?

Wow, do report back!  I would be fascinated to hear Hamelin do that piece.  (He is again playing a recital here in July, as the final concert of the International Keyboard Institute and Festival, doing the Ives Concord Sonata.)

--Bruce

[Bogey]

Beethoven: Symphony 1

Underrated, even for Beethoven. 

[karlhenning]

It's a fun piece, Bill. I'd sure play it;  wouldn't necessarily pay to hear it at Symphony 

[toledobass]

The Schoenberg turns out to be difficult in basically, every way.  The big thing is ensemble rhythm/pulse is paramount. You have to execute your part with authority and precision or else it is very clear that something is not correct and the piece becomes muddied, other sections can easily get lost by your tiny bit late rhythmic figure.  I also think just dealing with this language so infrequently is part of why it takes a little longer to put together.  Granted, the piece is not something that is sight readable, but even after a little familiarity with what is happening when and who you are playing off of, it is still a different way of thinking and sculpting a phrase than, say, accompaniment for 4 measures then melody for 4 etc etc.  The importance of your part can change extremely rapidly, and those may only be a few notes.  We went through it section by section and under tempo in order to just understand the construction and that certainly helped a lot. After the sort of nuts and bolts of getting everyone on the same page,  I find myself asking how to shape the notes I've been given in the context that they've been assigned. There's not a whole lot of instinctual things to rely on, or I should say, when I rely on that line of though, it generally turns out not to be the most desirable way to approach the material.  I find it refreshing and rewarding to be dealing with these kinds of questions.  I wish I had just a bit more clear thinking on why the piece is difficult to put together.  I'll continue to think about it and post more if I gain anything more lucid.   

Stefan gave some brief comments regarding the piece and more importantly to me, his belief in Schoenberg.  He also gave parallels to Bach and Bruckner in that the music's construction requires it to be played meticulously, as failing that,  the emotional aspect of the music will also fail to get across to those listening. 

Another interesting thing is hearing a few musicians who have come to enjoy and appreciate the piece when they were fully prepared to hate it in the first place.

Allan

[Bogey]

It's a fun piece, Bill. I'd sure play it;  wouldn't necessarily pay to hear it at Symphony  

Now that would be cool.  We all arrange a road trip to see Allan perform and then hit The Pulse for some live Henning music.

[karlhenning]

The Schoenberg turns out to be difficult in basically, every way.  The big thing is ensemble rhythm/pulse is paramount. You have to execute your part with authority and precision or else it is very clear that something is not correct and the piece becomes muddied, other sections can easily get lost by your tiny bit late rhythmic figure.  I also think just dealing with this language so infrequently is part of why it takes a little longer to put together.  Granted, the piece is not something that is sight readable, but even after a little familiarity with what is happening when and who you are playing off of, it is still a different way of thinking and sculpting a phrase than, say, accompaniment for 4 measures then melody for 4 etc etc.  The importance of your part can change extremely rapidly, and those may only be a few notes.  We went through it section by section and under tempo in order to just understand the construction and that certainly helped a lot. After the sort of nuts and bolts of getting everyone on the same page,  I find myself asking how to shape the notes I've been given in the context that they've been assigned. There's not a whole lot of instinctual things to rely on, or I should say, when I rely on that line of though, it generally turns out not to be the most desirable way to approach the material.  I find it refreshing and rewarding to be dealing with these kinds of questions.  I wish I had just a bit more clear thinking on why the piece is difficult to put together.  I'll continue to think about it and post more if I gain anything more lucid.

Very interesting, thank you, Allan!  The texture of sort of 'seething counterpoint', where every entrance no matter how brief is one strand of melody in the weave, is much less susceptible to casual 'adoption' by an ensemble than (say) your basic tune underlaid by an Alberti bass.  I'm inclined to agree that it must get more naturalized with time spent in a series of pieces in that sound-world.

Another interesting thing is hearing a few musicians who have come to enjoy and appreciate the piece when they were fully prepared to hate it in the first place.

Excellent!

[karlhenning]

Now that would be cool.  We all arrange a road trip to see Allan perform and then hit The Pulse for some live Henning music.

Come on over!

[toledobass]

This afternoon was Brahms rehearsal with Hamelin.  His view of the piece is not quite as elastic and weighty as those I've encountered before, but his interpretation and playing has a clarity that is refreshing.  It goes without saying that his technique is simply remarkable.  He gets through this concerto and it just sounds easy.  I'm particularly impressed with his voicing of big chord passages.  I don't think I've ever really heard every note of the chord audible in a huge sound like that. He is also masterful at seperating the many things that happen at once.  I love that everything is presented logically and clearly, no matter how many things might be going on for him.  I will say that one thing I miss is a real singing quality, especially in the slow movement.  That is easily countered by the complete ease and and joyous quality he brings to his figures in the last movement though.  He's giving a great reading and I hope concert goers are able to understand the kind of interpretation he is giving.   

Dress rehearsal this evening was good.  This afternoon we worked almost a full 2.5 hrs on the Brahms so Hamelin took the night off and we didn't run through the piece for dress.  We did review some of the tutti sections though.  Schoenberg went well and it's feeling very settled.  It has a wierd way of exposing more and more in a sort of exponential way every time we play it.  The note patterns become more and more familiar and you begin to understand who picks up where you left off or that you have the same stuff that someone else may have had much earlier.  The other thing I'm finding is that I'm thinking more and more highly of the piece as I slowly discover it's inner workings.  It's so highly detailed and everything just seems to make sense.  Like most good pieces it's as if not a single thing could be changed to make the piece better.

Beethoven was a bit tedious.  We didn't run the piece per se but rather run/worked through it.  While I value everything he gives us and so much of it makes an immediately better result,  I wish he'd let us get through a movement before returning to things he'd like to add.  It's hard to apply everything and get a feeling for the pace of the movement and things like overall dynamic contour....how loud is that FF in the context of the entire movement?   He did the same thing with the Bruckner and I wasn't a big fan.

That's about it for now,  below is a not so great picture of Hamelin as orchestra musicians make their way to the stage to begin rehearsal.

Allan

[Bogey]

Neat stuff Allan.  I am watching your LvB reports with heightened interest....

(moves off into sidebar tirade) ....damn I love that No. 1.  Now where is the HvK '84?  That's right.  '84!  I did not stutter.  '84!  Did it sound like I said '62/'63 or '77....nope.  '84!

(regains composure) Will they be recording No. 1  Allan? 0:)