01 TOC_29_3.indd - International Double Reed Society

Transcription

Vol. 29 • No. 3
John Mack
1927-2006
IDRS OFFICERS
President
Nancy Ambrose King
3019 School of Music
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Bus: (734) 764-2522
Fax: (603)843-7597
E-mail: [email protected]
1st Vice President
Martin Schuring
School of Music 0405
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-0405
Bus: (480) 965-3439
Fax: (480) 965-2659
2nd Vice President
Sandro Caldini
Loc S Piero 14
Rigano S/Arno
50067 Florence ITALY
Secretary
Keith W. Sweger
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47304
Bus: (765) 285-5511
Fax: (765) 285-5401
Past President
Terry Ewell
Chair - Department of Music
Towson University
8000 York Road
Towson, MD 21252
Bus: (410) 683-1349
Fax: (410) 830-2841
Executive Secretary/Treasurer
Exhibit Coordinator
Norma R. Hooks
2423 Lawndale Road
Finksburg, MD 21048-1401
Office: (410) 871-0658
Fax: (410) 871-0659
At Large Members
Phillip A. M. Kolker
3505 Taney Rd
Baltimore, MD 21215
Bus: (410) 659-8238
Barbara Herr Orland
8034 Crescent Drive
St. Louis, MO 63105
Bus: (314) 533-2500
Music Industry Liaison
Larry Festa
Fox Product Corporation
PO Box 347
South Whitley, IN 46787
Bus: (219) 723-4888
Fax: (219) 723-5587
Bassoon Editor
Ronald James Klimko
657 Douglas Drive
PO Box 986
McCall, ID 83638-0986
Home: (208) 634-4743
Oboe Editor
Daniel J. Stolper
7 Hermosillo Lane
Palm Desert CA 92260-1905
Bus: (760) 837-9797
IDRS-On-Line Publications Editor
Yoshiyuki (Yoshi) Ishikawa
University of Colorado at Boulder
Boulder, CO 80309-0301
Bus: (303) 492-7297
Fax: (303) 581-9307
http://www.idrs.org
Legal Counsel
Jacob Schlosser
4937 West Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43228-1668
Bus: (614) 878-7251
Fax: (614) 878-6948
Conference Coordinator
Marc Fink
School of Music
University of Wisconsin-Madison
455 North Park Street
Madison, WI 53706-1483
Bus: (608) 263-1900
Fax: (608) 262-8876
Archivist
Michael J. Burns
School of Music
P.O. Box 26120
University of NC at Greensboro
Greensboro, NC 27402-6120
Bus: (336) 334-5970
FAX: (336) 334-5497
Gillet-Fox Competition Chair
Nancy Ambrose King
3019 School of Music
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Bus: (734) 764-2522
Fax: (603)843-7597
Gillet-Fox Competition
Oboe Chair
Rebecca Henderson
University of Texas at Austin
School of Music
1 University Station
Austin, TX 78712
Bus: (512) 471-0837
Fax: (512) 471-7836
Gillet-Fox Competition
Bassoon Chair
Douglas E. Spaniol
Jordan College of Fine Arts
Butler University
4600 Sunset Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46208-3485
Bus: (317) 940-8368
Fax: (317) 940-9658
Associate Members
Australasian Double Reed Society (ADRS)
Mägyar Fàgottos tarsasag (MAFAT) of Hungary
British Double Reed Society(BDRS)
Viennese Oboe Society
(Gesellschaft der Freunde der Wiener Oboe)
Chinese Association of Bassoon (CAB)
Finnish Double Reed Society(FDRS)
IDRS-Deutschland
Japan Bassoon Society
Japan Oboe Association
L’Association Francaise du Hautbois
(French Oboe Society)
L’Association “bassons”
(French Bassoon Society)
FagotClub Nederland
THE DOUBLE REED
THE
DOUBLE REED
Quarterly Journal
of the
INTERNATIONAL
DOUBLE REED
SOCIETY
VOL. 29 • NO. 3
Ronald Klimko and
Daniel Stolper, Editors
© 2006 International Double Reed Society
www.idrs.org
ISSN 0741-7659
Designed by Edward Craig
Ecraig3 Graphic Design
Baltimore, MD 21212 U.S.A.
Printed by The J.W. Boarman Company
Baltimore, MD 21230 U.S.A.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ON THE COVER: John Mack (1927 - 2006)
Table of Contents
Vol 29 • No.3
Honorary Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
36th Annual Double Reed Conference, Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York, June 12-16, 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
President’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Nancy Ambrose King
Report of the Executive Secretary/Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Norma Hooks
IDRS Sponsor-a-Member Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Martin Schuring
CURRENT EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tributes to John Mack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Compiled by Dan Stolper and Danna Sundet
Harold’s Report: IDRS 2006, Muncie, Indiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Harold Emert
Photos from IDRS 2006, Muncie, Indiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Al Markel
The 2006 Fernand Gillet – Hugo Fox Bassoon Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Doug Spaniol
IDRS Elects Two New Honorary Members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Martin Schuring
Alex Posada: A Story of Courage and Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Marsha Burkett
Markneukirchen 2006 International Bassoon Competition: A Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
William Waterhouse
IDRS WWW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Second Annual Carolyn Hove English Horn Masterclass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bonnie Koch Schroeder
Warm Regards from Cuba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lauren Rios Hernández
The Fourth Annual Bassoon Day at McGill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Stéphane Lévesque
The Third Brazilian Meeting for Oboe and Bassoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dwight Manning
Peter Schoenbach Honored at SUNY Fredonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
IDRS Membership Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A Bassoon “Giant” Retires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ronald Klimko
Heckel at 175 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
William Ring
Oboists in the News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Daniel Stolper
Bassoonists’ News of Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ronald Klimko
Blowing Hard Whilst London Blows Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Althea Ifeka
Letters to the Editors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4
5
11
12
13
14
15
25
29
33
35
37
39
42
43
45
47
48
49
50
51
55
59
64
67
70
ARTICLES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Benjamin Britten and His Metamorphoses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
73
George Caird
Arthur Bridet (1873-1945). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
André Lardrot
THE DOUBLE REED
The French School of Bassoon Practice and Pedagogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Svetoslav Atanasov
The Works for Bassoon of Gustav Schreck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Daniel Lipori
Research Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Roger Grundmann, Hans Krüger
Not Just for Bassoonists: Expanding Kovar’s Exercise on 5 Tones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Daryl Durran
Dirt, Dust, Crud and Junk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Betty Asher
Bassonicus – Aura Versus Merit? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Jefferey Cox
Historical Oboes 15: Lorée Oboes of John Mack’s Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Robert Howe
Vibrato: No Longer a Mystery! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Jan Eberle
Bassoon Lite, Please...
Divine Inspiration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Protective Mozart-ical Custody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Alan Goodman
REVIEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bassoon Recording Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ronald Klimko
Zéphyros Winds: Music of Gounod and Mozart in Concert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Pas de Trois: Music by Bernard van Beurden, Jindrich Feld,
Don Freund, David Froom and Perry Goldstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Intrada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Brazilian Dances and Inventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bassoon Music Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Daniel Lipori
Music from TrevCo Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Music from Boosey & Hawkes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Music from Wehr’s Music House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Music from EditionsVIENTO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Music from Gernot Wolfgang. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bassoon Music Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ronald Klimko
Frederick W. Moritz: Two and Three Tone Exercises for Bassoon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Guest Bassoon Music Reviews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
John Orford
Concerto Burlesco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4 Epigraphe nach Escher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Clive Fairbairn
The Seasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Oboe Recording Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Jeanne Belfy
Twentieth Century Oboe Concertos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bach: Pièces pour hautbois & Airs de cantates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Widerkehr: Chamber Music with Oboe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Oboe Music Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Robert Krause
15 Inventionen by Johann Sebastian Bach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Felix Mendelssohn: Romances sans paroles, Op. 30 pour hautbois et piano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ukrainian Music for Oboe and Piano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Stolen Oboes and Bassoons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contributing Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lost Sheep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Advertising Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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HONORARY MEMBERS
H onorary M embers
Günter Angerhöfer
(1926)
Norman H. Herzberg
(1916)
Matthew Ruggiero
(1932)
Lady Evelyn Barbirolli
(1911)
James Laslie
(1923)
Ray Still
(1920)
Lewis Hugh Cooper
(1920)
John Minsker
(1912)
Daniel Stolper
(1937)
Gerald Corey
(1934)
Ivan Pushechnikov
(1918)
Laila Storch
(1921)
Bernard Garfield
(1924)
Mordechai Rechtman
(1926)
K. David van Hoesen
(1926)
Alfred Genovese
Lowry Riggins
(1930)
William Waterhouse
(1931)
Ralph Gomberg
(1921)
Roland Rigoutat
(1930)
George F. Goslee
(1916)
Louis Rosenblatt
(1928)
President’s Award: Peter Klatt (Industry Liason), Jim Prodan (Archivist),
Noah Knepper (Founding Member)
D eceased H onorary M embers
Maurice Allard
(1923-2004)
Harold Goltzer
(1915-2004)
W. Hans Moennig
(1903-1988)
Philip Bate
(1909-1999)
Leon Goossens, CBE
(1897-1988)
Frederick Moritz
(1897-1993)
Robert Bloom
(1908-1994)
E. Earnest Harrison
(1918-2005)
Karl Öhlberger
(1912-2001)
Gwydion Brooke
(1912-2005)
Cecil James
(1913-1999)
Fernand Oubradous
(1903-1986)
Victor Bruns
(1903-1996)
Benjamin Kohon
(1890-1984)
Wayne Rapier
(1930-2005)
Donald Christlieb
(1912-2001)
Simon Kovar
(1890-1970)
Frank Ruggieri
(1906-2003)
John de Lancie
(1921-2002)
Dr. Paul Henry Lang
(1901-1991)
Sol Schoenbach
(1915-1999)
Robert De Gourdon
(1912-1993)
Lyndesay Langwill
(1897-1983)
Leonard Sharrow
(1915-2004)
Ferdinand Del Negro
(1896-1986)
Alfred Laubin
(1906 - 1976)
Jerry Sirucek
(1922-1996)
Willard S. Elliot
(1926-2000)
John Mack
(1927 - 2006)
Louis Skinner
(1918-1993)
Bert Gassman
(1911-2004)
Stephen Maxym
(1915-2002)
Robert Sprenkle
(1914-1988)
Fernand Gillet
(1882-1980)
Robert M. Mayer
(1910-1994)
THE DOUBLE REED
5
JOIN US FOR IDRS
June 12 - 16, 2007
About Ithaca
Ithaca is nestled in the
heart of New York State's
beautiful Finger Lakes
region. Located roughly
halfway between Manhattan and Toronto, this
thriving, culturally diverse
city of 30,000 combines
small-town warmth and
charm with cosmopolitan
flair. Home to Ithaca
College and Cornell
University, the Ithaca area
attracts visitors, students,
and scholars from around
the world. Rolling hills,
breathtaking gorges, and
splendid lakes offer
countless outdoor activities. Fantastic restaurants,
exciting nightlife, vibrant
theater, mainstream and
independent cinema, and
live music abound. Ithaca is
home to many eclectic
artisans, award-winning
wineries, towering
waterfalls, museums and
galleries, and plentiful
shopping along the
downtown Commons.
Hotel & Campus Housing
Numerous hotels in Ithaca
have reserved rooms with
conference rates. Please
visit our website at
IDRS2007.org for
complete listings. You can
also enjoy beautiful Ithaca
College campus housing, all
in close walking distance to
Travel
concerts and exhibits.
Single & double rooms are
available - all include
linens, parking and access
to the Fitness Center &
College Swimming Pool.
Dining
Campus dining offers a
wide variety of eating spots
and food options. A meal
plan is available through
campus dining services on
our website. There are
numerous excellent
restaurants throughout
Ithaca at convenient
locations. Enjoy a special
night of dining by
participating in our around
the town dine-a-thon. Details and sign-up available
in the lobby upon arrival.
Winery/Jazz Night
Join us for a wonderful
evening at one of Cayuga
Lake’s finest wineries,
Sheldrake Point Vineyard &
Cafe. Wine tasting, Hors
d’ Oeuvres, a stunning view
of Cayuga Lake and great
double-reed jazz make this
a not-to-miss event.
Fly directly
into the
Ithaca
airport on
US Airways
or Northwest for the most convenient travel. We are located
60 miles southwest of the
Syracuse, NY airport, and
90 miles southeast from
Rochester, NY. Please
contact Mary Ann Covert
at [email protected]
for help with airline travel.
Conference shuttle service
will be available to and from
the Ithaca airport.
Contact Us
IDRS 2007
Whalen Center for Music
Ithaca College
Ithaca, NY 14850
Hosts:
Paige Morgan
607-274-1680
Lee Goodhew Romm
607-274-3433
Fax: 607-274-1727
E-mail:
[email protected]
6
36TH ANNUAL DOUBLE REED CONFERENCE, ITHACA COLLEGE, ITHACA, NEW YORK, JUNE 12-16, 2007
Call for Proposals
June 12 - 16, 2007
The Artistic Committee of IDRS 2007 requests that any individual or group interested in
appearing at the 36th Annual 2007 Conference of the International Double Reed Society submit
a written proposal of participation. There are four presentation categories: Artist Recital,
Lecture/Master Class, the Avocational Series, and a new series, Attracting New Audiences for
Classical Music.
Artist Recital
Recital proposals may be for a full program, 45-50 minutes, a half program, 20-25 minutes, or a
single piece to be performed on a compilation program. Due to the high volume of proposals
anticipated, performers are strongly encouraged to consider half programs or single-piece
proposals. Accompanists will be available upon request. We are also interested in pieces written
in or around ’07: 1607 - 2007. Please be concise and specific in proposals. Presenters are not
paid to appear by the IDRS, nor will expenses be reimbursed. If presenters are sponsored, they
may not advertise their sponsors from the stage.
Lecture/ Master Class
To propose a lecture, please submit a title and concise description of the lecture topic. Lectures
may be up to 50 minutes in length. To propose a master class, please submit a title and concise
description of the master class topic. Please request either a 50 minute or 90 minute time
allotment.
Avocational Series
We are excited to continue this series. The IDRS recognizes that there are many talented double
reed players who have chosen careers in fields other than music. The committee requests
proposals by such players for either a single piece to be performed on a compilation program, or
for roundtable discussions on topics relevant to the nonprofessional. If requesting a performance, please submit a live CD of a recent performance, including program information and total
performance time. If requesting a roundtable discussion idea, please submit a title, concise
description and a requested time allotment.
Attracting New Audiences for Classical Music
The 2007 IDRS Artistic Committee recognizes that there are double reed performers showcasing music in a different, creative, or unusual way. Examples would be performance with multimedia, dance, art, etc. We would like to request proposals by such players for either a single
piece on a compilation program, a full recital, or a lecture/demonstration. Please include
program idea, title, precise description, multi-media needs and a requested time allotment.
Proposal forms may be downloaded at the IDRS 2007 Web site: www.idrs2007.org
All completed proposals must be received by December 1, 2006. Complete proposals may be
mailed, emailed as an attachment or faxed to:
Paige Morgan/Lee Goodhew Romm IDRS 2007
Whalen Center for Music Ithaca College
Ithaca, NY 14850
Phone: 607-274-1680 or 607-274-3433
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 607-274-1727
THE DOUBLE REED
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8
THE DOUBLE REED
9
10
THE DOUBLE REED
11
Message from the President
Nancy Ambrose King
Ann Arbor, Michigan
I
DRS Conferences continue to exceed our greatest
expectations, and this year’s Conference at Ball
State University was a testament to the fine
planning, creative thinking, and organizational skills
of our hosts Keith Sweger and Tim Clinch. Our
thanks go out to both Keith and Tim, and their fine
staff! We look forward to next year’s conference at
Ithaca College with all of the exciting performances,
excellent master classes, exhibits and events that Paige
Morgan and Lee Goodhew Romm have planned for
us in beautiful upstate New York.
NEW HONORARY MEMBERS
At the conference’s General Meeting, I announced this
year’s Honorary Members, chosen after the review of
many nominations sent in by our membership. It is
my great pleasure to once again recognize our newest
Honorary Members, Daniel Stolper and James Laslie.
Their profound accomplishments in the musical world
and many years of dedicated service to our profession
have placed them among the ranks of the world’s most
revered double reed musicians whose careers have
been honored by IDRS. Their expertise has influenced
countless musicians for decades. We deeply thank Dan
and Jim for the great contributions they have made,
and continue to make, to the double reed community
and the musical world at large, throughout their
lengthy and still very active careers.
NEW COMPETITION
It was also my pleasure to announce at this year’s
General Meeting the beginning of a new Young Artist
Competition for oboists and bassoonists age 21 and
younger, beginning in 2008. We are thrilled with the
success of the Fernand Gillet-Hugo Fox Competition,
which each year attracts the finest performers under
age 31 from the professional as well as the amateur
community. With its success, however, we have
become aware of the need for a competition focused
towards the younger double reed artist. The new IDRS
Young Artist Competition will alternate between oboe
and bassoon (with 2008 being an oboe competition)
complementing the Gillet-Fox Competition, so each
IDRS Conference will host both an oboe and a bassoon
competition each year. Look for more information on
this exciting new competition next year!
NEW COMMISSIONS
I am also very happy to announce that IDRS has
entered into contracts with four very prominent
composers who will be writing works commissioned
by our Society. My profound thanks to Executive
Committee members Sandro Caldini, Terry Ewell,
and Dan Stolper, who identified these fine composers.
I am thrilled that we will premiere two works in 2007
commissioned by IDRS: a Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and
Piano by Colorado composer Bill Douglas, and a work
for English horn and piano by Chicago composer Jan
Bach. In addition, 2008 will bring a bassoon/piano
work by acclaimed composer Libby Larsen, and in
2009 we’ll receive an oboe/piano work by English
composer Thea Musgrave. This is wonderful news
for our double reed community and I know we all
anticipate the completion and performances of all four
works by these outstanding composers.
A YEAR OF LOSSES
Finally, we in the double reed community and musical
world at-large are deeply saddened by the loss in July
of another pre-eminent figure, oboist John Mack. His
remarkable life as a performer and pedagogue touched
all of us in the Society. As a valued and enthusiastic
supporter of IDRS, he performed frequently at our
conferences, and served as judge of the Fernand GilletHugo Fox Competition numerous times. Those in
IDRS will miss him profoundly, although his memory
and influence in the double reed community continue
to flourish through his many students who perform
and teach throughout the world. He, along with the
other great oboists we have lost recently - Earnie
Harrison, James Caldwell, and Wayne Rapier - will
never be forgotten. ◆
12
REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY/TREASURER
Report of the Executive Secretary/Treasurer
Norma R. Hooks
Finksburg, Maryland
THE PASSING OF AN ERA
On July 23, two days before the start of our conference, we lost another great oboe player and one of the
most enthusiastic supporters of the IDRS. John Mack
was a renowned performer and teacher. He served as
principal oboe in the Cleveland Orchestra from 1965
until his retirement in 2001. He served as chairman
of the woodwind division at the Cleveland Institute
of Music also from 1965. Though retired from the
orchestra, Mr. Mack still continued to impart his
musical knowledge wherever he could. He will truly
be missed by the musical world and especially by his
colleagues and friends in the International Double
Reed Society.
A celebration of the life and career of John Mack
and a Memorial Tribute Concert is being held at Severance Hall in Cleveland, Ohio on Sunday, November 5, 2006.
with three people I haven’t seen for over 40 years (Ball
State Alumni) and it certainly made this conference
a little extra special for me. Thanks for a GREAT
JOB, Keith, Tim, Jack, Stefanie and all your staff and
volunteers!!!
INTERNATIONAL MAIL TO SOME COUNTRIES
CAN ONLY BE SENT BY “AIRMAIL”
If you sponsor an international member, you might
consider upgrading their membership by including
airmail. Some countries, including Viet Nam, South
Korea, Czech Republic and Kazakhstan can only receive mail by air. It takes extra time when our mail
processor has to deal with these issues. It also costs
us about $40 extra to mail The Double Reed to these
members each year. Please give us a hand with this
expense.
TIME AGAIN FOR DUES NOTICES!
BRAVO!!
The 35th Annual IDRS Conference at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana is now history. Keith Sweger and Tim Clinch have earned their GIANT MARGARITAS for their fantastic implementation of the
conference. For an entire week the Ball State campus
was alive with double reed activities.
I was on campus the weekend before the conference to work with my staff, the staff of the Ball State
conference bureau, and our many volunteers to set
up the tables for the record number of exhibitors
who attended this conference. WOW, what a display
that made! My heartfelt thanks goes to everyone who
worked with me. You did and outstanding job and I
was so happy to have you helping me.
We had exhibitors from Australia, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, and Taiwan, in addition to those from the United States. It
was an amazing array of everything “double reed”!
I’m sure if you talk to anyone about their time
at this conference, they will share with you some of
their memories of great performances, insightful
master classes, and “family reunions”. These conferences are truly like gatherings of family who are
scattered around the world. I personally was reunited
I don’t know if it’s as unbelievable to you as it is to
me, but it’s time to prepare and mail dues notices for
2007. Here are a couple issues I’ve been dealing with
concerning contacting members by mail and receiving payment.
Street Addresses on University Campuses - If
you live on a college campus, please find out what
the street address is of your dormitory, apartment or
other living space. No matter what you are told by
the school, the post office doesn’t want to deliver your
mail without a street address. When we are mailing
The Double Reed by bulk mail, copies with incomplete
university addresses are returned to me or worse yet,
trashed by the post office. This applies to university
libraries as well as individual members.
Canadian Checks - If you live in Canada, please
be aware that checks from your Canadian bank accounts must be converted into US dollars, even if
you’ve written “US Dollars” on the check. At today’s
exchange rate student members would pay $39.41
Canadian, regular members $56.31. Please make sure
you calculate the proper exchange rate or send an
international money order. Besides the difference in
exchange rate our bank charges a conversion fee for
checks from banks outside the United States. ◆
THE DOUBLE REED
13
IDRS Sponsor-a-Member Program
Martin Schuring
Tempe, Arizona
T
he IDRS established a Sponsor-a-Member program in 1995 for the purpose of enabling double
reed players from around the world to participate and enjoy the opportunities of membership in
our organization through the sponsorship of current
members. The primary purpose of the Sponsor-aMember program is to attract to our society double
reed players who because of economic circumstances
would not otherwise be able to join the IDRS. This is
an important outreach mission of our society. Since
the program’s inception, sponsored members from
the Peoples’ Republic of China, Vietnam, Lithuania,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Romania, Poland, the Czech
Republic, Egypt, Ukraine, Tartartstan, Russia, and
South Africa have become IDRS members through
the generosity of sponsors. An additional aspect of
the program has been the exchange of letters and
communications between sponsors and new members.
In coordination with Norma Hooks, Executive
Secretary, I will be pairing sponsors with potential
adopted members. IDRS will honor sponsors’ requests for specific adopted members as well. Anyone
may become a sponsor by requesting an adopted
member and paying one year’s dues for that individual. Sponsors may elect to pay an additional fee
for first-class postage so that publications arrive more
promptly.
IDRS is thankful to all sponsors who have participated in this worthwhile project in the past, and
looks forward to new sponsors becoming active in
the program. If you are interested in sponsoring a
member, or know of a potential member who needs
assistance, please contact me for more information
at:
Martin Schuring
School of Music 0405
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-0405
SPONSORS
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
BRAZIL
BRAZIL
BULGARIA
CHINA(P.R.O.C.)
CHINA(P.R.O.C.)
CHINA(P.R.O.C.)
CHINA(P.R.O.C.)
COSTA RICA
CROATIA
CUBA
David Sogg
David J. Ross
Glenn Harman
Heidi Huseman Dewally
John Towle
Laurel Kuxhaus
Linda Strommen,
IU Oboe Studio
Peter Zeimet
Rebecca Nagel
Shirley Robertson
Barbara Orland
Kevin Shackell
Kathryn Sleeper
Donald Vogel
Jim Prodan
Norma Hooks
Patty Mitchell
Gerald Corey
Nora Schankin
Marsha Burkett
CZECH REPUBLIC
CZECH REPUBLIC
CZECH REPUBLIC
ECUADOR
ENGLAND, UK
GUATEMALA
KAZAKHSTAN
KAZAKHSTAN
LITHUANIA
MEXICO
POLAND
RUSSIA
RUSSIA
RUSSIA
RUSSIA
RUSSIA
RUSSIA
RUSSIA
SPAIN
VIETNAM
VIETNAM
Aaron Hilbun
Loretta Thomas
Nancy Ambrose King
Rebecca Henderson
Dan Stolper
Terry Ewell
Bill Chinworth
Nicolasa Kuster
Chris Weait
Carlberg Jones
James & Kimberly Brody
Donna Ronco
Ellen Sudia-Coudron
Keith Koster
Marc Fink
Richard & Isabelle Plaster
Richard Killmer
Thomas Stacy
Craig Streett
Steve Welgoss
Troy Davis
14
CURRENT EVENTS
Current Events
THE DOUBLE REED
15
Tributes to John Mack (1927 - 2006)
Compiled by Dan Stolper and Danna Sundet
The obituaries below originally appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and in the Akron Beacon Journal.
They are reprinted here with permission.
OBITUARY FROM CLEVELAND.COM
Orchestra oboist, teacher John Mack dies at 78
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Donald Rosenberg
Plain Dealer Music Critic
John Mack, the revered former principal oboe of the
Cleveland Orchestra and teacher to several generations of superb players, died of complications from
brain cancer Sunday at University Hospitals of Cleveland. He was 78.
Mack, a resident of Cleveland Heights, was considered a giant in his field. He served as principal
oboe of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1965 until
his reluctant retirement, due to an eye condition, in
2001. During those 36 years, a record in the post, he
played under three music directors - George Szell,
Lorin Maazel and Christoph von Dohnanyi - and the
conductor who would become music director in 2002,
Franz Welser-Möst.
Along with his legacy of performances and recordings, Mack taught oboists who hold positions in
orchestras throughout the United States and abroad.
Among them are principal players in the Boston Sym-
phony (John Ferrillo), Cleveland Orchestra (Frank
Rosenwein) and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
(Elaine Douvas). Mack also taught two other current
Cleveland Orchestra oboists, Elizabeth Camus and
Jeffrey Rathbun.
“John Mack was an icon of the Cleveland Orchestra,” said David Zauder, a retired member of the
orchestra’s trumpet section and personnel manager.
“He touched thousands of lives with his special way of
helping. He made everybody better.”
When he wasn’t performing in the orchestra, playing golf or regaling colleagues with amusing stories,
often in the thick French accent of his esteemed teacher, Marcel Tabuteau, Mack shared his knowledge of
his beloved, and notoriously difficult, instrument.
He served as chairman of the oboe department
and woodwind division at the Cleveland Institute of
Music, taught in the Kent/Blossom Music program
and held an annual summer oboe camp in Little Switzerland, North Carolina.
Mack instructed students not only in the fine
points of oboe playing and music-making, but also in
the tricky and crucial art of reed-making.
“Oboe teachers don’t really know how to make
reeds, and if they do, they don’t like to give away their
secrets or know how to express it,” said Rosenwein,
who studied with Mack at the Cleveland Institute of
Music. “He was able to express very clearly how to
make reeds and musically how to best express using
the unique qualities of the instrument.”
Mack, whose playing was noted for a distinctive
ripeness of sound and elegance of phrasing, attributed
what he called the “cosmopolitan” nature of his oboe
tone partly to Tabuteau, the longtime principal oboe
of the Philadelphia Orchestra, with whom he studied
at the Curtis Institute of Music.
Mack believed his own playing was marked by a
“tone of complexity and completion,” he told The Plain
Dealer in 2001, shortly before his retirement from the
orchestra. “The tone has to have enough gumption.
Szell wanted the tone to be heard, even if it sounded
false to you [onstage].”
In a 1980 interview, Mack articulated what he felt
was the key to one of the conductor’s supreme achieve-
CURRENT EVENTS
M
embers of the IDRS, and indeed the whole
world of music, were immensely saddened
by the death in July of John Mack, distinguished oboist and our esteemed honorary member.
We send our deepest sympathy to the whole Mack
family. Danna Sundet, a former pupil of Mr. Mack,
and longtime first oboist of the Erie Philharmonic,
and faculty member at Kent State University, has been
working tirelessly to prepare a collection of memorial
tributes. She generously shares some of them with us
for this issue of The Double Reed. She is also one of
the organizers of the memorial concert scheduled for
November 5, 2006 in Cleveland’s Severance Hall.
CURRENT EVENTS
16
TRIBUTES TO JOHN MACK (1927 - 2006)
ments with the Cleveland Orchestra - balance.
“If you were a player who had a solo passage, Szell
would direct his attention during that solo to you so
single-mindedly that it was a rejection of the rest of
the orchestra, and they psychologically accepted that,
fell back and let their concentration go toward you,”
he said. “It was as though the light had been turned on
you and all other lights had been turned out.”
Mack was born in 1927 in Somerville, New Jersey,
and took up the oboe in sixth grade. He studied with
Tabuteau and Bruno Labate while in high school
and with Harold Gomberg at the Juilliard School of
Music. After Juilliard, he worked with Tabuteau at
Curtis.
Mack began his professional career as first oboe of
the Sadler’s Wells Orchestra, touring North America.
He served as principal in the New Orleans Symphony for 11 seasons and in the National Symphony in
Washington, D.C., for two before joining the Cleveland Orchestra. (One of the pieces he played during
his first concert with the orchestra, Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin, can be heard on The Cleveland Orchestra Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Compact Disc Edition.) He also participated in the Casals and Marlboro
festivals.
By the time he became principal oboe in Cleveland, he’d already auditioned for Szell twice: the first
time in 1953 at the Casals Festival in Prades, France,
where he was playing assistant to Tabuteau; the second in 1959, when Szell hired another oboist as principal in Cleveland.
When he finally won the Cleveland job in 1965,
Mack discerned a different Szell from the tyrant of
whom he’d heard so much.
“A lot of people didn’t like working with him
because he was tough,” Mack said in the 2001 Plain
Dealer interview. “I loved him. As demanding as he
was, it seemed to me always for the sake of the music.
It was never for self-aggrandizement.”
Similarly, Mack had a reputation for toiling endlessly to improve himself and to nurture his students.
“I feel he really revolutionized or redefined how
oboe is taught,” said Rosenwein. “He knew he wasn’t
the most talented person. He really had to work for
what he had. The tools he was able to give to his students let them in on how to become great.”
Mack derived as much joy recounting tales of
Tabuteau, Szell and others as he did recalling favorite
performances.
“He had every reason to take great pride in looking back on a wonderful life in music,” said David
Cerone, president of the Cleveland Institute of Music.
“He was the absolute epitome of all that it means to be
an artist and a teacher.”
Yet Mack also was an artist who could look whimsically on life in the fast oboe lane while taking his art
seriously.
“If you’re going to play the oboe, you have to have
elementary bravery, or you’re in big trouble,” he said
in 2001. “Some of them are nutty, wild and unreasonable. I call myself a quintessential Cleveland Orchestra player - orthodox, but zippy, and nonwacko. I hate
wacko.”
FROM OHIO.COM
In Appreciation
Master musician, much more
It was easy to find John Mack’s phone number, even
among the other John Macks listed in the Cleveland
book. You just looked under John Oboe Mack. The
former principal oboe of the Cleveland Orchestra
identified totally with his instrument, and in turn,
his name is known far and wide.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this great oboist
and teacher since he died July 23. Mack had retired
in 2001 as the principal oboe of the Cleveland Orchestra, where he had played since 1965. During that
distinguished career, Mack made his mark both as a
player and as a leader among musicians. He was always willing to speak up and take a position.
Mack had stories galore about conductors, soloists, you name it. The tales included Mack’s own
teacher, the French oboist Marcel Tabuteau, whose
studio at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia
was a genealogical starting point for generations of
American oboists. Continuing Tabuteau’s tradition,
Mack attracted students to the Cleveland Institute of
Music and his famous oboe camps in North Carolina
and California.
In 1991, the composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich wrote
an oboe concerto to celebrate Mack’s 25 years as
principal oboe of the Cleveland Orchestra. She told
me then, “The thing that most attracts me to John’s
playing is the subtlety and the vocal kind of quality to
the phrasing and the color he brings to a line.’’
As someone who studied the oboe, I loved Mack’s
own description of the oboe’s sound. He said it was
different from other woodwinds because in its tone,
the nerves are a little closer to the surface.
Something that Mack said about his father has
stuck with me. His father used to say, “Son, do not
take ‘No’ for an answer from inanimate objects.’’
THE DOUBLE REED
Elaine Guregian can be reached at 330-996-3574 or
[email protected]
c) 2006 Beacon Journal and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
The following are memorial tributes gathered by Danna Sundet and are generously shared for publication
in The Double Reed.
FROM JOSEPH TURNER
Remembering John Mack
In the spring of 1964 I had just finished my first season as principal oboist of the San Antonio Symphony
and was visiting my parents in Arlington, Virginia. I
called Dick White, my first teacher, and he told me
I should meet the National Symphony’s new principal oboist, John Mack. The meeting turned into a
two hour session in which Mr. Mack corrected my
embouchure, articulation, and finger position, and
showed me some of what could be done with a stable,
resonant reed.
Immediately upon the conclusion of the next season in San Antonio I returned to Arlington and began
taking two lessons a week with Mr. Mack. He gave me
at least two hours at each lesson, and charged ten dollars. We covered fundamentals, Barret, excerpts, and
reeds. I don’t recall that he showed me how to make
a reed; he told me where I had gone wrong and made
sure that I knew what a good reed should do. At this
time I successfully auditioned for the principal position in Baltimore. Without his training I doubt that
I would have won. (This was in a different era. There
were no more than fi fteen oboists at this audition.)
He told me “Do a good job in Baltimore and I’ll get
you into Marlboro.”
At Marlboro our relationship became more collegial. John continued to be an inexhaustible source of
help but now it was focused on specific challenges as
they came up in the repertoire we were performing.
John did many amazing and amusing things in
the summers I spent at Marlboro.
In my first summer, the Festival Orchestra was
performing and recording the Bach Orchestral
Suites. John spent hours in sectional rehearsals with
me and Pat Nott. During one of these, held in my
dorm room, a neighboring French horn player began
to practice at a very high pitch. John cried “He’ll have
the whole camp playing sharp tonight!” He rushed
out the door, slipped, and fell flat on his back. I was
sure he was hurt, but he jumped up and ran down the
hall to correct the errant hornist.
As we were warming up for a rehearsal of the
Schubert Unfinished I mentioned that I had new cane
that I liked. He asked to see some so I showed him a
blank I had just tied on. In the few minutes before
the rehearsal he made a wonderful reed on this new
cane (and unfamiliar gouge and shape) and played
the Schubert on it, beautifully.
Another time we were rehearsing a wind serenade that had a movement ending with the second
oboe playing low D while the first played B f above.
I was having difficulty playing the D soft ly enough.
Finally John gave me a slightly disgusted look and
said, “You play the B f, I’ll play the D”. I was annoyed
and thought, “OK, I’ll play so soft ly that he’ll lose it”.
I wasn’t able to do it. No matter how soft ly I played,
he played softer. I doubt if he even knew what I was
up to.
Preparing and performing the Beethoven Opus
87 trio was a highlight of my time with John. He
coached Pat Nott and me on every note, coaxed and
bullied us through our endurance problems, and in
the weekly dining hall concert played with incredible
bravura. The other Marlboro participants gave the
performance an ovation of rhythmic applause, which
was repeated at a formal public concert that weekend.
I don’t recall hearing rhythmic applause at any other
time at Marlboro.
Pat and I heard many of John’s maxims, some of
them many times. We each chose a favorite, wrote
them on index cards and had John sign them. Pat
chose “A reed a day keeps the psychiatrist away”.
Mine was “If you’re going to go down, go down in
flames”. I kept mine for years, until I spilled reed water on it and the ink ran.
John Mack was truly “super-sized”, as a performer, teacher, and human being. Hearing him play at
Marlboro was a revelation. His love of playing and
teaching are too well known to need any elaboration
here. He both challenged and encouraged me at every
lesson and I always looked forward to the next one. In
CURRENT EVENTS
Mack’s father taught him to step up to challenges,
beginning with cajoling a flat piece of bamboo into a
sweetly singing double reed.
“How are you ever going to get anything done if
you say no? Every time you say no in order to avoid
a difficulty or a challenge of some sort, you diminish
yourself,’’ Mack said.
John Mack was all about saying yes to the challenges of life. His vitality, enthusiasm and soaring
musicianship will be missed.
17
CURRENT EVENTS
18
addition, he was as concerned for my personal wellbeing as he was for my career, for as long as I knew
him.
I went my own way after my association with John
at Marlboro. Other than occasional phone calls and
exchanging Christmas cards we didn’t have much
contact. When I needed his help or counsel, however,
he was as warm and supportive as ever. It is hard to
realize that this wellspring of energy and generosity
is gone. We must try to take up the slack as well as we
can, in our playing, our teaching, and especially our
appreciation of the privilege of being musicians.
Joseph Turner
1806 Thornbury Road
Baltimore MD 21209
410-664-3133
[email protected]
The following are responses from a series of questions asked of former students and associates of
John Mack compiled by Danna Sundet.
away, I had fewer lessons, but went to the Oboe Camp
several times. I checked in with him regularly for
coaching for big auditions. Our relationship was always student/teacher or former student/teacher until
just recently when he came out to Portland, Oregon
to do master classes. He was here in March of 2005
and 2006. I have put the oboe aside and taken up another career, but went to his classes. What a rush of
sentimentality and even grief that brought on. But I
got to take him to lunch and have his attention all to
myself. It was such fun conversing now as one adult
to another and telling him about my projects (I rehab
homes).
I sent him before and after pictures of my most
extensive project and he LOVED them. I was so looking forward to sending him pictures of the house I
just re-engineered, along with all the drawings and
plans. He would have been fascinated, I’m sure. It is
a huge loss not to be able to share that with him. I
would love to have heard his response.
Describe in your own words how you viewed JM as
a teacher.
FROM PATRICIA BARRY
Your name, address, contact information.
Patricia Barry
0130 SW Thomas St.
Portland, OR 97239
971.222.5422
Describe when, how and where you met JM.
After completing a master’s degree at Northwestern
University, I got my first job (1979) playing 2nd oboe
in the Columbus Symphony. It was a part time job
which I accepted, not only because I needed the income and the experience, but because I hoped that
Mack would be willing to teach me as often as I could
drive up to Cleveland. I called him up, introduced
myself and asked if I could have lessons with him.
He said, “Yes. Now tell me about yourself....briefly.”
Whew! I was elated.
Describe your relationship with JM. How long did
you know him, and how would you describe your
relationship over the years, then and until the time
of his death. If it changed over the years, please describe. (E.g. used to be student, then a colleague).
I studied with him quite regularly for those 6 years
I was in Columbus. Then as jobs took me further
Amazing. He is the one who finally taught me how
to really play the oboe. It’s as if I was adrift and lost
on the oboe until he gave me the tools to tame the
beast (to some degree!) Even more importantly, I
finally gained some knowledge of how to construct
a phrase by going through Barret and Ferling with
him. I was absolutely clueless prior to that, having
received nothing methodical from any other teacher.
One of the most difficult things about the oboe is to
get control of all the variables, simultaneously.
There are so many choices to be made that one
could spend a lifetime going down blind alleys. But
intially, Mr. Mack helped me most by giving me decisive information. Do this, don’t do that. That’s good.
That’s bad. Sometimes his directions were so simple:
“Just make a good reed and blow.”
I never got tied up in knots of over analysis. Yet
one of his greatest abilities as a teacher is to teach
players to be self reliant and to solve problems.
If you had to use a word or phrase to describe JM’s
teaching philosophy, what would it be?
He teaches in a way that fosters self reliance, while
still being totally generous with information.
THE DOUBLE REED
Did JM do something for you? If so, what?
FROM BARBARA STEPHANS
He taught me how to play. I had a song to sing and I
was finally able to sing it.
If you had to describe JM in one word or phrase,
what would It be?
What are your favorite “John Mackisms” (expressions unique to JM), and discuss the context.
Never take no from an inanimate object. This seems
to be a favorite of many others, but I think of it almost
daily now as I wrestle with my house renovations.
Relate one or more inspirational or other stories
about JM.
This isn’t really an inspiration story, but is a simple
concept of Mack’s that I think about quite often. One
time he was talking about clipping the tip of the reed
and how to decide which blade would be shorter,
wondering if he was missing out on a truly great reed
by maybe choosing the wrong side, etc. But then he
said he decided that he would always just make the
decision and the other not chosen would be like the
dark side of the moon. He would never see it.
It makes life’s decisions easier. I remind myself
I will choose one over the other and the other is like
the dark side of the moon.
What do or will you miss most about JM?
I just miss his presence. I miss saving up little stories or anecdotes that I might relate to him. I would
always try to imagine what witty response he might
come up with. As someone said, the world is a lonelier place without him.
What do you believe drove JM to be who he was?
What do you think was his driving force? Where do
you think his energy, inspiration, drive, mentoring,
etc. came from?
His father most importantly. Then Tabuteau.
I met John Mack at an oboe symposium held at the
University of Miami in 1973 or 74. My oboe teacher at
the time, Julian Balogh, of the Miami Philharmonic,
organized the event, luring the country’s top oboists
with Golf at a top Miami course, no doubt! John was
joined by Robert Bloom, John DeLancie, and Ray
Still. It was a privilege and an amazing opportunity
to hear them all perform, but I got hooked on John
Mack, watching him make a great reed faster than I’d
ever seen anyone do! I liked his rapid fire way of talking and how he wanted to share his knowledge and
secrets.
So, I started to write to him, asking to study with
him. He did not write back. Finally, I looked him up in
the phonebook. And there was the listing...John Oboe
Mack. I called him and he aked “Are you that person
who keeps writing me letters? He then said,” You’re
persistent. I think I’ll teach you.” I replied, “Great.
But, don’t you want a tape? You’ve never heard me
play.” He said, “Well, you’re a student of Big Julie’s,
so I know you must play well. And I like your persistence.” A short time later, I moved to Cleveland.
Describe your relationship with JM. How long did
you know him? If your relationship changed, please
describe. (e.g. used to be student, then colleague)
I studied with John privately in 1974 and 1975, with
a couple return trips for brush-up lessons. We stayed
in touch all through the years. When I went into television production as a career, I asked him if it bothered him when his students wound up in professions
other than music. He said, as long as they brought a
passion to what they were doing and gave it their all,
he felt his time had been worthwhile.
When my apartment in Los Angeles was ransacked
and my oboe was stolen, Mr. Mack came to my rescue, sending me an oboe to play on until my insurance company could supply the funds for a new one
and a new supply of oboes arrived at Bob Gilbert’s.
Relate one or more funny stories you remember
about JM.
I loved his analogies. The way he got you to think
CURRENT EVENTS
He has a heart of gold.
19
20
about music. Like the time he motioned in the air like
he was casting a fishing pole, to describe how to play
a particular phrase.
CURRENT EVENTS
Relate one or more you experienced yourself.
I used to tape my lessons, so I could listen to them
the following week. At times, he would want to share
something that he’d never want on tape, so we’d
chuckle and turn it off for awhile.
Words to describe him:
Devoted:
He was devoted to his family, the oboe, his students
and to living life to its utmost.
Joyous:
You could see the joy he felt when he saw that you
understood an idea or technique he was trying to get
across to you. He was eager to teach those eager to
learn.
Discerning:
Some teachers know when something doesn’t sound
quite right, but can’t explain how to change what’s
wrong. But Mr Mack could always verbalize how to
fi x whatever was wrong. That’s a whole different level
of discernment. And he could show you how to enliven your playing, so it didn’t sound boring.
What influence has JM had in your career and or
personal life?
When I found out Mr. Mack had passed away, I felt as
though a family member had passed on. I was trying
to explain to friends what he meant to me and found
myself thinking about it for several days, wanting to
put it into words.
As mentors go in Hollywood, where I work as a
producer, usually it is a matter of “You scratch my
back, I’ll scratch yours.” You support the executives
and gradually they give you more responsibility and
acknowledgement. But Mr. Mack wanted you to do
your best for you, yourself. That is indeed rare. The
time I spent in Cleveland, with Mr. Mack was spent
to better myself and how many times will any of us
find ourselves in that kind of environment in our lifetime? How many times in our lives will anyone pour
that kind of attention and energy and encouragement
into us?
I think John’s influence on me, was to do my per-
sonal best. Actually, it was the realization that I could
do better than what I thought was my personal best.
I never thought about it until his death, but now I
see that when I help a young production assistant or
refer them or other colleagues to a job opening, it’s
due in part to the influence of my parents who were
youth group advisors and always had me welcome the
new kids...but also in part due to Mr. Mack’s influence, to always take an opportunity to help people
along. A production assistant dubbed afternoon
breaks from work, when I’d talk about various shows
I had worked on, as “Storytime with Barb.” That, I
could have only gotten from John.
what would it be?
INSPIRATIONAL
What will you miss the most about JM?
I will miss his zest for life. I will always be able to
put on a record or CD and get to hear him play. But I
will miss not getting to talk with him ever again. And
miss his enthusiasm, humor and zest for life.
FROM BILL HEBERT
John Mack and I first met in the halls of The Juilliard
School in Manhattan in 1945. He was 19 and I was
23 - both registered as students - he on oboe and I on
flute. After one year, John transferred to The Curtis
School in Philadelphia while I remained at Juilliard
to graduate and then came to Cleveland.
Fast forward to 1965, John was appointed by
George Szell as solo oboe when we met once again on
a Cleveland golf course. Ten years later, my son Martin auditioned as a possible oboe student of John, was
accepted, and subsequently entered CIM. Martin’s
learning experience with John was an outstanding
one and even after playing professionally, he often
returned to Cleveland for advice and coaching from
John to great advantage.
For the many years we spent making great music together as colleagues under George Szell, I now
look back with great pride on that glorious era of
The Cleveland Orchestra with its world renowned
reputation.
John, It was great fun!
THE DOUBLE REED
21
Relate one or more you experienced yourself.
Your name, address, contact information
Joel S. Cohen, PhD.
91 Hawthorne Ave.
Akron, Ohio 44303
I can remember JM showing up at my house for my
lesson with a long box of oboe reeds under his arm
with his oboe, and I asked JM, can I see those, and
JM said never mind, those are just reeds, and at that
point, JM dropped them on my front porch stairs,
JM’s response to that was, now they are really never
mind reeds. I felt really bad and embarrassed. (What
a way to start a lesson) I kept my mouth shut from
then on!
I was playing oboe with the University of Akron
Summer band back in High School around 1965.
Mr. Jackaboise the dirctor, suggested that I get lessons from JM, Mr. Jackaboise gave me Blossom Music
Center’s phone number. I called and connected with
JM.
Describe your relationships with JM. How long did
you know him? If your relationship changed, please
describe. (e.g. used to be student then colleague)
Pestalozzian. JM believed in the inner dignity of each
individual regardless of your pursuits.
What influence has JM had in your career?
I studied with JM during the summers of 1965-66,
and once in a while during the year, and on and off
during my studies at various colleges and universities, and the second JM oboe camp. JM would drive
his sports car (a two seat expensive car, as I recall it
got stolen in Cleveland) from Blosson to my house in
Akron. After the lesson my Mother would have tea
and special eats. JM would tell us stories about his career as an oboist, and how he ended up in Cleveland.
I can remember my father asking JM this question,
“Do you think my son has potential?” I can sort of
remember JM saying, “Do you think I would drive all
this way for nothing?” (I wanted to crawl into a hole,
I was an embarrassed high school kid at the time.)
Even though I did not end up playing professionally,
JM gave me inspiration, and encouragement that has
kept me playing oboe in my own special way.
Since music is my avocation, my private students are
exposed to his teachings through recordings and my
recollections of past lessons.
Nurturing.
JM wrote one recommendation for me to Ohio State
Music School.
Describe in your own words how you viewed JM as
a teacher.
Relate one or more funny stories you remember
about JM.
JM was a phenomenal teacher. JM’s ideas would just
flow from words; To his fingers through the oboe;
GOD if I could just do that? I would say to myself.
His way was very inspirational even to my trying to
please him at every lesson; otherwise I would feel
guilty if I did not put my all into my lessons and
practice. I liked how JM would play around with the
acoustics of the oboe, using nail polish in the bell,
just all kinds of stuff. JM’s reeds, well I liked play-
I have JM’s picture from the Plain Dealer September
12, 1976. This was a poster that was blown up of JM. I
remember JM saying, “I look drunk.”
In your personal life?
JM was very compassionate to everyone and I try to
hold that same ideal.
What are your favorite “John Mackisms” (expressions unique to JM), discuss in the context.
I can remember JM talking about the flute oboe thing
called fluteoboe. You must get that going.
what would it be?
CURRENT EVENTS
FROM JOEL S. COHEN, PhD.
22
ing on JM’s worn out reeds, they were fantastic. Does
that tell you the quality of reeds JM produced? Don’t I
wish I could!!!!!! Make a reed as good as his worn out
reeds? YES! YES!
CURRENT EVENTS
Describe how you viewed JM as a musician, performer and/or member of an orchestra.
JM was the Tiger Woods of music. JM loved golf. JM
would win all major tournaments if music had such
a thing.
What do you believe drove JM to be who he was?
Where do you think his energy, inspriration, drive,
mentoring, etc came from?
People like JM are a gift from GOD, I wish I could
think of a better anwer for you, but that is what I believe at the moment. (Danna, guys are not supposed
to get teary eyed, but I must confess, this was one
tough assignment for me.)
What will you miss the most about JM?
Just knowing JM is no longer with us.
FROM CAROL BERNHARDT
470 Marion Ave.
Mansfield, OH 44903
Phone: 419-525-2688
I first met John Mack in 1974 at his home. I had been
admiring the playing of oboists I had heard in various orchestras including high school regional and
state orchestras and I discovered that they all studied
with John Mack. I was around 30 years old, married,
with two daughters at the time. I had read that if you
want to be the best you can be you should study or
associate with the best in your field. It was becoming more and more evident that for the oboe that was
John Mack. Finally I overcame my fear of rejection
and fear of driving to Cleveland and called Mr. Mack
to see if I could study with him, thus beginning a 30
year stretch of lessons.
I found Mr. Mack to be very analytical of both
the music and the mechanics of playing and unlike
some fine players, he was able to communicate what
he wanted and how to go about getting it. Everything
was done for the musical effect – not just for the purpose of having a certain embouchure, etc. Whatever
it took to get the right musical effect.
I have always loved to play lots of notes – the more
the better! But I didn’t play musically and couldn’t
play slow pieces worth 2 cents. I asked Mr. Mack one
time about how people learn to play musically. He
said, “Well, some people just naturally play that way;
some people have to be told how to do it (that was
me!!), and some people will be told and still won’t be
able to do it”. I remember the day I played an etude
for him and he stepped back and said “Did you ever
think you would be able to play like that?” Quite a
compliment coming from him! He had a great way of
putting the polish on a person’s playing.
Mr. Mack always treated me with respect and
kindness. I remember not too long after I started taking lessons from him, he said “You know when you
first started coming here I felt you thought I looked
down on you. You realize that has never been the
case.” He was very good at reading people and had
a great knack for using good psychology. He never
told me I HAD to do something but rather would say
something like, “you would do yourself a favor if you
would learn to do this” or “the audience would love
you if you play it this way”. So, of course, I would do
what he suggested!
I always returned home from a lesson energized
and with new ideas and a new way of looking at the
music. Mr. Mack changed not only my approach to
playing the oboe but also my approach to teaching.
One time when I was at his house for a lesson,
the vacuum cleaner was sitting out. He said he had
started to clean his studio but then he picked up an
oboe and five hours later he realized the room still
wasn’t cleaned! But he said “I figured more people are
going to hear me play the oboe than are going to see
this room.”
Around Christmas time in the mid ‘80’s, my husband and I were waiting in the Cleveland Airport
for our daughter to arrive from New Jersey. I suddenly spotted Mr. and Mrs. Mack at the same gate. It
turned out they were flying to New Jersey to see Mr.
Mack’s father and would be flying on the same plane
in which my daughter would be arriving. So we had a
nice chat while waiting for the plane to arrive. At the
last minute he had decided to take an oboe with him
saying his father would probably like to hear the oboe
being played.
Special things which Mr. Mack did for me over
the years include:
1. Coming and pushing my car across four lanes of
traffic on Cedar Rd. I was in a terrible thunderstorm on my way to his house. The car sputtered
THE DOUBLE REED
23
“This photo is my favorite last photo taken at Judson Park while visiting John.
I would frequently visit with him over meals or walk with him down to a library
nook for a different atmosphere and we would sit and talk.”
and completely stopped on Cedar Rd. at a place
where there were no streets or driveways going off
to the right. Because of the storm it would be several hours before any of the places I called could
come out so Mr. Mack came and pushed (with his
big car) my car across to a side street on the left.
By then my lesson was almost gone but the person coming after me was also having problems
because of the storm. So I ended up having a full
lesson before the next person arrived and then
when Mr. Mack had to leave to go to Blossom he
let me wait in his waiting area until my husband
and father arrived to rescue me.
2. When I asked where to buy ungummed cigarette
(OCD) papers because the tobacco store here in
Mansfield didn’t have them and the RJ Reynolds
Company said I would have to buy a gross, Mr.
Mack sent a box of the papers home with me.
He said he would let me know the cost later but
whenever I asked, he didn’t know so I never did
pay for them.
3. When my husband died, Mr. Mack called that
evening to offer his condolences. He had heard
from one of his CIM students who played on a
concert that I was to have played that day. I really
appreciated that he would take the time to call
me.
I feel very fortunate to have studied with John
Mack and to have attended his oboe camp at Wildacres several years. He was an unique person – one
who loved music and who never stopped learning or
trying to improve. A wonderful example for us all!!
FROM PETER CHRIST
When I first met John Mack at Marlboro in 1964 he
had only just been engaged with the Cleveland Orchestra, but he was already a well-known player and
I was delighted to make his acquaintance and play
with him.
He was obviously a true “student of the oboe”
in the best sense of the words. I was impressed not
only by his playing but by his knowledge of the inner
workings of the instrument and by his willingness to
share his experience with others. Just a couple weeks
into the session he offered to repair my oboe, at no
charge, and he obviously knew intimately all the intricacies of the instrument.
We played several concerts together at Marlboro but one I will always remember included the
Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, with Pablo Casals
conducting. We subsequently recorded this work for
Columbia Records (now Sony). The slow movement
ends with quiet chords, first in the harpsichord, then
strings, then oboe; then the sequence repeats (with
different notes), a total of three times before the final chord. The third oboe part, which I was playing,
has a low D, then a low C then a middle B f, before
the final low E. Casals wanted each chord softer than
the one before, which was easy for the strings but not
CURRENT EVENTS
Danna Sundet and John Mack enjoying lunch together.
CURRENT EVENTS
24
so easy for the oboes. At one point in the rehearsal
Casals asked for even softer low notes from the third
oboe. I was very impressed and delighted when John
spoke up in my defense and said “Maestro, the third
part is very difficult; you are asking him to do something that is very difficult.” to which the maestro replied “I know it is very difficult, but either it is right
or it isn’t.” I managed to play it as soft ly as he wanted
by taking off my sock and the oboe bell and putting
the sock over the oboe. John had actually played that
third oboe part in an earlier recording with Tabuteau
on first and Casals conducting, so he knew the problems in playing the part.
John was very good to me in other ways that
summer, like when he recommended me to play English horn with the Santa Fe Opera. Unfortunately, I
couldn’t take the job because I had another festival I
was going to, but I greatly appreciated his willingness
to take a chance with me, a young aspiring oboist
whom he had just met that summer.
We were out of touch for several years after Marlboro until I was approached by Robert Woods of Telarc Records who asked if I would like to take over
their two John Mack solo recordings to release on my
label, Crystal Records. I jumped at the chance and it
was wonderful not only to have those two legendary
albums on Crystal but also to renew acquaintance
with John. In the next few years he did two more
albums for Crystal. The solo recordings have been
among our top selling CDs, and it continues to be obvious to me that John was one of the most respected
oboists in the world.
As is well-known, John Mack’s students occupy
top positions in orchestras around the world. His influence in the oboe community cannot be overstated.
His beautiful tone has been a model for countless
oboists through the years. I will never forget attending a concert of the Budapest Festival Orchestra in
Budapest and being extremely impressed with the
tone of the first oboe. I later found out that he had
been a John Mack student. I should have known.
John will be missed more than any of us can
imagine.
FROM RAY PANCOST
It was with great sadness that I heard of the passing
of John Mack. I had the privilege of studying with
him for two summers at The Blossom Music Festival
in the early 70s, and found him to be one of the most
inspiring and knowledgeable oboe teachers I had the
good fortune to study with. I have continued for these
past more than three decades to pass on his legacy to
my oboe students. I particularly enjoyed his sense of
humor and know that he will be missed by all in our
community.
Please Celebrate with us the
Life and Career of JOHN MACK.
A Memorial Tribute Concert
Severance Hall, Cleveland, Ohio
Sunday, November 5, 3:00PM
ALL John Mack oboe students are invited to join
together in performing the premiere of Sinfonia
(for Choirs of oboes and English horns) composed by Margi Griebling-Haigh especially for
this occasion. RSVP, performers only.
[email protected]
THE DOUBLE REED
25
Harold’s Report: IDRS 2006, Muncie, Indiana
Harold Emert
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Tuesday, Muncie, Indiana - A visitor from a far-off
planet called Brazil, is a bit shocked by this announcement which greets him as he arrives at ultra-modern
George Bush international airport in Houston, Texas. “Be careful what you say to authorities... you could
be arrested!” But strange things seem to happening
these days in his “old country.” Out of curiosity, the
visitor asks: “This airport is named after which Bush?
The response: “Number two.” (In reality the elder
George and not George W. but in reality isn’t George
second these days to George W.?)
En route from Houston to Muncie, Indiana,
aboard one of those narrow airplanes which makes
it difficult for our pleasantly plump air stewardess to
serve 30 passengers, I down the only freebie on the
plane, a cup of coffee, and strike up a long and stimulating conversation with a native of Austin, Texas.
The subject: Brazilian soccer - for his eight-yearold is a rising star! I seem to be the first ET to arrive at
Indianapolis and instead of dancing girls and singers
as we have in Bahia, Brazil, the bus is not there to pick
me up. So I tie an oboe reed and start scraping in the
shuttle bus terminal to make sure I am not mistaken
by authorities to be in the Hoosier State for any other
reason than to attend a Double Reed convention. After a few hours wait - are we in Brazil? - many of the
smiling faces I have known from four past conferences in various parts of the globe are seated aboard
what our guide calls “the psychotic express” en route
to the Ball State Campus.
You know that the Convention has begun because the conversation is about reeds, tubes, Japanese
oboes taking over the market, etc. Sorry I can’t give
you on the spot report job on the opening concerts
because the bassoonist who will accompany me on
my Thursday morning 15 minutes of fame recital, my
old classmate, retired New York Philharmonic member Lennie Hindell found me somehow in my dormitory room and had me doing what I should be doing:
practicing. I did hear however excellent reports about
the recital by bassoonist Arthur Weisberg’s family
with his son, John shining as a young oboist, according to one spy.
My late arrival also resulted in my missing what
sounded like a fascinating lecture: “The English horn
in Russian music” by Leonid Sirotkin, and a number
of interesting recitals and a tribute to three distinguished oboists: Earnie Harrison, James Caldwell
and Wayne Rapier - all of whom I had met at past
conferences or in Caldwell’s case, in Rio de Janeiro.
This listener, however, did get to hear a very stimulating first night recital performance featuring the
Jean Francaix Quartet with Grover Schiltz, recently
retired from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, making it seem easy to play the English horn; Pauline
Oostenrijk, Dutch oboist premiering for my ears
Serenade Op.3 (with a string trio) by Nico Hermans;
and England’s Emily Pailthorpe, oboe, and Canada’s
Stephane Levésque, bassoon, accompanied by Robert Palmer, piano, giving a sprightly, theatrical version standing up of the Poulenc Trio.
The bravery medal goes to Robert Williams, bassoon, for his courage to open the IDRS convention’s
evening concerts with Three Recital Pieces by Julius
Weissenborn, played as if it’s not nerve-wracking to
play in front of oboists and bassoonists from all over
the world.
Well, what more can I report tonight? Be careful about what you say or you can be arrested!
Wednesday, (Studebaker Dorm, room 807) - I had
thought of writing to the IDRS2006 organizers prior
to this Conference - as I have at the four other meets
I’ve attended - inquiring where I could partake in my
daily workout or swim. Forget it, because just walking around this enormous - and often confusing (for
novices) - campus is a daily workout which led one
colleague to puff: “I have to take a rest and will not go
to the next concert.”
CURRENT EVENTS
P
relude: Faster than a speeding bullet, a motorbike overcomes a speeding taxi heading
towards Rio de Janeiro’s Tom Jobim international airport. A bespectacled American-Brazilian
oboist-composer hastily scurries out of his taxi and
collects 15 copies of his new CD Potpourri ready just
in time to fly with it to its launching at the Muncie
IDRS 2006 oboe-bassoon convention.
CURRENT EVENTS
26
HAROLD’S REPORT: IDRS 2006, MUNCIE, INDIANA
At every Conference what always surprises me
is meeting the “young” double reed players in their
sixties, seventies and even eighties who are starting
out on a musical adventure most of us have taken
for granted since we were teenagers. They include
Al Markel, who has become the IDRS Conference
“official” photographer, among others. But when Al
is not clicking his lens, or praising a car windshield
spray which really does dry the oboe up in emergencies, he wants to learn more and more about reeds.
I and others advise these “youngsters” to buy their
reeds because they are not in their teens and have a
lot of exercise and repertoire practicing to do in their
limited time. But they retort they want to make those
reeds themselves in the American tradition.
Without mentioning names - in order to avoid
possibilities of being accused of promoting products
- I was pleased to encounter at breakfast this morning a new bassoon maker based in Frankfurt who
does not fear competing vs. Heckel, Fox, etc. And
for the first time a representative for a Spanish cane
company is among the crowd and confirms to me a visitor who reported on wines and cane in Brazil
- that the cane in Spain grows on the plain near the
wine region. I meet many familiar faces and people
who greet me with ... “I feel as if I know you - always
read your e mail.” (So far have NOT encountered any
cyberspace foes - but I am sure they will appear at the
moment I least expect.)
Among the queries I receive from even some of
the best musicians in the world is “how do you get
scheduled to perform on IDRS Conference?” The
answer is not only practice, but send out a proposal
with usually a tape and alternative programs well
in advance. (Ever try to plan what you are going to
have to perform nine months to a year before the
event?) You will have to live, day and night with this
program, come or go, good weather or rainy days,
health problems, finances going up and down, etc.,
and my advice is: perform and record your program
many times if possible prior to playing for your critical peers. (This observer broke his wrist and had it
repaired in 2004 prior to performing in Melbourne.
Other performers tell me of similar experiences prior
to the big moment.)
But getting back to the Conference, to those who
went to the Aussie 2004 meet, organizer-oboist Anne
Gilby is here with her own booth of goods, CDs from
“Down Under”, and Washington state bassoonistpublisher Gordon Solie keeps on turning up looking
younger.
Suggestion for future IDRS Conferences: allow us
in to the rehearsals - no one has the time or energy
to get to all the concerts. I heard through a crack in
a door French oboist Francois Leleux rehearsing the
Strauss Concerto and it sounded wonderful indeed!
Well, enough for today in what of course is incomplete report. Final question: Where do you fi nd
in Hoosier land a converter plug for a South American shaver?
Thursday - CNN, Fox, etc. should come down to
Garfield the cat’s birthplace and visit Ball State University to broadcast to the world the other side of
America in these turbulent times. Here I and others who live abroad are gathered around a group of
mostly well-off Americans who have exchanged their
comfy homes and families to live in cell-like dormitory rooms out of a Van Gogh painting (only with
showers and toilets on each floor and a dining room
/cafeteria called the Atrium) all for the love of music
and specifically double reeds. This description above
of us double reed fanatics does not exactly fit in with
the stereotype of materialistic, money-grubbing inhabitants of the land of Uncle Sam and other parts
of the world.
After surviving my own “D” day, or performing
my fi fteen minutes of fame /or notoriety without my
scheduled pianist (I couldn’t find my scheduled rehearsal room on time, so she cancelled out), I am now
FREE as a bird to enjoy the rest of my fift h IDRS Conference ...if I can manage to find the halls!
I have learned a very important lesson from my
15 minutes of fame/notoriety: Make an omelette from
symbolic broken eggs, always have a few extra pieces
in your repertoire just in case. (I adapted before the
recital a piece I wrote for flute transposing it to the
oboe) and NEVER, NEVER miss a rehearsal on the
Muncie campus! But that’s past history.
The day includes very interesting happenings for
these eyes and ears. I had never heard a piece for four
trombones and one oboe with the “bones” spaced
around the auditorium. Kudos Greg Steinke with
your Music for Chief Joseph. (I would prefer the piece
with a narrator dressed up in full Indian headdress,
but I didn’t write this one). And kudos again to Holland’s Pauline Oostenrijk for a Baroque mini-recital
performed on the modern oboe which with its lovely
style and phrasing echoed for these ears the original
Baroque oboes. Kudos also to the North American/
Japanese Bassoon Quartet, Gerald Corey, Chuck
Holdeman, Kiyoshi Koyama and Jo Ann Simpson,
interpreting a quartet by Brazil’s Francisco Mignone
in a style which displayed music knows no boundar-
THE DOUBLE REED
Final Report (after escaping from Muncie) - (Editor’s
note: Mr. Emert’s attempt to complete his full report
on IDRS2006 in Muncie was unfortunately delayed
by a leak in his roof which threatened to drown his
wireless computer to function at Ball State’s Studebaker luxury dorm. After an escape worthy of “fl ight
to freedom” at 6 am Sunday morning, walking backwards with his oboes, baggage, and all the IDRS purchases he could stuff into two bags - including an
English horn cloth warmer which resembles a bird
cup to attach to one’s stand for reeds, and a button
which reads “Shmuck go home and practice” - he
is trying to continue his report. Please excuse any
omissions.)
Realityville (Ft. Lauderdale airport en route to Brazil) - Another unforgettable IDRS Convention has
ended and although I can’t say I left my heart on the
Muncie, Indiana campus, real life often seems like
blank spaces between IDRS Conventions. So again
I urge you regular IDRS internauts Eduardo Flores,
Herb, David Lurie in the US, and long distance comrades in Down Under to try to get to the next one
scheduled for Ithaca. Why?
It’s not only all the wonderful concerts like Gordon Hunt’s elegant Mozart Concerto, Alex Klein’s
stunning Berio Sequenza, but the master classes permitting one to hone up those skills he or she thought
were in top form. Or it’s exchanges of conversations
with colleagues from all over the world who show
you that you’re not alone in the problems, musical,
emotional, workwise, etc. that you face every day.
Or it’s an opportunity to see the latest developments
in our field, especially these instruments which are
always getting better and better and their auxiliary
accessories.
Personally again I enjoyed so much performing
on the last program in the double reed band with
oboe and bassoon band arrangements of Bach, the
Turkey Reel, Pavane by Faure, etc., ably led by goodhumoured Chris Weait and demanding Steve Paulson. The efficiency of this new generation of double
reeders is astonishing, to put it moderately; difficult
performances in few rehearsals is astonishing to
these ears; looking and hearing around I heard few
mistakes from an age group which ranged from adolescents to the elderly. The master classes I particularly cherished, and really it was a personal delight
to attend a master class by Alex Klein before a standing room only crowd. The atmosphere was good humored and enlightening. Klein claimed, for instance,
that the Mozart Quartet third movement with its
crazy skips was like The Rite of Spring of its time and
attempted to capture the “off-the-wall” personality of
Ramm, the oboist to whom it was dedicated. (How
strange it was for this former teacher - when Alexandre was an adolescent - of this Paganini of the oboe
- to raise his hand and ask a question!)
There were so many stars during this IDRS meet
that I haven’t time to cite them all but certainly Frank
Morelli’s tour de force in the Ezra Laderman work
will be remembered. We also were treated to what
sounded to my ears like the Pavarotti of the bassoon, Theodore Soluri performing excerpts from the
operas of Puccini, Donizetti and Ponchielli. (I still
think it is just as difficult to play slow and beautifully
as it is to perform virtuosity.)
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ies and nationalities.
Before a needed lunch break, this listener also
enjoyed the Arkansas State University Double Reed
and Piano Trio. Surprise! Dan Ross not only makes
gouging machines but performs a fine oboe! The repertoire included a Trio by Rosey Lee (b. 1960) who
was present for the applause and one by Willard Elliot (1926-2000). I personally would like to hear more
works played at IDRS conferences with live composers rising from their seats for applause ...or boos. It’s
all part of the musical game .
Kudos to Linda Strommen, of Indiana University, for two video conferences on “An Objective Approach to Reed-Making.” What patience and attention to details!
Overheard conversation: The guy who designed
this campus must have escaped from a looney bin. I
managed to find my way down the Amazon river but
can’t find the music school.....(To a visitor from Brazil) How’s the weather in Argentina? .....
Finally one last observation ...the local people are
really lovely, friendly and helpful. There’s an early
Gershwin musical with a script which reads: Where
prior to playing Broadway the whole cast tries out the
musical in the Midwest in a locale similar to Muncie,
with the choo choo train passing and the buildings
resembling silos for corn and wheat. The first few
days away from the big city are rough for adaption but
eventually the laid back way of life captures the hearts
of everyone and no one wants to return to Broadway’s
bright lights. Could this be your correspondent’s fate
by Sunday (if I ever find my way to the building where
the shuttle bus leaves at 6 am to the airport)?
Maybe by report no. 4 we will have more news on
whether Muncie will decide to commemorate annually the birthday of Garfield the Cat!
27
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28
HAROLD’S REPORT: IDRS 2006, MUNCIE, INDIANA
Since I heard his astonishing L’Api by Pasculli
at the IDRS Greensboro Convention I have become
a Joseph Salvalaggio fan and he didn’t disappoint
us this time out with a mysterious work he commissioned, entitled The Phantom Drum by Elizabeth
Raum, which is a contemporary answer to Pasculli. I
would love to know more about this composer. I must
also cite Martin Schuring’s elegant Bach Concerto in
F major. After Pat McFarland’s lovely cool and collected performance of a beautiful Concerto for English Horn by Larry Shackley, I spoke briefly with the
composer and learned he currently teaches in South
Carolina and has had experience composing for fi lms.
I predict this work will become a standard part of the
English horn repertoire, just as I had predicted the
dancing and performing work which Diana Doherty
premiered in Melbourne would go far. (She has since
performed it with the New York Philharmonic and
in the UK).
Many more comments, observations, etc. - Due to
Al Markel’s insistence and perseverance, our dorm
improvisation group again got together - three years
later - (we first met in Greensboro, North Carolina)
until the wee hours of the morning and to my surprise none of the sleepers in the dorm complained.
The sounds to my ears - after a few hours of getting
the feel of each other - weren’t any worse than many
contemporary works I’ve heard or performed. I feel as
if I have just departed the university or conservatory
and all my friends and colleagues with whom I share
a common love. And that’s what these IDRS Conventions are about: love of our double reed instruments,
its repertoire and ...the unusual path and mysterious
new world we enter due to our passions.
AN ANECDOTAL ACCOUNT OF THE
CONCERTO FOR ENGLISH HORN AND ORCHESTRA BY LARRY SHACKLEY
My Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra may be
the only such work to have been conceived in an Internet chat room. In the mid-90s, when I was working
on my Master of Music in composition at the University of South Carolina, I was also a new America Online subscriber. I discovered that there was a “Classical Chat” room where highbrow musicians let their
hair down to discuss music, players, composers, and
the joys of the musical life. Several regular members
were players with A-list orchestras; others were amateur players or simply lovers of classical music.
Two of the people I got to know in “Classical
Chat” were Tammy Kintner, a multi-woodwind
player from Wenatchee, WA; and through her introduction, Patrick McFarland, principal English horn
with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. With Tammy’s encouragement, in the summer of 1997 I wrote a
five minute Pastorale for English horn and orchestra,
hoping that one of my AOL friends might someday
perform it. A year later, I added two outer movements
to complete a concerto, which I then submitted as my
Master’s thesis.
Pat expressed interest in the piece, and over the
following years we touched base now and then to discuss how we might arrange for a performance. I prepared a piano reduction so he could use the concerto
in chamber recitals, but we still longed for the chance
to present the piece in its original orchestral form.
The opportunity finally came with the 2006 IDRS
convention at Ball State University, where Pat, backed
by a fine chamber orchestra directed by Stuart Malina gave the world premiere. I’m grateful to Pat for his
persistence and his support of my work, and to Stuart
for his instinctive, enthusiastic conducting. I’m also
grateful to a lovely English horn-playing grad student
at Eastman in the mid-70s, whose name I can’t recall,
but whose performance of Sibelius’ Swan of Tuonela
sent shivers down my back. I have never forgotten
that concert, which I believe inspired me to think
that some day, I might write an orchestral piece calling for the beautiful, haunting voice of the English
horn. ◆
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J U LY 2 5 - 2 9 • P H O T O S B Y A L M A R K E L , H A M P T O N , V I R G I N I A
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IDRS 2006, BALL STATE UNIVERSITY, MUNCIE, INDIANA, USA, JULY 25-29
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IDRS 2006, BALL STATE UNIVERSITY, MUNCIE, INDIANA, USA, JULY 25-29
THE DOUBLE REED
33
The 2006 Fernand Gillet – Hugo Fox Bassoon Competition
Doug Spaniol
Indianapolis, Indiana
Photos by Norma Hooks
T
he final round of the 2006 Fernand Gillet
– Hugo Fox Bassoon Competition was held
on Friday, July 28 in Ball State University’s
Sursa Hall at the IDRS Conference in Muncie, Indiana, USA. The level of performance among the five
finalists was exceptionally high this year.
There are many people who contributed to the
success of this year’s competition. I would like to start
by thanking Michael Burns and Stéphane Lévesque
who served on the Advisory Committee and helped
in selecting repertoire and securing judges. The repertoire selected for the preliminary stage of the competition was: Otmar Nussio, Variations on an Air by
Pergolesi; J.S. Bach, Prelude, Allemande, and Courante from Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor; Tansman,
Sonatine; and Mozart, Sonata, K. 292, performed
with piano (not with cello).
Thirty-nine young bassoonists from eight countries entered this year’s competition. I was very grate-
Bence Boganyi accepts his award from IDRS President
Nancy Ambrose King.
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2006 Fernand Gillet-Hugo Fox Competition winner
Bence Boganyi.
ful to have a distinguished panel of Preliminary
Round judges, who gave very generously of their time
to evaluate these 39 recordings. These judges were
Per Hannevold (Norway), Julien Hardy (France), Janis McKay (USA), Gareth Newman (UK) and Marc
Vallon (France/USA). This esteemed panel selected
as finalists Bence Boganyi (Germany), Rian Craypo
(USA), Fredrik Ekdahl (Sweden), Harrison Hollingsworth (USA), and Fany Maselli (France).
There was also a very distinguished panel of
judges for the final round comprised of Gerald Corey (Canada), Sue Heineman (USA), Frank Morelli
(USA), Magnus Nilsson (Sweden), and Barrick Stees
(USA). For the final round repertoire, these judges
selected 25 minutes of music from the preliminary
round. They settled upon the Bach Allemande, the
first movements of the Mozart and Tansman, and the
complete Nussio.
All of the finalists gave outstanding performances of this repertoire. Ultimately, Bence Boganyi
was declared the first prize winner and was awarded
USD8000. Sadly, I was unable to attend Saturday
evening’s concert that included his performance of
the Nussio, but judging from his performance on Friday morning, I’m sure it was quite amazing. Fredrik
THE 2006 FERNAND GILLET – HUGO FOX BASSOON COMPETITION
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34
L to R: Fernand Gillet-Hugo Fox Competition Bassoon Chair Doug Spaniol, IDRS President Nancy Ambrose King and competition finalists Harrison Hollingsworth, Fredrik Ekdahl, Bence Boganyi, Fany Maselli, Rian Craypo.
Ekdahl was awarded second prize and USD3000. Rian
Craypo, Harrison Hollingsworth, and Fany Maselli
were each awarded USD1000 for being named finalists in the competition.
I would like to extend my gratitude to Conference Hosts Timothy Clinch and Keith Sweger and
their staff for helping to make the competition and
conference work smoothly. I would also like to thank
IDRS President Nancy Ambrose King for her help
and guidance along the way. Special thanks go to Dr.
Robert Palmer of Ball State University who accompanied all five finalists brilliantly.
The 2007 competition will be for oboe with the final round held at the IDRS conference in Ithaca, New
York, USA. Details may be found in this and other
issues of The Double Reed and on the IDRS website.
Bassoonists may look forward to the 2008 competition with the final round being held at that year’s
IDRS conference in Provo, Utah, USA. ◆
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35
IDRS Elects Two New Honorary Members
Martin Schuring
Tempe, Arizona
DANIEL STOLPER
Daniel Stolper has been involved with the IDRS
since its inception. Following the example of Gerald
Corey’s very successful newsletter, To the World’s
Bassoonists, he started a counterpart for fellow oboists - To the World’s Oboists - in 1972. He continues as
co-editor of The Double Reed magazine of the IDRS.
Dan Stolper is a graduate of
the Eastman School of Music
where he studied with Robert
Sprenkle. After graduation, he
did further work with Robert
Bloom, John Mack, and Heinz
Holliger. While still a teenager, he played beside his teacher
in the Rochester Philharmonic
and the Eastman-Rochester
Symphony Orchestra for three
seasons. He was also first oboist of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, and can be heard on
their distinguished series of
recordings on Mercury/EMI.
After receiving his BM,
MM, and the Performer’s Certificate in oboe, he joined the
Daniel Stolper
San Antonio Symphony as first
oboist, a position he held for five seasons. He later
played first oboe in the New Orleans Philharmonic.
During these years, he made many solo appearances
in concertos of Handel, Mozart, Vaughan Williams,
Strauss and in the Bach oboe d’amore concerto. He
was soloist in the first US performance of the Oboe
Concerto by Bohuslav Martinů.
He joined the faculty of Michigan State University at East Lansing, became first oboist of the Lansing
Symphony Orchestra, and a member of the Richards
Quintet, MSU’s ensemble-in-residence, in the late
1960’s. He has given masterclasses at all the important
music schools of Australia, in the People’s Republic of
China, and in Japan; at the Cincinnati Conservatory
(as part of the “American Oboist” series of classes),
the Eastman School, the Peabody Conservatory, the
Hartt College of Music, the University of Washington in Seattle, the University of Oregon in Eugene,
and the University of Colorado in Boulder, Florida
State University in Tallahassee, Florida International
University in Miami, Arizona State University in
Tempe, Boise State University in Idaho, and the University of Texas at Austin. He has also given courses
at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and at the Royal
Academy of Music, the Royal
College of Music, and the
Guildhall School - all in London, and at the Conservatoire
in Birmingham.
He has given recitals in
New York, Washington, London, Mexico City, Sydney, and
Tokyo. He has also served on
the juries of some important
international competitions
- the “Castello di Duino” (at
Trieste, in Italy); the Lucarelli
Competition for Solo Oboists
in New York, and the Isle of
Wight International Competition in England.
He continues as a member
of the faculties of the Interlochen Arts Academy and the
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E
ach year, the International Double Reed Society appoints a committee to select honorary members of the Society. The committee
makes recommendations to the Executive Board,
who make the final determination. Honorary Membership is the highest honor the Society can bestow,
recognizing outstanding achievement in the areas of
double reed performance, teaching, reed making, repair, etc.; most often, many of these and other activities are combined into one extraordinary career. This
year’s Honorary Members are oboist Daniel Stolper,
and bassoonist James Laslie.
This year’s committee was comprised of Martin
Schuring, chair, William Winstead, and Matthew
Ruggiero.
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36
IDRS ELECTS TWO NEW HONORARY MEMBERS
Interlochen Arts Camp. Five
of his pupils at IAA have been
named “Presidential Scholars in the Arts.” Many of his
students, from both MSU and
IAA now play in professional
orchestras - from Canada to
Australia -and all across the
US, and others teach on college faculties.
He served as a panelist for
the National Endowment for
the Arts in the fields of chamber music/new music and professional training in music for
six years in the 1980’s; he also
served as an on-site evaluator for the NEA during this
James Laslie
time. Aside from the oboe,
his interests include aquariums, indoor plants, gym
workouts, travel, and his two Birman cats, Speedo
and Vivo.
JAMES LASLIE
James Laslie began his career working with his father in 1946. He then worked with Frank Aman in
Elkhart, Indiana, who was an
apprentice to August Heckel
in Germany. Jim began fulltime bassoon repair and restoration in 1973. He has established a reputation as a master
craftsman and restoration artist. His attention to every detail and overall aesthetic approach to bassoon repair has
made him world famous.
His client list is a virtual
“Who’s Who” from the bassoon world. Not only bassoonists from the New York
Philharmonic, Metropolitan
Opera, Cleveland, Chicago,
Chicago Lyric Opera, San
Francisco Symphony and Opera, but bassoonists from England, Israel, Japan, Korea, Switzerland and South America.
He performed with the Indianapolis Symphony
Orchestra for 30 years and the Sirocco Wind Quintet
for 50 years. He has been on staff at the GlickmanPopkin Bassoon Camp for 28 years. His musical and
repair skills are only surpassed by his skills as a story
teller and limerick king. ◆
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37
Alex Posada: A Story of Courage and Grace
Marsha Burkett
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
to a newly established scholarship fund for Alex and
his brother. The donations totaled over $1,200.00 and
his trip would be covered. Not only did IDRS members donate funds to send Alex to the conference, but
IDRS officers and co-hosts Keith Sweger and Tim
Clinch waived several of his Conference fees.
Prior to the Conference and during regular communication with Carolyn Beck, Alex’s high school
bassoon teacher, I learned that she and Delores Stevens were the driving force behind a new scholarship
fund established on behalf of Alex and his brother,
his only sibling. LACHSA moved immediately and
enthusiastically along with the entire community in
coordinating a benefit concert to “kick off ” the scholarship fund. Carolyn also helped Alex with final plans
for college as he had already interviewed, auditioned,
and had been accepted to several music schools. His
choice was made when Carolyn contacted the Dean
of Manhattan School of Music and he granted Alex
a full scholarship
With a heavy heart but full of courage and focusing on his young brother’s recovery from the ac-
Alex Posada and Marsha Burkett.
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“W
hat a nice young man!” I heard people say multiple times during this
year’s IDRS conference. They were
talking about Alex Posada, who, with his striking
features of Mexican and Italian heritage, stood tall
and proud, exuding confidence, warmth, and a happy
spirit throughout the entire five days I got to know
him. Although it was his first Conference, it was instantly that Alex immersed himself in these five days
of “double reed heaven” - attending recitals, concerts,
master classes, visiting music dealers, participating in
music reading sessions, and all the wonderful activities which double reed conference goers do. Meeting
people, making new friends, and taking pictures for
lasting memories........ I could tell Alex didn’t want
to miss or forget a single thing. And how fortuitous
that Frank Morelli, his future (and now current) bassoon teacher would be in attendance! After having
the pleasure of meeting and talking with Frank and
attending his master class, I knew Alex would have a
wonderful mentor by his side as he entered college at
Manhattan School of Music this fall.
No one would ever guess unless they knew his
story, that just 2 months before the conference, Alex’s
whole world as he knew it had turned upside down.
It was May 6th, 2006, that proud parents Esther and
Alejandro Posada had attended Alex’s spring concert
at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts
(LACHSA) where Alex performed on bassoon with
the high school orchestra. Upon returning home
from the concert, their family van was struck by
another vehicle. Alex, his 9 year old brother, and a
friend sustained injuries, but Alex lost both parents
in this horrific accident.
News of the accident reached the IDRS e-mail
news list (which now is in a different format and is
called The Forum). Alex’s story not only caught my
eye, but tugged at my heart until I had an idea and
started a small campaign. I thought I could raise
enough money to send Alex to the IDRS Conference
in July. From my own experiences at these Conferences, I pictured Alex having a joyful time there as
well. It worked - from start to finish! Money was collected from IDRS members and forwarded directly
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38
ALEX POSADA: A STORY OF COURAGE AND GRACE
Alex Posada and Frank Morelli.
cident, Alex completed his senior year of classes, attended his prom, took final exams, and graduated
in June. It was during the school’s award ceremony
that Alex was presented a new Fox bassoon of his very
own - money raised through the scholarship fund.
At the close of the Conference, Alex and I had
time to visit and reflect on the last few days along
with sharing some of his life stories with me. Alex
had a wonderful time at the Conference and his heart
was fi lled with gratitude for so many people coming
to his aid with their generous gifts of money, support, and friendship. He was grateful for his family,
friends, and teachers. And he was so appreciative of
his parents for a wonderful life and that his brother
would recover completely. Alex brought tears to my
eyes during this “twilight time.”
During my drive home the following day, I had
time to think about the Conference and compared it
to those of previous years. This year was completely
different for me. My focus had always been about ME.
But this time, it was about Alex. The idea had started
in raising money as a gift for Alex, but I received an
important gift as well; a friendship and lesson from
a young person who is teaching me what the human
spirit can endure. It has been said that the greatest
gift parents leave behind in this world are their children. I believe it now, since I have met Alex.
Alex is doing well and is happy these days at
Manhattan School of Music. He enjoys his classes,
and ensemble work, and especially his bassoon lessons with Frank Morelli. ◆
The Los Angeles County High School for the Arts
Foundation, a nonprofit organization, has established the Posada Family Fund. Donors should make
checks out to the LACHSA Foundation with the
Posada Family Fund on the memo line. Donations
are tax deductible.
Donations graciously and gratefully accepted by:
Posada Family Fund
LACHSA Foundation
Library North, Room 1034
5151 State University Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90032
THE DOUBLE REED
39
Markneukirchen 2006 International Bassoon Competition:
A Report
William Waterhouse
London, England
Germany - 7
Austria, Czech Rep., Hungary, Poland, Turkey - 9
Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal - 6
Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine - 4
Cuba, US - 2
China, Japan, S. Korea - 15
Our seven-man jury was to consist of three German nationals and four foreigners. I considered that
at least two of us should still be active as performers. In the event our jury, in order of seniority, was
as follows:
Mordechai Rechtman ISR-Tel Aviv.
William Waterhouse GB-London
Valery Popov R-Moscow
Alfred Rinderspacher D-Mannheim
Karl-Otto Hartmann D-Freiburg i.B.
Stephan Weidauer D-Saarbrücken
Stefano Canuti I-Parma
Klaus Thunemann from Berlin had unfortunately to be replaced at the last minute through illness.
FIRST ROUND
[a] BACH Johann Sebastian Partita BWV 1013
[b] FRANÇAIX Jean Deux Pièces
SECOND ROUND - [a] from memory
[a] BACH Johann Christian Konzert in B
VIVALDI Antonio Concerto in a F.VIII 2
VIVALDI Antonio Concerto in e F.VIII 6
VIVALDI Antonio Concerto in a F.VIII 7
[b] ACKER Dieter Monodie
APOSTEL Hans Erich Sonatine op 19.3
JACOB Gordon Partita
YUN Isang Monolog
[c] DUTILLEUX Henri Sarabande et Cortège
NUSSIO Otmar Variazioni
TANSMAN Alexandre Sonatine (1952)
THIRD ROUND
[a] BOEDDECKER Philipp Frdch.
Sonata sopra la monica
FASCH Johann Frdch. Sonate in C
SCHAFFRATH Christian Duetto in f
TELEMANN Georg Philipp Sonate in f
[b] BERWALD Franz Konzertstück
DAVID Ferdinand Concertino op12
HUMMEL Johann Nepomuk Konzert in F
WEBER Karl Maria von Konzert op 75
WEBER Karl Maria von
Andante & Rondo op35
[c] KOECHLIN Charles Sonatine op 71
LONGO Alessandro Suite op 69
SAINT-SAENS Camille Sonate op168
ORCHESTRAL FINALE - from memory
MOZART W.A. Konzert K.V. 191
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W
hen my colleague the eminent Dresden
horn-player Peter Damm, who organises
an annual international competition, invited me not only to join his jury this year but also to
chair it, I entertained doubts. These were hardly lessened when I was told that the job would also involve
choosing both jury and repertoire. In my early twenties I had entered for three such competitions myself,
and gone on later to serve on a number of juries.
Having set down my ideas on the subject in my recent Menuhin Guide, did I still want to stay involved?
But an invitation like this coming from abroad was
a challenge that would offer a rare chance to test out
ideas of my own. So May 2006 found me in charge for
nine days at Markneukirchen, that remarkable little
town in Saxony which for the last couple of centuries has been a leading centre of musical instrument
manufacture. This particular competition for under
30 year olds is held annually for a pair of different orchestral instruments, this year being once again the
turn of clarinet and bassoon The first prize is worth
EUR 5,000 (as against EUR 8,000 at Munich). Sponsors include the Free State of Saxony and the local
musical instrument manufacturing industry.
Our list was full, 91 bassoonists having applied
from 25 different countries; however of these no
more than 43 showed up. Of these, 14 were female,
42 were on fagott, and one on basson. The countries
represented were:
CURRENT EVENTS
40
MARKNEUKIRCHEN 2006 INTERNATIONAL BASSOON COMPETITION: A REPORT
While a jury can seldom be unanimous, its chairman would wish to preside over a consensus regarding basic principles of assessment and marking. Accordingly I drew up in advance a set of guide-lines to
help us identify the best mix of interpretation, ability
and personality. These we discussed and agreed upon
at a preliminary meeting. The following principles of
what to look for were agreed on:
•
Second Prize winner Philipp Zeller.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Third Prize winner Vaclav Vonásek.
This was my program: what principles had guided my choice? Since for the final round the Mozart
Concerto was stipulated, the earlier rounds needed to
select (ideally with a minimum of dissent) three competent Mozarteans. Command of every style should
be a requisite, while allowing each candidate enough
individual choice, especially in the 3rd round of 40’, to
build his own balanced program. In the event, every
piece on offer was chosen by one or other competitor
(the editions to use being prescribed). Selecting the
set pieces for the crucial first round posed a special
challenge, since it is this twenty-minute hurdle that
must serve to eliminate over half of the runners. Unaccompanied Bach - in this case a transcription of the
flute Partita - proved a vehicle capable of an infinite
variety of interpretation, requiring personal decisions
regarding breathing and phrasing. The two highly
contrasting Françaix pieces from 1999 were new to
everyone - even to the Paris-trained bassoniste.
in matters of phrasing and accentuation,
awareness of the supporting harmony
and bass-leading
a variety of dynamic and accentuation
receptiveness to diverse styles and
epochs
credit for boldness, given that the repertoire permitted choice between higher /
lower technical demands
stylish use of agogic, ornament, notes inegales, lead-ins, cadenzas, reflecting an
awareness of up-to-date Baroque / Classical performance-practice
musicality - even in spite of technical
flaws - rather than mere accuracy / speed
an international view regarding tone-colour, fagott vs basson:
vibrato to be differentiated, rather than
unvaried and permanent
good communication with the public.
After all, the old Beckmesser principle of marking no
longer works these days, most renditions now being
comparatively error-free!
So what were my personal impressions of what
transpired? Standards of finger technique and accuracy were high, as were those of tonal evenness
and strength. Over recent decades there has been a
massive increase in the number of makers and players worldwide - and this has helped to bring about
improvements in bassoon design and manufacture.
Key-clatter is now a thing of the past, given the relatively new instruments in universal use here. Intonation problems seemed rare, although the de facto
tuning of the piano to a pitch of 443 Hz was nowhere
spelled out. But while standards of dedication and
idealism were high, those of artistic imagination were
much less so. Too often speed, power and conformist accuracy seemed to be the main aim. Not a single
performer of Vivaldi appeared to be acquainted with
any of the authoritative recordings of his music made
in recent times in Italy. Our prescribing of repeats
in the Baroque, in order to invite ornamentation,
THE DOUBLE REED
CURRENT EVENTS
usually seemed to backfire. Just how ‘with it’ are the
teachers out there? On the other hand I found myself
ravished by the poetry and tonal beauty of one performer’s Françaix (not a prize-winner, alas). Another,
using extreme imagination and daring, presented
each of the Bach Partita movements in a different
style: in the finale, chromatic step-sequences became
glissandi! In the orchestral finale there were moments
of drama when the 27-year old soloist stopped dead
in his tracks. Resuming, he only got a bit further before coming to another abrupt halt. Consternation!
Allowed a third try, he made it to the end unscathed
- it had evidently been a case of sheer nerves.
And the result? We withheld a first prize, awarding second to Philipp Zeller from Berlin (age 25), and
third prize to Vaclav Vonácek from Prague (age 27).
Our third finalist, Rodion Tolmachev from Russia,
received a consolation prize. For the record, our clarinet colleagues, with a field of 89 contestants, awarded
likewise no first, but two second and one third prize.
At the concluding concert of fi nalists Philipp gave a
polished performance of the Mozart Concerto, whilst
Vaclav negotiated Isang Yun’s Monodie with sovereign mastery.
A few thoughts in conclusion. It was regrettable
that such a large number of original applicants had
failed to show up; by so doing, many who had registered late had had to be turned away. And then a
bassoonist whom we’d advanced to the 2nd round
withdrew, giving as reason that, not expecting to
advance beyond the 1st round, he’d failed to prepare
further. Eminently sensible was the attitude of those
contestants who, after being knocked out, stayed on
to listen - rather than quit in disgust (they’d been allowed to quiz jury-members as well). There seemed an
excellent spirit amongst the participants themselves
- as there certainly was amongst the jury! Fascinating visits to two local bassoon factories were laid on,
and the office staff cared for our needs with great efficiency. For me it was a privilege to oversee an event
of this kind, and I felt that it had been most enjoyable
and worthwhile for all. ◆
41
42
IDRS WWW
IDRS WWW
IDRS Podcast
http://idrs2.colorado.edu/weblog/idrspodcast/
THE DOUBLE REED
43
The Second Annual
Carolyn Hove English Horn Masterclass
Bonnie Koch Schroeder
Sandy, Utah
Counter Terrorism Unit, Los Angeles:
“Hey boss, Division just sent this photo over. The
Provo field office needs our help to infi ltrate a cell.”
“What do we have here? This just looks like a
group of ordinary musicians. Why does Division
think these guys are trouble?”
“Look again. Those aren’t ordinary oboes they’re
playing, they’re… [music cue]…English horns!”
“Do you think Bauer can handle this one?”
“Not a chance. He knows ballistics, not bocals.
He’s trained in Krav Maga, not William Kraft mantras…I think there’s only one agent for this.”
“You’re right…get Agent Hove in here.”
“Is her cover deep enough for this?”
“Ought to be…starting her nineteenth year as
solo English horn player with the Los Angeles Phil,
two critically acclaimed solo CDs…”
“That gets her in the door, but will that give her
cred with these people?”
“You remember how we worked it in Vladivostok…first a recital with a local BYU prof, Jeff rey
Shumway…”
“…yeah, she can give her first public performance
of John Marvin’s Five Pieces, leave them completely
spell bound with the unaccompanied Recitativ und
Arie by Rudin, and wow ‘em with a great high G at the
end of the Ferlendis Concerto.”
“Think she’ll need backup?”
“Not a bad idea. What was the name of that special contractor we used when Almeda got a swab
stuck up his…”
“…Chudnow, Mark Chudnow…”
“Yeah, right. Better send him too to help out with
maintenance and repair. Plus the English horn crazies will be so busy buying his gold and silver blingbling, they’ll forget about making trouble.”
“Get ‘em both on a plane to Provo pronto…”
On June 14th, 2006, two dozen English horn enthusiasts descended on Provo, Utah for the Second Annual Carolyn Hove English horn Master Class. The
four day event was sponsored by Brigham Young
University and hosted by Geralyn Giovannetti, professor of oboe.
The twelve participants and twelve auditors came
from all over the country and represented a diverse
range of backgrounds, from professional players
prepping for the San Francisco audition, to recent
high school graduates, music educators and a firstcall studio doubler looking to improve his English
horn chops.
Something I noticed immediately was the amount
of time Carolyn was able to spend with each player.
She never seemed rushed or on a timetable, yet we
covered so many orchestral excerpts and so much
solo literature. In fact, the solo repertoire seemed
only limited by the number of players, not the time
available.
One aspect of master classes that I really enjoy is
hearing the guest artist describe in words the mental
picture she has in her mind while she plays the abstract music on the page. Here are just a few of the
outstanding images Carolyn shared with us: “the
swan is swimming faster now…The mood for Tristan
is cold, dark, and dreary…for this solo in Rhapsodie
Espagnole you are wearing a red dress with a flower
behind your ear… low and slow, low and slow…”
As well as giving us great alternate fingerings,
Carolyn was able to do some myth-busting for us,
myths from our well-intentioned oboe teachers that
some of us had been carrying around for years: “the
English horn is NOT simply a big oboe. Some techniques that work on the English horn are the exact
OPPOSITE of what you would do on the oboe. Try it
this way and see.” In addition, all the participants got
to meet with Carolyn in groups of two or three for
private reed making sessions.
A unique feature of this master class was the participant recital given at the end of the week. We had
to really be on our toes to quickly turn our solo pieces
around from Carolyn’s coaching to public performance. As an accompanist, pianist Amalie Wickes
was outstanding.
Big thanks go to Carolyn for sharing her great
knowledge and enthusiasm with the class, to Mark
CURRENT EVENTS
tick TOCK…tick TOCK…tick TOCK…
44
THE SECOND ANNUAL CAROLYN HOVE ENGLISH HORN MASTERCLASS
CURRENT EVENTS
for working around the clock to repair our instruments and to Geralyn for bringing us all together.
“Sir, Agent Hove is on her way in for the
debrief.”
“Great. How’d it go?”
“Smooth as silk.”
“That’s wonderful. I hope we don’t have another
day like this one.”
“Uh sir, Division picked up some chatter… word
on the street is that BYU is going to host the IDRS
conference in 2008. This time it could be hundreds of
double reed maniacs causing trouble.”
“Start canceling leave… I want everybody to be
up on this…”
tick TOCK…tick TOCK…tick TOCK… ◆
Bonnie Koch Schroeder is the principal oboist for
the Orchestra at Temple Square, a member of The
Prevailing Winds Quintet, and currently an adjunct
faculty member at Utah State University and Weber
State University.
THE DOUBLE REED
45
Warm Regards From Cuba
Lauren Rios Hernández
Havana, Cuba
CURRENT EVENTS
A
mong the most impressive moments I
have ever experienced, finding the oboe
has been the greatest one. When I started to study it, I didn’t know how much it would
all mean to me.
Six years ago a very old teacher put an oboe in
my hands and said, “BLOW!” My breath became
a song, a new voice I didn’t know - something
like a moan… but passionate. Two years later my
teacher was gone… but through his guidance,
playing the oboe became the most beautiful adventure I have ever undertaken.
Lauren Hernandez with her oboe
teacher Jesús Avilés.
Occasionally delicate, inaccessible, or even sickly,
my oboe sometimes sang very quiet like a whisper
or a snore slightly deafening! My first years in the
National School of Music in Havana were like that.
There the teacher and first oboist from the National
Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, Jesús Avilés, handled
this incipient labor. His tireless work as teacher and
also as friend, allowed me to totally immerse myself
into finding out the real sense of what an oboe player
is and its huge dimension. With my teacher I had the
Lauren during high school recital
privilege of playing in the National Symphonic Orchestra and last May I had the honor to offer my first
concert as soloist at my high school graduation. In
September, I will begin study at the Superior Institute
of Arts to become a professional oboist.
A friend told me about the chance to join the
IDRS and I started to look for the way I could apply for a membership. Mrs. Norma Hooks and Mr.
Martin Schuring found a sponsor. They found me an
incredible person - Marsha Burkett. In a blink, Mar-
46
WARM REGARDS FROM CUBA
CURRENT EVENTS
Post script: Lauren and I became fast
friends through email with the help
of a translation website: http://www.
freetranslation.com. We have even
spoken on the phone while quickly
typing our “chat” to translation and
reading it in each other’s language!
Lauren speaks no English and I speak
no Spanish - but the language and
bond of music has brought us together
for a lasting friendship.
Please consider sponsoring a student to the IDRS. You may open to
them a whole new world and give
yourself an unexpected gift. The cost is
minimal and the rewards are limited
only by your imagination. Contact
Program Director Martin Schuring:
[email protected].
Sincerely,
Marsha Burkett, Member IDRS
Oboe/English horn
Pennsylvania, USA
[email protected]
Lauren Hernandez with her family.
sha became my friend. She helped me discover a new
world, full of double reed knowledge. She brought
joy to my days and helped support me during uneasy
moments. I hope that many people understand the
importance of this project “Sponsor-a-Student” and
what happiness it brings to young people like me to
find a new Mentor and friend.
In the IDRS I could find very good information
not only about the oboe, contests, and master classes,
but feel a true connection with people who understand that the full surrender to music is neither to be
insane nor a waste of your time. It is the most beautiful chance to be alive!
Lauren Rios Hernández, Member IDRS
[email protected]
August 2006
THE DOUBLE REED
47
The Fourth Annual Bassoon Day at McGill
Stéphane Lévesque
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
We look forward to welcoming you to the fi ft h
anniversary edition of Bassoon Day at McGill on
Saturday March 24, 2007, with special guests Jeff rey
Lyman of the University of Michigan and Whitney
Crockett of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. ◆
About the author: Stéphane Lévesque is principal
bassoonist of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and
Assistant Professor and Bassoon Area Coordinator at
the Schulich School of Music of McGill University.
CURRENT EVENTS
T
he fourth annual Bassoon Day at McGill
took place at the Schulich School of Music
at McGill University in Montréal on March
18, 2006. Events took place throughout the day, and
students, amateurs and professional bassoonists of
all ages attended.
The day began with exhibits from Justin Miller’s
Miller Marketing Company, Canadian bassoon
maker Benson H. Bell and Montréal woodwind
specialist Pascal Véraquin. Bassoonists had the opportunity to try Moosmann, Bell and Schreiber bassoons, and to sample as a wide selection of bassoon
accessories, bocals, reeds and cane.
Our special guest this year was Laurent Lefèvre,
principal bassoonist of the Paris National Opera Orchestra and teacher at the National Superior Conservatory in Lyon. This was Mr. Lefèvre’s first North
American performance since moving to the German
system bassoon, as well as his first master class appearance in Canada. McGill University bassoon students Alexandra Eastley, Michael Kreiner, Laurence
Messier and James Woods performed in the master
class, accompanied by Louise Lessard on piano.
The Bassoon Day came to a close with the annual
Bassoon Extravaganza concert, which included Peter
Schickele’s Delta Jukebox performed by Stéphane
Lévesque, Fraser Jackson of the Toronto Symphony
and Louise Lessard on piano; a spectacular performance of Alain Bernaud’s Hallucinations by Laurent Lefèvre and Ms. Lessard; Alexandra Eastley,
Michael Kreiner, Tania Lavergne and Georgeanne
Banker performing two works by Mathieu Lussier;
and various ensemble works played by MSO bassoonists Stéphane Lévesque, Mathieu Harel, Martin
Mangrum and Mark Romatz, including the flashy
Maurice Allard arrangement of Kreisler’s violin
showpiece Le Tambourin Chinois, with Mr. Lefèvre
on the solo part. As usual the concert ended with the
traditional bassoon ensemble finale, with a record 36
bassoonists on stage.
48
THE THIRD BRAZILIAN MEETING FOR OBOE AND BASSOON
The Third Brazilian Meeting for Oboe and Bassoon
CURRENT EVENTS
Dwight Manning
Athens, Georgia
T
he Third Brazilian Meeting for Oboe and Bassoon took place June 15-17, 2006 at the Arts
Institute of the State University of Campinas
(Unicamp) in the state of São Paulo. It was successfully hosted by professors Paulo Justi of Unicamp
and Lucius Mota of the Tatuí Conservatory of Music.
Approximately 100 oboists and bassoonists were in
attendance this year.
Oboe masterclasses were presented by Alexandre
Ficarelli of the University of São Paulo, and Dwight
Manning of the University of Georgia. A bassoon
masterclass was presented by Noel Devos. Reedmaking workshops were presented by Dwight Manning (oboe) and Francisco Formiga (bassoon) of the
Symphony Orchestra of the State of São Paulo.
A series of fascinating lectures were presented
during the three-day meeting: Baroque Oboe by
Natalia Chahin (La Petite Bande); Ergonomics and
Physiotherapy for Instrumentalists by Cristina Porto (School of Music of Brasilia) and Rose Miriam
Furtado; The Historical Evolution of Double Reed
Instruments by Kátia Kato (Unicamp) and Paulo
Justi; Acoustics and Experimentation with Double
Reeds by Leonardo Fuks (Federal University of Rio
de Janeiro); and Arundo Donax Research by Ebnezer Nogueira (University of Brasilia). Bassoonist and
instrument maker, Hary Schweitzer, (University of
Brazil and the Symphony Orchestra of Brasilia, retired) presented a fi lm and lecture-recital regarding bassoon construction in Brazil. The legendary
French-Brazilian bassoonist Noel Devos spoke on
“My Close Musical Association with Heitor Villa-Lobos”. His historical personal testimony was preceded
by a stunning performance of the Villa-Lobos Duo
for Oboe and Bassoon by Luis Carlos Justi (oboe) and
Aloysio Fagerlande (bassoon), both of the University
of Rio de Janeiro and Quinteto Villa-Lobos.
Formal afternoon and evening recitals included
works by a wide variety of composers. Israel Muniz
(oboe) of the Symphony Orchestra of the State of São
Paulo and Fabio Cury (bassoon) of the University of
São Paulo were accompanied by pianist Josely Bark.
Hary Schweitzer performed Brazilian compositions
in collaboration with bassoonists Flavio Figueiredo
and Fabio Cury, pianist Elza Gushikem, and percussionist Paulo Marques. On the final evening recital,
bassoonist Ricardo Oliveira was accompanied by
pianist Tais Valim Perez; Ebnezer Nogueira, bassoon,
collaborated with Elza Gushikem, piano; and oboist
Dwight Manning performed with Unicamp pianist
Mauricy Martin.
Plans are already underway for next year’s meeting and beyond - events and activities are certain to
include a wide scope and draw double reed musicians
and scholars from the international double reed community. ◆
THE DOUBLE REED
49
Peter Schoenbach Honored at SUNY Fredonia
D
CURRENT EVENTS
the timeless repertory created by
both the Bubonic and Caliban Bassoon Quartets and solos by each of
the participants, assisted on the piano
by professors Mary Cobb and Linda
Gillette. The participants provided
commentary on the repertoire.
Peter Schoenbach also served as
sabbatical replacement for the bassoon students several years ago when
L. to R.: Phillip Kolker (standing), Jack Gillette, Peter Schoenbach,
professor Gillette was on leave. He
David McGill, with Nadina Mackie Jackson (l.) and pianist Mary Cobb
(r.) up front.
spent the winters of 2005 and 2006
as visiting professor at the University
of South Florida, and the 2004 winter semester lived
r. Peter J. Schoenbach was honored Dein Barcelona, Spain where he was doing research on
cember 4th, 2005, in a celebration held in
the state of music in Spain today.
the new Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall of the
Peter continues on the Fredonia faculty as an
SUNY Fredonia School of Music, commemorating
instructor in such courses as World Music, Latin
the ten years that he served as Director. It was the secAmerican Music (his specialty), and the Freshman
ond major performance in this new venue, which was
Seminar, a course he created for all new music majors
built as part of a major renovation of the Mason Hall
until his recent retirement in the fall of 2005. ◆
building in which the School is housed. The awardwinning hall seats a little over 500 and is intended to
complement the smaller Diers chamber hall, and the
large one in the neighboring Rockefeller Performing
Arts Center.
Long-term International Double Reed Society
member, bassoonist Schoenbach invited several of
his closest colleagues to perform in the program
which he entitled, “Bassoonery”. These included
his fellow Fredonian, Dr. Jack Gillette, professor
of bassoon, principal bassoons of the Chicago and
Baltimore Symphonies, David McGill and Phillip
Kolker, and the distinguished Canadian bassoonist
Nadina Mackie Jackson.
The program consisted of ensemble pieces from
50
IDRS MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM
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Phone (410) 871-0658 FAX (410) 871-0659
E-Mail: [email protected]
THE DOUBLE REED
51
A Bassoon “Giant” Retires
Ronald Klimko
McCall, Idaho
On May 20th 2006, the Ohio State University
School of Music presented a day of festivities in
honor of Chris’ retirement. The activities included: a
slide show of his former and present OSU bassoon
students, and exhibit of mementos from Chris’ long
career, and an information table for the newly established “Wilson-Weait Bassoon Scholarship” fund at
OSU.
Highlight of the day’s events was a concert entitled “Bassooner or Later: Marking Christopher
Weait’s Retirement from Teaching at Ohio State”.
The concert included the world premieres of David
Ott’s Suite for Bassoon and Piano, and The Changeling for oboe, bassoon, double bass and percussion
- a work commissioned to honor professor Weait;
prize-winning Woodwind Trios from the Johnstone
Woodwind Composition Competition; and bassoon
ensembles by Bertoli, Weissenborn, and Weait by the
OSU Bassoon Ensemble. The Grand Finale was Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture by the “Mighty Bassooner or
Later Bassoon Band” consisting of all bassoonists
attending the concert, with the audience providing
the “chimes” and “cannon”. Surely a joyful finale for
a joyful bassoonists career! Congratulations Chris!
Live long and prosper!
A COLLAGE OF CHRISTOPHER WEAIT’S MUSICAL CAREER
A young Chris Weait (middle) with bassoonist Steve Paulson (left)
and IDRS Honorary Norman Herzberg (right).
CURRENT EVENTS
A
s a symbol of a passing era, one of America’s
most important bassoon teacher/performers
has stepped down from his teaching post.
Master bassoonist/teacher Christopher Weait, longtime bassoon professor at the Ohio State University,
Columbus, and a teacher responsible for many bassoonists presently professionally engaged around the
world, has retired from his position at the University
as of May, 2006.
Chris, who has been a fervent supporter and participant in the IDRS, came to OSU in 1984, following his service as principal bassoon of the Toronto
(Canada) Symphony under the baton of Ozawa,
Ancerl, and Sir Andrew Davis. He also performed
with the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia, the
Cleveland Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony, the
Montreal Symphony, the USMA Band, and as a soloist with Keith Brion and his New Sousa Band. Chris
has guest taught at Eastman and Indiana University
and in Canada, Argentina, and Chile as well. He has
also been active as a composer and arranger and has
recordings out on the CBC, Crystal, d’Note and Innova labels. Finally Chris is also the author of five
pedagogical books, including Bassoon Reed Making
and Bassoon Warm-ups.
A BASSOON “GIANT” RETIRES
CURRENT EVENTS
52
Chris conferring with IDRS Honorary Member the late Viennese bassoonist Karl Öhlberger.
An “older” Chris in Chile with (l. to r.) Paulina Gonzàles, bassoon professor Maldonado, Jorge Espinoza, Carilina Gonzàles Zebullos (co-ordinator of the performance), Chris, and Felipe de Stefano, a member of the Santiago
Philharmonic.
THE DOUBLE REED
53
CURRENT EVENTS
With the “Obohio” Ensemble (l. to r.) Robert Sorton, oboe; P. Bailey Sorton, oboe d’amore; Sarah Hamilton, English
horn; Chris Weait, bassoon.
A BASSOON “GIANT” RETIRES
CURRENT EVENTS
54
The Weaits on their 25th (Silver) Anniversary.
Chris “in action”.
“Obohio” in performance on the boat at the 1993 Minneapolis IDRS
Conference.
Chris conducting a masterclass on bassoon warm-ups.
THE DOUBLE REED
British
Double
Reed
Society
55
Heckel at 175
William Ring
London, England
(Reprinted with permission from the Double Reed News of the BDRS, No. 75, Summer 2006, pp. 13-15.)
William Ring, in the company of William Waterhouse, takes a journey of anniversary and reminiscence that includes bombs and bassoons.
T
he bassoons were the objective, the bombs
were en route and, fortunately, incidental. I
had opened my mouth in haste when chatting with Bill Waterhouse late last year, and as a result
found myself enjoying his company to attend a very
special event in Germany in early March.
We chose to drive (I’d offered to be the chauffeur) and took five days for the round trip. Any such
expedition with Bill is going to include diversions to
places both fascinating and edifying, and we took as
many opportunities as time allowed! I found myself
receiving a guided tour of Europe discovering many
aspects that have so shaped our culture here in the
UK, not least those things relevant to our music
heritage and indeed the development of the modern
bassoon.
What was the event? The bassoon maker Heckel
was founded in 1831, so 2006 is their 175th anniversary. They chose to celebrate this notable occasion
CURRENT EVENTS
Sergio Azzolini playing Vivaldi.
with a concert and buffet
lunch for invited guests
in the splendor of Schloss
Biebrich near Wiesbaden
in Germany, overlooking
the Rhine and only a few
yards from the Heckel
workshops.
The concert opened
and closed with exhilarating and very sensitive performances of two
Vivaldi bassoon concerti
(d minor FVIII No.5 and
e minor F VIII No.7) by
Sergio Azzolini, in the
animated style that is his
trademark. Then Dag
Jensen performed the
Sonatine by Alexandre
Tansman with great skill;
the slow movement was especially smooth and beautifully phrased. Wolfgang Schottstädt played the
very interesting Trio for heckelphone, viola and piano
by Paul Hindemith.
Interleaved were spoken contributions from Ralf
Reiter, the current managing director of Heckel, Gerhard Meinl representing the Association of German
Instrument Makers (and himself director of a very
successful instrument making firm), Dr. Gunther
Joppig, Curator of the Musical Instrument Museum
in the Munich Stadtmuseum and Dr. Klaus Schröter
from the Wiesbaden Chamber of Commerce. Particularly enjoyable and informative were the contributions from Gerhard Meinl and Dr. Joppig. Herr Meinl
was able to point up the very astute (almost modern!)
marketing programme that Johann Adam Heckel
and Wilhelm Heckel undertook notably in the second half of the nineteenth century, bringing their instruments to the notice of composers and influential
musicians such as Wagner and Richard Strauss, and
to a wider public through events such as the Great
Exhibition in London in 1851. Dr. Joppig gave a fascinating and comprehensive history of the firm. A
CURRENT EVENTS
56
HECKEL AT 175
lavish programme-book had also been produced for
the occasion.
At the end of the afternoon the Reiters were kind
enough to admit some of us to look at the firm’s museum, which consists of early examples of their own
instruments and of other makes of bassoon.
The Heckel concert actually fell at the end of the
tour; in the days before we had briefly been able to enjoy visiting other places as well, including the beautiful spa town of Baden Baden, a sojourning place lor
many musicians and cognoscenti; we did not quite
make it to the spa, but it looked sorely tempting and
not expensive!
We visited the firm of Georg Rieger, maker of
reed-making machines and tools in Gaggenau, near
Baden Baden. The workshop is all that you would
expect of a modern German manufacturer. It was so
Schloss Biebrich
spotless and tidy that it seemed you could almost eat
off the floor, and the items he makes are no less beautifully prepared and clean in their execution and the
way they function. One could quote Wilhelm Hermann Heckel: “In the world of music, only the best
will do!”
We were also able to visit friends of Bill who were
themselves bassoonists and historians of musical instruments, and saw several bassoons of the mid- and
late-nineteenth century. Most fascinating of course is
to attempt to chart the development of the bassoon
through these models, tracking makers’ innovations
and determining which ones were of influence. These
instruments date from the very period when the firm
of Heckel was refining its key system, at a time when
it was only one of many makers, and not yet enjoying
the unique high reputation it does today.
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57
CURRENT EVENTS
Bill Waterhouse with Sergio Azzolini.
Evolution is never a straight line; we are still far
from having a certain map of who was doing what
and when, what musical reasons they chose to do it
and who most influenced whom. However, what is
clear is the very high standard of workmanship evidenced in the instruments we saw, and the range of
solutions that bassoon makers produced (are we so
The Rieger workshops.
imaginative these days?) to bring their instruments
to an acoustic and musical standard matching other
members of the woodwind family.
The weather and road conditions were mostly
kind to us, and we therefore had the opportunity to
stop off to admire impressive cathedrals in Speyer and
Aachen (indeed we only made it to the Channel Tunnel with very few minutes to
spare). Aachen’s Carolingian
Cathedral dating from the
ninth century is sadly lacking
in imagery of bassoons (but
no less interesting for that!)
but the Suermondt Museum
across town houses the very
famous painting of “The Bassoon Player”. This was previously ascribed to Hermann
Hals, but in the most recent
museum catalogue published
in early 2006 the ascription
has now been changed to that
of ‘Follower of Jan Steen’.
As is so often the case,
there is no substitute for see-
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58
HECKEL AT 175
Wing joint from Haseneier bassoon c1850, Heckel Collection
massive V2 rocket storage and launching facility near
St Omer, just behind Calais. Bill had been witness to
the period at the end of WWII when these missiles
were being aimed at London, a little over 60 years
ago. Only D-Day had prevented the launching of
vastly greater numbers of the devastating V2s. It is an
utterly shocking place, and an important reminder to
younger generations of our ability to infl ict unspeakable horrors on our fellow humanity: pictures never
quite convey the full effect of visiting such a place.
Why should I mention this in an article about
bassoons? For the very reason that our journey was to
affirm the best and noblest values that music brings
to our lives, that transcend generation and nationality. I wish to acknowledge what we owe to the firm of
Heckel, that they and other instrument makers have
added to our experience of music. Let us look forward
to celebrating their 200th anniversary! ◆
William Ring wishes to express his gratitude to the
generosity of his employers, Howarth of London, for
assistance in making this trip possible.
Front keys on Heinrich Berthold bassoon, Stuttgart.
ing an original; no reproduction of this painting that
I have yet seen has managed to retain the detailed
shading which tells so much about the construction
of the instrument and the reed. The brushwork is very
fine and precise, and we spent a long time discussing
what we could see, observing details that we think we
have not seen discussed elsewhere. (The museum staff
were getting jittery at our very close analysis and hovered anxiously!) Results of our discussions will have
to await Bill’s forthcoming book on the bassoon in
the Yale University Press Musical Instrument Series.
And the bombs? On our way south we visited ‘La
Coupole’, a museum recently built on the site of a
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59
Oboists in the News
Compiled by Dan Stolper
Palm Desert, California
ARYN DAY SWEENEY, has recently been appointed
Lecturer of Music at Mesa State College and principal
oboist if the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra in
Grand Junction, Colorado.
Dr. Sweeney was a recent prizewinner in the
2005 Barbirolli International Oboe Competition. As
a recipient of a prestigious Frank Huntington Beebe
Foundation Fellowship to study abroad, she received
a Solo Artist Diploma from the Royal College of
Music in London, England. She also holds a Doctor
of Musical Arts degree from the University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, Masters of Music Degree from
Rice University in Houston, Texas and her Bachelor
of Music Degree, Cum Laude from the University of
Southern California. Her primary teachers have been
Nancy Ambrose King, Robert Atherholt, Allan
Vogel, Neil Black, and John Anderson.
She has performed with several prominent artists
LIANG WANG is the new principal oboe of the New York Philharmonic, a position to which he
was appointed by Music Director
Lorin Maazel in 2006. He was
previously the principal oboist
of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, a position to which he
was appointed in 2005 by Music
Director Paavo Jarvi.
Mr. Wang was born in 1980 in Qing Dao, China,
into a musical family: his mother was an amateur
singer, and his uncle was a professional oboist. Liang
began his oboe studies with him at the age of seven. In
1993, Mr. Wang enrolled at the Beijing Central Conservatory studying with Professor Zhu Dun, and two
years later he became a full-scholarship student at
CURRENT EVENTS
Aryn Day Sweeney
including Zubin Mehta, Jeffery Tate, Peter Schreier,
and members of the Dallas Symphony, Houston
Symphony, and the Cleveland Orchestra. As well
as giving solo recitals throughout the United States
and England, she was recently a featured performer
on CBC Radio 2. Dr. Sweeney has been a member
of several established ensembles including Chicago
Civic Orchestra, Windsor Symphony, Orchestra X,
the Zephyr Wind Quintet, Dearborn Symphony,
Plymouth Symphony and Orchestra Canton, Adrian
Symphony, the Debut Orchestra, and the American
Youth Symphony.
In addition, she was also awarded scholarships
to several exclusive music festivals including the
Sarasota Music Festival, Music Academy of the West,
Hot Springs Music Festival, and the North Carolina
School for the Arts International Music Program.
Being interested in scholarly research, she is
collaborating on the publishing and recording of
works by the Baroque composer Joseph Fiocco for
oboe and harpsichord.
She has been on the faculties of Wayne State
University, Wayne Community College, and also
teaches at the Idyllwild Summer Arts Festival in
California.
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60
OBOISTS IN THE NEWS
the Idyllwild Arts Academy in California. During his
time there, he was the Jack Smith Award Winner at
the Pasadena Instrumental Competition, a two-time
winner of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Fellowship,
and also a winner at the Spotlight Competition of the
Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Mr. Wang completed his bachelor degree in 2003
at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied with Philadelphia Orchestra principal oboist Richard Woodhams. While at
Curtis, he was a fellowship recipient at both the Aspen Music Festival, where he studied with John de
Lancie, the former principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Music Academy of the West,
where he was a Career Grant recipient. Mr. Wang was
the second prize winner at the 2003 Fernard Gillet
International Oboe Competition and a prizewinner
at the 2002 Tilden Prize Competition.
Since graduating, Mr. Wang has been appointed
principal oboe in many different orchestras, including the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the Grant Park Orchestra,
the Richmond Symphony, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra,
Shanghai Festival Orchestra and the San Francisco
Contemporary ensemble. He was also appointed associate principal oboe of the San Francisco Symphony by Michael Tilson Thomas. He was also featured
as a guest principal oboist in the Chicago Symphony
and the San Francisco Symphony.
An active chamber musician, Mr. Wang has appeared in such festivals as the Santa Fe Chamber
Music Society and the Angel Fire Music Festival,
collaborating with artists such as Mark Neikrug, Ida
Kavafian, Ursula Oppens, and William Pruecil. He
also performs as a soloist, having appeared with the
San Francisco Ballet Orchestra in Richard Strauss
Oboe Concerto and in Santa Fe with oboe concertos
of Marcello and Vivaldi. As a teacher, Mr. Wang gave
master classes at Cincinnati Conservatory, he also
held the position of oboe faculty member at the University of California at Berkeley for the time he was
in San Francisco.
the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta,
and Baltimore.
Hughes has been a featured soloist with the Met
Chamber Ensemble, Seattle Symphony, Savannah
Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra, Verbier
Festival Orchestra, and the Sinfonietta Polonia in
Poland. Active at many festivals worldwide, Hughes
has performed chamber music at the Marlboro, Santa
Fe, and Seattle chamber music festivals, served as
principal oboe of the Aspen Chamber Symphony and
Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, and has appeared at the
Lucerne, Sarasota, Salzburg, Spoleto, and Tanglewood festivals.
Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Hughes has been on
the faculty at the University of Washington and has
given master classes at the San Francisco Conservatory as well as the Poznań Academy in Poland. He
holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music
and The Juilliard School. His teachers have included
John Mack, Elaine Douvas, and John de Lancie.
NATHAN HUGHES has been appointed principal
oboe of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and to the
faculty of The Juilliard School beginning the fall of
2006. He previously served as principal oboe of the
Seattle Symphony and as acting associate principal
oboe of the San Francisco Symphony. In addition,
Hughes has performed as guest principal oboe of the
New York and Los Angeles philharmonics as well as
Eastern Music Festival completed another successful season this past July. Oboe students at the festival played a wide variety of repertoire including: Rite
of Spring, Symphony Fantastique, and Pictures at an
Exhibition. Chamber music, private lessons, masterclasses and seminars were also offered. In addition,
students attended performances and masterclasses
by world-renowned artists such as Joshua Bell, the
Nathan Hughes
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61
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Eastern Music Festival oboists from left to right: Karen Birch (faculty), Jennifer Moore,
Pamela Masterson, Noelle, Sara Phillips, Randall Ellis (faculty), Evan Ocheret, Carl Oswald,
Kristin Leitterman, Lindsay Flowers and Stephanie Tobin (not pictured, Susan Eischeid,
faculty).
Canadian Brass, Ellis Marsalis and Frederica von
Staade. This summer Randall Ellis and Mark Hill
served on the faculty and performed as principal
oboe with the Eastern Philharmonic Orchestra, the
festival’s professional orchestra in residence. More
information about the festival can be found at www.
easternmusicfestival.org.
The 6-week summer season of Interlochen Arts
Camp’s 79th year included many performances
by some 20 high-school-aged oboists participating in two bands, two orchestras, and many chamber groups, and many more by middle-school oboe
students (whose Interlochen stays were either three
weeks or six weeks in duration), who also performed
in band, orchestra and chamber music ensembles.
The camp’s flagship ensemble, the World Youth Symphony Orchestra, performed weekly concerts under
its resident conductor Jung-Ho Pak, and also played
Gustav Holst’s suite The Planets under guest conductor Gerard Schwarz, music director of the Seattle
Symphony and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic;
another highlight was the orchestra’s performance
of the Prokofiev Symphony No. 5 under Otto Werner
Mueller, conductor of the Curtis Institute of Music’s
orchestra. Soloists with the WYSO included violinist
Nadia Salerno Sonnenberg and pianist Van Cliburn.
Oboe faculty members included Donna Conaty,
professor at Ohio University at Athens and principal
oboist of the Pro Musica Orchestra of Columbus;
Jared Hauser, principal oboist of the Orlando Philharmonic, and member of the faculties of Florida International University at Miami and Lynn University,
Boca Raton; Robert Krause, principal oboist of the
Amarillo Symphony and professor of oboe at West
Texas A & M University at Canyon; Daniel Stolper,
professor emeritus, Michigan State University and
instructor of oboe at the Interlochen Arts Academy;
and Linda Strommen, professor of oboe at Indiana
University at Bloomington. Assisting the faculty was
Nik Taylor, an alumnus of both the Arts Academy
and the camp, and a 2006 graduate of the Eastman
School of Music; he is currently a graduate student at
Indiana University. These artists were kept busy performing in a series of faculty chamber music recitals, which included the following works: Beethoven’s
Symphony No. 7 (in the “harmonie” version for nine
winds) included Mr. Stolper and Ms. Strommen; bassoonists were Jeff rey Lyman and Eric Stomberg;
Shawn Jones played the contrabassoon. A performance of the Mozart Quintet for Piano and Winds,
OBOISTS IN THE NEWS
CURRENT EVENTS
62
Interlochen Arts Camp High School Oboists - 2006 Season: First row left to right: Neal Rea (CA), Matt Lengas (WI),
Maria Hernandez Escobar (Venezuela), Melissa Hooper (TX), Lindsey Kleiser (OH), Linda Strommen (faculty), Ashley Rollins
(TN). Second row left to right: Nik Taylor (faculty assistant), Rebecca McGuire (IL), Katherine Magruder (TX), Trevor Mowry
(IL), Dan Stolper (faculty), Nathan Mills (TX), Lindsey Reymore (FL), Robert Krause (faculty). Back row left to right: Robert
Snider (NM), Paul Lueders (MA). [Not pictured: Mary Kausek (OK)]
Interlochen Oboe Faculty, 2006 Season L to R: Dan Stolper, Pauline Oostenrijk (guest), Bob Krause, Jared Hauser.
WYSO Oboists: L to R: Nathan Mills (Austin, TX); Melissa Hooper (Portland, TX); Paul Lueders (Needham, MA); Katherine Magruder (El Paso, TX)
THE DOUBLE REED
63
K. 452 included Mr. Stolper and Mr. Stomberg, and
the Zelenka Sonata #4 in G Minor was performed by
Mr. Stolper, Mr. Krause, and Mr. Stomberg; along
with Byron Hanson, harpsichord, and Gary Gatzke,
double bass, doing the continuo duties. Linda Strommen performed the sinfonia to J. S. Bach’s Cantata
#12 (assisted by the Avalon Quartet and other string
faculty members); she also performed this work at
the Muncie convention of the IDRS later in the summer. Pauline Oostenrijk spent a few days soaking
up some Interlochen atmosphere – reliving many
memories from her student days there as principal
oboist of the WYSO – fresh from her successful performances at Muncie. Ms. Oostenrijk is first oboist of
the Residentie Orchestra of the Hague and professor
at the conservatories in the Hague and in Amsterdam. She inspired the student oboists at Interlochen
with energetic and creative masterclasses.
Also on board for another summer season was
Heidi Chisholm Wolfgang, the New York area’s
most sought-after oboe repairperson. Heidi studied
the oboe at Interlochen for many summers and also
graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy; she is
a graduate of the Eastman School of Music.
More information about Interlochen’s programs
can be found at www.interlochen.org.
COMPETITION ANNOUNCEMENTS
The 56th ARD International Music Competition for
2007 of Munich includes a category for oboe. The
competition will be held in Munich from September
4th through the 21st, 2007. Deadline for applications
is April 30, 2007. For further information, write:
Internationaler Musikwettbewerb der ARD
Bayerischer Rundfunk
D-80300 Munchen
Telephone: ++49 89 5900-2471
FAX:
++49 89 5900-3573
Web: www.ard-musikwettbewerb.de
The Third Henri Tomasi International Competition
for Woodwind Quintet will be held in Marseille,
France from February 26 through March 3, 2007.
More information can be obtained at:
Bureau du concours / Administrative Address
Institut Francais de Instruments à Vent
bp 62042
13201 Marseille cedex 01
Tel: ++33/04 91 39 29 02
Fax: ++33/04 91 39 29 69
Web: http://www.ifiv.fr/concours/
CURRENT EVENTS
Interlochen Oboe Faculty, 2006 Season: L to R: Bob Krause,
Linda Strommen, Dan Stolper.
64
BASSOONISTS’ NEWS OF INTEREST
Bassoonists’ News of Interest
CURRENT EVENTS
Ronald Klimko
McCall, Idaho
BASSOONISTS’ ACTIVITIES
In August, 2006, bassoonist James Jeter, along with
oboist Sarah Davol, participated in the 2006 White
Mountain Fine Arts and Music Festival at the Mount
Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.
A variety of works were performed including the
Mozart piano/winds Quintet K. 452 and the Divertimento # 14 K. 270; Mendelssohn’s Concertpiece #1
for clarinet, bassoon and piano; Bagatelles for Flute,
Clarinet and Bassoon by Giovanni Mayr; and other
works by Beethoven, Ibert, Victor Herbert, Gershwin, Salzedo, Bender and Jerry Bock. Earlier, in June
2006, Dr. Jeter also taught and performed at the Blue
Lakes Fine Arts Camp in Michigan.
Christopher Jewell, assistant principal bassoon
of the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra in Washington, D.C., gave a recital and masterclass at the University of Missouri, Columbia, on April 19th, 2006.
Hosted by bassoon professor Rodney Ackmann, the
recital included the following works: Tango Etude #1
by Astor Piazzolla (a transcription of the flute work);
Silent Woods by Dvořák (a transcription of the cello
work); Concerto in C minor, F VIII #14 by Vivaldi, the
Koechlin Sonate; and the Poulenc Trio, performed
with MU oboe professor Dan Willett.
Daniel Matsukawa, principal bassoon of the
Philadelphia Orchestra, performed the Weber Bassoon Concerto on May 5th, 6th, and 9th, 2006, with the
Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Peter Oundjian
on their regular subscription series. In a review of
the concert in the Philadelphia Inquirer, music critic
David Partrick Stearns glowingly praised the performance: “…Matsukawa’s tone combined the best
parts of tenor saxophone and French horn, and you
could have changed your mind 10 times during the
performance as to what parts of his range you liked
the most – his tenorish top notes or his rich, baritonal
bottom notes. All of them had vibrant shimmer, and
even the widest melodic leaps were stylishly phrased.
He was suave without being superficial, technically
fearless but never flippant.”
On August 13th and 14th, 2006, a group of prominent bassoonists from the Northwestern US gath-
ered in McCall, Idaho, as the McCall Bassoon Band
for the third installation of their annual “Music Below ‘C’ Level” concert. This year’s band included bassoonists George Adams, Barbara Bell, Tom Crossler, Alan Goodman, Susan Hess, Ryan Hare, Kesley
Hoskins, Patty Katucki, Ronald Klimko, Daniel
Lipori, Janelle Oberbillig, Alex Reid and John Reid.
Assisted by Jeff rey Parnett, piano and percussion, the
group performed: Fanfare for the Common Bassoon
by Copland/Klimko; Quoniam tu solus sanctus from
Bach’s B minor Mass, arranged by Gordon Solie; A
Vivaldi Frolic arranged by Loren Glickman; Latin
Etude #3 by Bill Douglas; the first movement of the
Bach/Vivaldi Concerto BWV 593; Penny Lane by the
Beatles/Bubonic; and Alma Llanera by Gutierrez/
Duarte. The special works on the concert included
the world premiere of Sinfoniette 2006 for six bassoons and contrabassoon by University of Oregon
doctoral composition/bassoon student Alex Reid;
along with Alex’s beautiful arrangement of Samuel
Barber’s Adagio for bassoon ensemble; and a trio of
contrabassoons (!) playing the Polka and Turkish
March from the Weissenborn Trios.
On April 27, 2006, Michigan State University,
East Lansing, bassoon professor Michael Kroth gave
the premiere performance of the new Concerto for
Bassoon and Chamber Ensemble: “Avatar” by Dana
Wilson with the Michigan State University Chamber
Winds. Michael described the composition as “…a
terrific new work for bassoon.” Hopefully we will
hear more about this work in the future.
Jennifer Collins Monroe, acting contrabassoonist of the Cincinnati Orchestra, gave a masterclass
and recital at Ohio University, Athens, on April 24,
2006, as a guest of OU bassoon professor Michael
Harley. For the recital, Jennifer was joined by pianist
Wendy Blackwell in performing works by Corrette,
Bozza, Schulhoff and Rossini.
Ted Soluri, principal bassoon of the Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Symphony, gave a faculty recital at
the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, on April
2, 2006. The concert was entitled “ Beg, Borrow, or
Steal”, since none of the music on the program was
originally written for the bassoon. Assisted by pia-
THE DOUBLE REED
cello, Ridout, and Meza were featured on the recital.
Then on Monday, September 11th, bassoon professor
from Central Washington University, Ellensburg,
Dan Lipori gave a masterclass for the students of
both Idaho and Washington State University; and on
September 12th, the Intermontane Bassoon Trio (Susan Hess, Dan Lipori and Ryan Hare-bassoon professor at Washington State University, Pullman), performed a recital at the University of Idaho. Works on
the program included: Bassoon Trios by Castil-Blaze,
Presser, Weissenborn and Brubeck, along with solo
works performed by each of the bassoonists. Finally,
on September 19th, Susan Hess performed Michael
Daugherty’s Dead Elvis, and joined bassoonist Ryan
Hare in a performace of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro
arranged for wind octet as part of the chamber music
series “Music from the Palouse”.
THE BASSOON SCENE
IN THE TAMPA, FLORIDA, REGION
From bassoonist and professor Peter Schoenbach
comes this interesting report on bassoon activities in
the Tampa Bay area of Florida:
“I have had occasion to spend the last two winter
semesters at the University of South Florida in Tampa, and gradually became familiar with the bassoon
scene there. The Florida Orchestra has a very strong
section made up of Marc Sforzini, Maurizio Venturini and John Kehayas as principal, second and
contra.
John Kehayas teaches at USF, so we have gotten
to know each other through students, and recitals he
has played at the school, which last semester included
one he shared with principal bass of the Florida Orchestra, Dee Moses.
Maurizio Venturini played a rousing performance of Dead Elvis, but the high point of bassoon
activities was undoubtedly the premier performance
of a new Concerto for Bassoon, by USF emeritus Professor Hilton Jones which Mark Sforzini played with
the FloriMezzo Orchestra at the Palladium Theatre
as part of a series he puts on in St. Petersburg.
The soloist in the Concerto, Mark Sforzini, studied bassoon with John Hunt, David McGill, William Winstead and Laurence Morgan. He holds the
MM from Florida State (1991) and after two seasons
with the Florida West Coast Symphony, has held the
principal bassoon post in Tampa since 1992. Mark is
also an exceptionally talented composer whose works
have been performed by the Florida Orchestra, and
CURRENT EVENTS
nist Paul Trasnsue, the program included: Vocalise
by Rachmaninoff; Mahler’s Lieder eines farhenden
Gesellen; Beethoven’s Romance #2 (originally for violin); Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne (originally for violin
and cello); and five arias by Puccini, Donizetti, SaintSaëns and Ponchielli.
Claire Nicholson, a student of Butler University
(Indianapolis, Indiana), bassoon professor Doug
Spaniol, performed the Vivaldi Bassoon Concerto in
A Minor (RV 498), accompanied by the Kokomo (Indiana) Symphony on March 18, 2006, as co-winner
of that orchestra’s Concerto Competition. Claire is a
junior at Butler University. Congratulations, Claire!
Bassoonist Carol Lowe has been appointed the
new professor of bassoon at the Crane School of Music at SUNY, Potsdam, New York, beginning in the
fall, 2006. Carol is a doctoral student at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, and a student of
UNCG bassoon professor and IDRS Archivist Michael Burns. Congratulations, Carol!
Bassoonist and reed maker James Kopp led a
seminar at The Royal Academy of Music, London,
on September 18th , 2006, at the invitation of British
early bassoon instructor Andrew Watts, who is also
principal bassoonist in the Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment. The topic of the seminar, attended by
Royal Academy of Music students and London professional bassoonists, was “Matching Reed Designs
to Cane Characteristics.”
Chicago contrabassoon specialist Susan L. Nigro
gave an alumni recital at her alma mater, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois on October 12th,
2006, assisted by Mark Lindeblad, piano. Works performed were the Sonata in B f Major by Girolamo Besozzi; BassNachtigall for solo contrabassoon by Erwin
Schulhoff; the Quintet Op. 63 (originally for contra
and string quartet) by Willy Hess; the world premiere
of ContraBassooNova (Um Imaginacao do Brasil) by
David Stybr; Adagio in Sol Minore (originally for
strings and organ) by Tomaso Albinoni; Four Greek
Myths for Contrabassoon and Piano by Elaine Fine,
and Divertimento per Controfagotto (originally for
contra and strings) by Otmar Nussio.
The University of Idaho, Moscow, was the scene of
a lot of bassoon activity in September, 2006. On September 7th and 8th, guest bassoonist Leyla Zamora,
bassoonist and contrabassoonist with the San Diego
Symphony, gave a masterclass and performed a recital on campus, assisted by Jonathan Mann, piano;
Quentin DeWitt and Kevin Kovalchik, marimba; and
U of I bassoon professor Susan Hess. Compositions
by Bordeau, John Steinmetz, Paquito D’Rivera, Mar-
65
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66
BASSOONISTS’ NEWS OF INTEREST
in a chamber ensemble made up of principals of the
orchestra. His compositions reflect a lively sense of
humor as well as technical skill. Also an Overture of
his was recently played by the Florida Orchestra.
The composer of the Concerto, Hilton Jones,
studied composition at Eastman with Samuel Adler
and Wayne Barlow, and organ with Russell Saunders.
He has served as Music Director for a number of Super Bowls.
The Concerto, a full-blown three movement piece
for bassoon and large orchestra, is technically challenging, musically appealing, and worthy of a place
in the repertory. The first and last movements have
lengthy cadenzas and are extremely virtuosic. The
second movement is very expressive, with highly ornamented lines against a lush accompaniment. The
piece is accessible, albeit contemporary, and the bassoon line manages to carry through despite the size
of the accompanying ensemble
In his performance of the work, Mark Sforzini’s
background as composer enabled him to have insights into this new Concerto, which enhanced his
interpretation greatly”.
INFORMATION OF VALUE TO BASSOONISTS
From bassoon professor Eduardo Sirtori of Évora
University, Portugal, comes the following information which might be of interest to some of you younger bassoon students interested in studying in Europe.
Professor Sirtori is in the process of setting up a new
bassoon studio at the University. The city of Évora is
150 km East of Lisbon and the University, founded
in 1559, is an important cultural center for the area.
Studying there costs between 600-700 Euros per year,
and there are many scholarships for foreigners. For
further information one can check the website at:
www.uevora.pt/, and for information on Professor
Sirtori one can check his webside at: www.lyranproductions.com/2sirtori.html.
The Second Competition of the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition has been announced for June 11,
2007, to take place at Ithaca College, New York, just
prior to the IDRS Conference there next year. The
Competition, which is open to women bassoon players who are citizens of the Americas (North, Central,
and South America), or who are enrolled in school in
the Americas during the year prior to the competition and who have not reached their 24th birthday by
June 11, 2007, carries a First Prize of $9,000 and performance/s-one at the IDRS Conference following;
Second Prize of $5,000, and a Third Prize of $2,500.
Other finalists (up to five) will receive $500.00 each.
For more information, including entry application
forms, repertoire, etc, one can contact Director Nicolasa Kuster at:
Nicolasa Kuster, Director MQVC
Wichita State University, School of Music
DFAC 53
Wichita, KS 67260-0053 USA
Tel: 316-978-6586
Fax: 316-978-3625
The Australasian Double Reed Society (ARDS)
has a new website that you are invited to check out at:
www.adrs.org.au.
Also, the Polish bassoonist Sylwester Daniel
Janiak, who performs with the Breslau Opera Orchestra in Poland, has an interesting website you can
check out at: www.bassoon.pl/.
And finally, the ever busy “unofficial” photographer of the IDRS Conferences Al Markel, has established a website of photographs from the Muncie
2006 Conference, the Austin 2005 Conference, and
the Greensboro 2004 Conference at: http://www.
flickr.com/photos/52402611@N00/. Be sure to check
out Al’s valuable contribution.
AND FINALLY: A BIT OF HUMOR
(BUT JUST A BIT…)
Those of you who heard bassoonist/conductor Stephen Paulson introduce the Percy Grainger tune
Handel in the Strand at the mass double reed ensemble finale at this years IDRS Conference in Muncie,
will forgive him, I hope for the following “horrible”
pun: “I’m not familiar with this piece, so it leaves us
stranded, but I think we can ‘Handel’ it.” ◆
THE DOUBLE REED
67
Blowing Hard Whilst London Blows Up
Althea Ifeka
London, England
A
s double reed players, we do not find the idea
of an oboe-and-piano or a bassoon-and-piano duo to be in any way unusual, although
it sometimes seems that way to concert promoters,
a few of whom appear only to schedule such recitals
in synchronicity with visitations by Halley’s Comet!
However, I think that even we would agree that an
oboe-and-harpsichord duo is a rarity on the concert
platform, particularly when the oboe is a modern
rather than a Baroque instrument.
For both harpsichordist Katharine May and myself, our duo is the result of an interest in Baroque
music which was developed in childhood. Whilst I
played trio sonatas and recorder consort music every
Monday evening for years with a few friends, under
the tutelage a highly accomplished amateur musician
who was an anthropologist colleague of my mother
at the Australian National University in Canberra,
Katharine was studying the piano in Nottingham,
England, with her mother, but finding herself constantly drawn to the music of Bach, Scarlatti and
early classical composers. When I returned to England to take my A-Levels, my teacher Valerie Darke,
whom I had first met three years previously, had since
changed from the modern to the Baroque oboe, and
was firmly established in the London period-instrument scene. We therefore spent a lot of time over the
next few years working hard on Baroque style, whilst
continuing to explore the interest in contemporary
music which I had inherited from my Australian
teacher, Sharman Pretty, who had herself been a pupil of Holliger.
At the time of being invited on to the Countess
of Munster Musical Trust Recital Scheme - a scholarship scheme for young professional performers - in
1992, I was in partnership with another musician
who doubled on both piano and harpsichord. At the
end of the first year on the Scheme I was struck by the
contrast in the number of engagements I was offered
for the two combinations: thirteen oboe-and-harpsichord recitals contrasted with just one for oboe and
piano. That gave me to think that it was helpful to
offer something a little more unusual to concert promoters. In my second year on the Scheme I began my
partnership with Katharine, and since then we have
developed a large number of programmes covering a
range of national styles from the 16th, 17th, 18th and
20th centuries.
In 2000 I decided to branch out a bit, and undertook two orchestral trials on English horn with the
BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. These trials left
me much more comfortable with the lower oboes
than had previously been the case, so Katharine and
I decided to add them to our programmes. Th is has
proved to be a point of real interest to audiences. Obviously original repertoire for oboe d’amore or English horn with harpsichord is almost non-existent,
so we have had to find suitable works and transcribe
them. Our first piece was the Viola Sonata in G minor by Henry Eccles, which I (a former viola player)
knew well. The ranges of the viola and English horn
are almost identical and the sonorities so similar that
there was almost nothing to do: just a simple transposition from the alto clef. Finding a good piece for
the oboe d’amore was more difficult, and Katharine
came up with the idea of looking at the Bach viola
da gamba sonatas. After much discussion we chose
BWV 1028, and she transcribed her part down a minor third from D to B major. The gamba part was left
in D major with an adjustment of the clef to make it
suitable for the oboe d’amore. The range fitted perfectly, apart from the occasional low note in the final
movement. The only shortcoming of this arrangement is that in addition to being obliged to play most
of the sonata in B major, Katharine has the delightful task of wrestling with the harmonically complex
third movement in that well-known Baroque key, Gs
minor. Meanwhile, I coast along in the relatively easy
keys of D major and B minor: exactly the way things
should be done!
The success of this transcription encouraged us
to find something else for the English horn, and we
CURRENT EVENTS
English/Australian oboist Althea Ifeka describes the
evolution of her new CD, From Leipzig to London, and
how she struggled to complete her project as terrorists
attacked London on 7/7/2005.
CURRENT EVENTS
68
BLOWING HARD WHILST LONDON BLOWS UP
settled on another gamba sonata - BWV 1027. Many
of you will know this in its better-known guise of the
Trio Sonata for Two Flutes and Continuo in G major
(BWV 1039). In the viola da gamba version, which is
an arrangement made by Bach himself, the gamba
takes the second flute part, whilst the right hand of
the harpsichord plays the first flute part. We thought
that B f major would exactly fit the English horn’s
range, and found a version of the Trio Sonata in that
key arranged for two recorders. Katharine plays from
that keyboard part, whilst my part has gone through
a more complicated transposition. In the old version of our evening recital programme, “Johann Sebastian”, we actually played both of these sonatas in
addition to the little G-minor sonata BWV 1020. Between them we played two twentieth-century pieces,
one of which was Stephen Dodgson’s Suite in D, one
of our repertoire staples. This was our only recital
programme which did not contain any continuo sonatas at all, and it ended up forming the nucleus of
our CD repertoire.
When we began discussions with Jeremy Polmear of Oboe Classics early in 2005, he was adamant
that the repertoire for the disc should be artistically
and intellectually coherent. This meant that we explored two completely different programme themes
and repertoire lists before we finally found the right
one: a disc of obbligato sonatas (wherein the oboe and
harpsichord parts are of equal complexity and importance) from the 18th and 20th centuries. I had mentioned to Jeremy the role of Lady Barbirolli (Evelyn
Rothwell) and Valda Aveling - our oboe and harpsichord duo predecessors - in inspiring a number of
works for the combination, and he suggested that we
include them in the programme. These works included the Dodgson which we knew well, Gordon Jacob’s
Sonatina - which I had for years steadfastly refused to
play after doing it to death at the age of thirteen - and
Elizabeth Maconchy’s Three Bagatelles, which we had
played through once but not performed.
Once the repertoire was settled and the recording arrangements made, Jeremy and I sallied forth
in May 2005 to interview Lady Barbirolli in her
home in north London. We found her to be in excellent form. Well into her tenth decade, she was full of
recollections and anecdotes about the past, and had
a keen enjoyment of her garden, of which she gave us
a tour. She talked about her partnership with Valda,
and a great deal about working closely with Gordon
Jacob as he wrote a number of pieces for the oboe. She
and Valda gave a recital at the Purcell Room in London in 1972, prior to recording for HMV (complete
with charming picture of dog with gramophone!).
It transpires that Dodgson, Maconchy and Head all
presented the duo with pieces which were premiered
at this concert, complemented by some Baroque
sonatas. We were very interested to hear about the
piece by Michael Head, and a quick trip down to T.W.
Howarth, the famous oboe shop near Baker Street,
located Siciliana, which we have used as the closing
item on the disc.
It was decided that we would use Richard and Susanne Hughes of Meridian Records to record and produce the master disc at their usual venue - St. Edward
the Confessor Church in Mottingham, south-east
London - which has a wonderful acoustic. We eventually settled on three days in July to record the whole
thing: Thursday the 7th, Friday the 8th and Saturday
the 9th. I must confess that I might do things differently next time I record: seven or eight hours a day for
three days on a double reed instrument was a really
long, hard blow. Anyway, a lot of discussion went into
the planning of the session times, and I’m very glad
that it did. We decided to record basically from midday to 7 p.m. each day, which would allow Katharine
and myself time to arrive at the venue without having to get up at the crack of dawn or spending too
much time travelling during the rush hour. Our plan
on the first day was to arrive at 10:30 to set up, tune
and settle the harpsichord. Had we decided to start
any sooner, it’s possible that I might never have made
it there.
When I arrived at my local station in east London
on Thursday July 7th, I was just in time to hear an
announcement that there had been a complete power
failure on the underground system, which sounded
rather implausible, bearing in mind the fact that the
system uses more than one power station. Feeling
suspicious I therefore took the overground train into
Fenchurch St. station, and gave thanks as we travelled
into London that I was not on the tube: we passed
train after train at a complete standstill stranded on
the tracks. As we approached Shadwell and the Aldgate area, the sky was fi lled with helicopters, and it
was clear that something was up. Outside the station
all was chaos, with many roads roped off and a considerable police presence. I decided to try to get a taxi
from Tower Hill to London Bridge station, and unbelievably I got one within five minutes, as someone
made way for me at a street corner where we hailed
the same cab at the same time, a piece of un-Londoner-like courtesy which absolutely astonished me, and
from which I still haven’t completely recovered! Anyway, after many detours my taxi driver and I made it
THE DOUBLE REED
© Althea Ifeka, 2006
From Leipzig to London is available online from www.
altheaifeka.com, where further information about
the Ifeka/May oboe and harpsichord duo can also be
found, or from www.oboeclassics.com.
CURRENT EVENTS
to London Bridge, where I was able to board another
overground train to Mottingham. En route it became
clear through the conversations of other passengers
that London had suffered a major terrorist attack.
Needless to say I was late for my own sessions (the
cardinal musician’s sin), arriving at about 11.30 a.m.,
but at least I made it there, unlike some of my fellow
citizens, who unfortunately will never have the opportunity of travelling into work again.
Once we had all calmed down, settled in and begun recording, it became apparent that things would
not proceed as expected. The four explosions in central London meant that air traffic was re-routed away
from the centre and over south London. We suddenly
found ourselves under a flight path, and this made
our task increasingly difficult. Take after take of good
material had to be discarded owing to aircraft noise.
I had serious doubts at the end of the second day
whether we could complete the recording in time, and
spent an almost completely sleepless night thinking
about it. However, we did just manage to complete
everything with an extra hour of recording time: at 8
p.m. on the final day the recording was wrapped and
the sessions successfully completed.
Making From Leipzig to London has been a wonderful challenge at every stage of the proceedings, be
it the planning, the recording or the writing of programme notes for the booklet. I am delighted that
the disc has been completed, and I hope that people
will enjoy listening to it. However, it does have a poignancy attached to it that I never anticipated: it will
forever be linked in my mind with the tragic and unforgettable events that July day on the London Underground. ◆
69
70
LETTERS TO THE EDITORS
CURRENT EVENTS
Letters to the Editors
Hi Ron,
I really enjoyed reading many of the current
double reed articles in this current issue. Particularly
the bassoon acoustics article, “The Not-Quite-Harmonic Overblowing of the Bassoon” by James Kopp
enlightened my understanding about how several of
the bassoon fingerings really work. I took a course
in musical acoustics in graduate school over 20 years
ago, which served as an introduction and helped
me to think about music from a different part of the
brain than usual, but it raised more questions than it
answered. This article by Mr. Kopp has really fi lled in
many of the gaps and blanks in my understanding.
I expect and hope to be a better teacher and player
because of this article.
I’m writing you, especially, as editor, to suggest
we add a Letters to the Editor section to the journal,
to further discuss articles that have just appeared, express appreciation for really illuminating articles and
further advance the aims of the society by increasing still more the communication between members. Most other magazines and journals I read have
Letters to the Editor as the first feature, although I
hesitate to suggest that I want to add to your work
load! Hopefully it would add enough goodness to the
journal and to each of the members to be worthwhile.
It’s just an idea.
Do you by any chance have an email address
for James Kopp? I’d love to communicate with him
more about this work he has done in acoustics of the
bassoon.
Thanks so much for all you do to make IDRS run
as well as it does, especially the journal.
Mark Lindeblad
[email protected]
interesting. The author’s citation of research by John
Backus brought a smile as I remember taking a Musical Acoustics class from him in 1961 as a freshman
at U.S.C.
First, I would like to address three fingerings
shown in Figure 7 (pg. 68).
Dear Ron:
After reading James Kopp’s article “The NotQuite Harmonic Overblowing of the Bassoon” in the
latest Double Reed (Vol. 29, No. 2), there is some information that I would like to add. I found the article
very informative in very many aspects. The “why”
of our contorted 4th mode fingerings was especially
Secondly, I would like to correct the impression
that the speaker keys (flick or octave keys) are held
open for the notes A3 to C3 in order to raise the pitch.
The keys (termed octave keys by my teacher, Frederick Moritz, are held open to assure clean attacks and
facilitate slurs up from the first mode and down from
certain notes in the third mode. Flatness of A3 to
1) Fs3 Standard: I believe the fingering should be
2/3 x x | x x x(F)
w
Fs
Cross-finger vent ⅔ of 1.
[Opening the cross-finger vent (“half-hole”) by
only ¼ is not sufficient to prevent “growling.”]
2) Gs3 Standard: should be
1/4 x x | x x x Af
w
Cross-fingering vent ¼ of 1.
[Opening more invites squawks, especially in
slurs.]
3) Mode 3 Cs4 long. It is shown as
xxx|oxxF
cs
D
[Since the purpose of the long fingering is to raise
and strengthen this note, adding the D key to the
long fingering raises what is on many bassoons
an already sharp fingering. I was taught never
to use D on the long c s4. On Heckel bassoons
with the ring mechanism for R1, you can use the
fingering
xxx|xoxF
cs
D
to great advantage.
THE DOUBLE REED
Bf
It appears to be a regular overtone of B2. On many
bassoons it is pretty sharp, but with the Moritz tone
hole dimensions it is quite well in tune.
Dr. Backus also made an interesting point in class
that the long finger holes of the bassoon begin to assume the role of “secondary bores” and the author’s
comments on the cut-off phenomenon explains that
very well. He theorized that was why the Boehm system “denatured” the tone of the bassoon, because the
tone holes were where in the correct acoustical position and not drilled on long diagonals to accommodate the human hand.
All in all, a great article and my comments are
not intended to detract in any way from the author’s
fine work in assembling this information.
Dr. George Adams
Music Director & Conductor,
Idaho Falls Symphony
Instructor of Bassoon, Brigham Young University – Idaho and Idaho State University
30 Aug 2006
Dear Sir ,
I very much enjoy receiving each edition of The
Double Reed.
Just a small point of information: I’m sure the
demotion of our Head of State - that is, HM the
Queen, was quite unintentional (see page 95, Vol
29 No.2). The caption should, of course, read “HM”
and not “HRH”.
Regards,
Graham Wright
Dear Dan,
Page 39 states that Jim Caldwell studied with
Tabuteau. By now Jim would have had to have reached
around 80 to have done so. Unfortunately Tabuteau
was long gone and de Lancie was in charge. There are
very few of us left who had any lessons with the master; only one who is still teaching, Louis Rosenblatt.
Yours respectfully,
Stevens Hewitt
(Editor’s note: In my review of Sara Watkins’s recorded performance of Plumeri’s Windflower (in DR, Volume 29, No. 2), I speculated that Sara had studied with
Ray Still and John Mack. Patricia Nott and several
other readers reminded me that she had studied with
Wayne Rapier at Oberlin and with Ray Still at Northwestern, but never with John Mack. My apologies for
any confusion I may have caused. - DS)
CURRENT EVENTS
C3 is an issue I have never encountered. In fact, Mr.
Moritz spent many hours fi lling in the tone holes for
these notes to lower them, so I could hold the octave
keys open as a regular part of the fingering. This is
how he was taught, by his teacher Emil Hoff mann,
and how he taught me and many others to play. My
new Heckels have tone holes of special sizes, established by Mr. Moritz for this reason. Many great players “flick” these keys to achieve the same security of
attack and slur.
As a matter of fact, the “whisper” vent in the bocal
is too small to effectively act as an octave key. Were
it to be large enough, then Fs3 through Gs3 would
be hopelessly sharp. It is a definite compromise and
one that does not prevent “burping” of A3 to C3 on
attacks and insecure slurs.
I would be very interested in James Kopp’s explanation of the fingering for Fs4 that I use. It is
Ef
oxx|xoo
71
72
ARTICLES
Articles
THE DOUBLE REED
73
Benjamin Britten and His Metamorphoses
George Caird
Birmingham Conservatoire, England
George Caird looks at the Composition Sketch and the Fair Copy of Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, Op 49
It is a slight but pretty idea for its setting. The oboe’s tone carries well in the open air. Miss
Boughton is an accomplished artist, instrumental accompaniment could not easily be managed in mid-Meare and something unpretentious, faintly pictorial, goes well with the imaginative word-painting of Weelkes and his madrigalist contemporaries.
(Howes, 1951)
Joy Boughton was a ‘star pupil’ of Leon Goossens and was an obvious choice to
join the English Opera Group at an early stage. She played with the group in many
performances of Britten’s works including the first performance of The Turn of the Screw.
The distinguished oboist Sidney Sutcliffe recalled his impressions of her when she was
a senior student on his entry to the Royal College of Music: ‘Her playing always gave me
tremendous pleasure. She was an inspiration to me’.1 Francis has also pointed out that,
as the daughter of the composer Rutland Boughton, Joy would have known her father’s
work including the operas written for Glastonbury with all their mythical and Arthurian
content. Joy was a well-read, talented, sensitive though strong-minded oboist whom
ARTICLES
Roland Haupt
O
n Thursday 14 June 1951, the Aldeburgh Festival
promoted two concerts by the Cambridge University Madrigal Society under the direction of Boris
Ord. The programmes included English madrigals, Jacobean
part-songs and twentieth century music. In the first concert
in the Parish Church at Aldeburgh at 11.00am, Benjamin
Britten’s Hymn to St. Cecilia (1941) was performed and in
the second concert, performed on The Meare at Thorpeness
at 4.30pm, the oboist, Joy Boughton played ‘a new work by
Benjamin Britten, specially written for the occasion’.
This first performance of Six Metamorphoses after Ovid,
Op.49 is well documented by Sarah Francis: ‘Ben wanted Joy
to play the Six Metamorphoses after Ovid standing on a raft,
but she felt unsafe, so compromise was reached and she stood
on an island’ (Francis 1994, 4-7). In fact, a touching note in
typescript on the Fair Copy ‘made for Joy Boughton’ states:
‘The first performance took place in a punt on the boating lake,
The Meare, at Thorpeness. At one point this copy blew into the
water, causing the ink to run on some of the pages’, a charming
but elemental comment for this allegorical work. It should be
noted, however, that Francis is of the view that the mishap took
place at the second Aldeburgh Festival performance in 1953.
Sarah Francis makes the point that the Metamorphoses, like
Benjamin Britten c. 1951.
most of Britten’s music, was written for a specific person, in
this case, Joy Boughton. Her personality and musicianship are
integrally bound up with the work. Francis believes that Britten did not see the oboe
as ‘limited in range’ and certainly not superficial as some commentators such as Frank
Howes (1951) did:
74
BENJAMIN BRITTEN AND HIS METAMORPHOSES
John Vickers, The Rutland Boughton Trust
explored, it is touching that the day of the premiere, 14
June, was in fact Joy Boughton’s birthday.
This study sets out to look at a remarkable work
from historical, literary and musical viewpoints and to
discuss its position in relation to Billy Budd and other
Sarah Francis
Paul Sacher Foundation
Britten clearly admired, the rightful recipient of this
great work. Despite some intriguing letters (Boughton
1954-60) which reveal Joy’s wonderful personality
and insights into the subsequent recordings of the
Metamorphoses, it is sad that no information has been
found on the preparatory work which Britten and
Boughton did together, probably in the month prior
to the first performance, save for assumptions about
the alternative ending to Arethusa based on the source
material to be discussed here. Nonetheless, with
this close connection between composer and oboist
Fritz Curzon
ARTICLES
Joy Boughton
Benjamin Britten, Fair Copy,
Six Metamorphoses after Ovid.
works written at the time. It could be argued that the
Metamorphoses were written as light, occasional pieces
for the setting of the first performance. But could their
musical quality be seen as fine examples of Britten’s
chamber music writing and rightful precursors of
the later unaccompanied suites for solo cello? Could
Britten’s knowledge of the oboe, gained through his
writing of the Phantasy Quartet, Op 2, written for the
great oboist Leon Goossens, the Temporal Variations
and the Two Insect Pieces give the composer a special
affinity with the oboe? Could Britten’s extraordinary
literary skill bring a unique view of the work of Ovid
in these pieces? And could this understanding relate
to the larger themes, which he was exploring in his
operas, to date Peter Grimes, Albert Herring, The Rape
of Lucretia and Billy Budd, but later The Turn of the
Screw, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and especially
Death in Venice? It is hoped a wider debate on the
place of the Metamorphoses will be forthcoming.
The Metamorphoses were probably completed
only shortly before the first performance (Mitchell,
Reed, Cooke 2004; Reed 1993, 42-73; Banks 1999, 95).
THE DOUBLE REED
Looking at Britten’s pocket diaries for 1950 and 1951,
it is striking just how busy the composer was, working
on Billy Budd and on a new edition of Purcell’s Dido
and Aeneas (with Imogen Holst) as well as performing,
rehearsing and attending performances of his works.
In the six weeks leading up to the first performance
of the Metamorphoses, Britten conducted the first
and subsequent performances of Dido, performed
at the Wigmore Hall with Peter Pears and attended
performances of Lucretia, Albert Herring, Let’s Make
an Opera and other works. The most likely time for the
work’s commencement is March 1951, when the diary
does indicate some free time. Pears left for Amsterdam
on 14 March and Britten, it seems stayed in Aldeburgh.
The diary has the pages for 18-21 March torn out and
then nothing till the 28th where, remarkably, the only
entry consists of an opening for Niobe written in light
blue ink, beautifully complete with expression marks
and phrasing in place:
It is a real open-air piece written by way of relaxation
during the creation of Billy Budd…Like in Ovid’s poems, the movements present dramatic scenes in lyrical form, for which purpose the expressive tone, as
well as the limited range of the oboe seemed most
suitable.
(Mitchell and Keller, 1952, 211)
It is worthy of note that the pre-publication score
of Billy Budd had ‘Op 49’ as its opus number instead
of its final ‘Op 50’ – could this indicate a late decision
to publish the Metamorphoses? (Mitchell et al 2004,
664). The connection between the Metamorphoses and
Billy Budd is an intriguing one and will be discussed in
relation to the composer’s work with Ovid. For now, it
is enough to comment that the open air setting for the
premiere is appropriate for Ovid’s vision as set out in
his immortal opening lines:
Of bodies changed to other forms I tell:
You Gods, who have yourselves
wrought every change,
Inspire my enterprise and lead my lay
In one continuous song from nature’s first
Remote beginnings to our modern times
(Ovid, tr. A.D. Melville, 1986)
This grand ambition seems out of scale with Britten’s
miniature portraits but the reflection
of nature, the connection between the
present day and the beginnings of time
and the cyclic significance of ‘my lay in
one continuous song’ should be noted.
In Mitchell and Keller’s Commentary,
Paul Hamburger (1952, 211-212) points
out that the Metamorphoses is only the
sixth published chamber work that
Britten had written to date: ‘The reason
for their infrequentness may be found in
the fact that modern many-movement
form, and particularly sonata form,
allows no patent solutions for the
conscientious composer’. Of course,
Britten had written many chamber works during
his schooldays as well as some more substantial
unpublished works, including the Temporal Variations.
But the formal point is well made and certainly the
Metamorphoses can be seen as a ‘patent solution’ as,
while the structures of these pieces are ternary with the
exception of Bacchus, the cycle as a whole is a tour-deforce of melodic invention based on distinctive themes
which are developed to reflect the metamorphosis in
question. The key structure for the six movements
takes us from a Lydian mode on D in Pan, to the
affirmation of D in Arethusa, by way of Phaeton, built
on juxtaposed and unstable dominant sevenths on C,
through Niobe’s Df major, Bacchus in F (with sections
in A and C) and Narcissus’ C major/minor. A number
of analytical studies have been done on the work or
individual movements, notably Peter Evans’ insightful
commentary (Evans 1979, 306-7), an analysis of four of
ARTICLES
Of course, the positioning of this sketch in the
diary does not necessarily mean it was written at this
time. Could the missing pages have had more of the
Metamorphoses on them, Pan perhaps? Whatever the
timing of composition, the work was certainly written
only just in time to be referred to in the groundbreaking Commentary by Donald Mitchell and Hans
Keller in which the editors wrote of this work:
75
76
ARTICLES
the movements by Stephen Hiramoto (Hiramoto 1999,
23-26) and an intriguing analysis of Pan by Nicholas
Cook (Cook 1987, 253-9), which sees the piece as an
ABAB form constructed on a set of cadential phrases
each ending in a pause. Jane Peters (Peters 1987)
argues that the Metamorphoses should be looked on as
a ‘multi-piece’ showing a common approach to motivic
development and an overall structure for the work as
two groups of three pieces. Edwin Roxburgh suggests
that a separate study is needed on the Metamorphoses
in relation to Britten’s use of harmony:
For me the most important aspects of the Metamorphoses are in the diatonic structures of the harmony.
The implied triadic progressions of the single line establish a harmonic backcloth to each piece containing
important references to the characterisation of each
subject. For instance, Phaeton has no key signature
but begins on a dominant seventh of F major (as the
opening of Beethoven’s First Symphony). At bar 3, the
dominant seventh transfers to Af major. These modulating dominant sevenths form the constantly migrating structure of the whole piece, an important aspect
of the metaphorical connection with the title. We can
see this happening in each movement. In Niobe, Df
major passes to A minor (major?); the coda of Bacchus has the repeated Cs followed by arpeggios of E
major, G major, B minor, Ef major, a startling series
of triadic associations worthy of Bartók; the echoes in
Narcissus are never made with the same-key triads,
thus distinguishing the subject from the reflection;
Arethusa’s flowing arpeggios contain at least two different triads in each cascade creating a characterisation of constant movement.2
The idea of writing for a single unaccompanied
instrument is of course not unique to Britten. The
character pieces for recorder, Der fluyten lust-hof, by
Jacob Van Eyck and Telemann’s Fantasien for solo flute
are early genre works for comparison, whilst Britten
will have drawn influence from Debussy’s Syrinx for
solo flute (1913) and more tenuously from Stravinsky’s
Three Pieces for solo clarinet (1919). The fact that
Britten chooses the same Ovidian story as Debussy for
his first metamorphosis, Pan, is interesting in itself and
appears to be in keeping with the classical tradition
of reworking old mythical stories as exemplified by
Virgil’s and Ovid’s use of Homer (Graf 2002, 108-121).
Mervyn Cooke observes that Syrinx can be seen as part
of a French tradition of using Greek myths as subject
matter, citing Roussel, whose stage works include
Bacchus et Ariadne and Aeneas, as example.3 Roussel’s
solo work for flute, Joueurs de flûte (1924) does contain
movements entitled Pan and Tityre, but continues
with wider inspiration in a third movement entitled
Krishna. Julie McQuinn (2003) points out that Debussy
made great use of the erotic power of the syrinx, not
only in this solo work but also in the Prélude à l’aprèsmidi d’une faune, the Epigraphs Antiques and especially
in the Chansons de Bilitis. Syrinx, originally called La
Flûte de Pan and written for Gabriel Mourey’s play,
Psyche, was only re-discovered in 1927. Britten would
have been aware of Marcel Moyse’s first recording of
this seminal work (Walker, 2006). This point will be of
interest when discussing Ovid’s influence on European
art (Caird 2006). Gordon Crosse (1976) sees the strong
influence of Bach in these pieces, especially in the
arpeggiated middle section of Niobe and the opening
of Arethusa. Britten would naturally be drawn to these
greatest of all unaccompanied works, the cello suites
and the sonatas and partitas for violin.
The choice of the oboe as the medium for these
classically inspired pieces needs some discussion.
Britten must have known of the syrinx (bound rows
of tube reeds) and its relationship to the flute in
Debussy’s solo work. But he may have been drawn to
the qualities of the equally ancient single or doublereed aulos which, argues Linda Ardito (1999, 67-72),
represented the opposite of the sensitivities of Apollo’s
lyre and was associated with ‘the Dionysian cult
and accompanied dance, poetry, song and drama in
rituals of praise for Dionysus (Bacchus), god of wine,
fertility and mysticism’. Ardito goes on to say that
Apollo’s string music had a therapeutic power whilst
‘the aulos, with its characteristic shrill and powerful
sound, could draw its listener into the dark depths of
the Dionysian realm where the elemental, random and
impulsive mingle’. Frank Mulder (no date) associates
the aulos as expressing ‘ecstasy, emotion and unreason’
in his programmatical analysis of the Metamorphoses.
Furthermore, the aulos was associated with mourning
according to Boethius, it led the procession of
mourners and more generally, was used to accompany
Greek tragedies. The choice of oboe for the work
could, therefore, be more to do with the weeping of
Niobe and the central theme of Bacchus’ story. But
nonetheless, in keeping with Ovid’s explanation that
Pan was moved by the sound of the wind in the reeds,
Britten may have drawn the connection with the reeds
that grow by rivers and marshes in East Anglia, not
least at nearby Minsmere, Snape or in Thorpeness, and
the instrument that Pan fashioned.
From the time of the first performance, the
Metamorphoses have found their place at the very
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Heinz Holliger
the 1952 first broadcast.
The published edition by Boosey
and Hawkes in its yellow cover with
red print, dated 1952 and reprinted in a
paler yellow in 1968 and subsequently in
blue and black with added metronome
marks, has been an essential possession
of most oboists across the world. The
number of performances and recordings
are surely countless and these include
interpretations by significant players
including Sarah Francis, Janet Craxton,
Heinz Holliger, Maurice Bourgue,
Gordon Hunt and Nicholas Daniel. In
short, the Six Metamorphoses after Ovid
is a work of extraordinary stature and has
influenced many subsequent composers
in the writing of solo instrumental
music.
It is hardly surprising, then, that these
pieces are brilliantly written for the oboe and this must
contribute to their lasting and pre-eminent status in
the repertoire. Britten’s letter to Sylvia Spencer in 1935
(Mitchell et al. 2004, 369) illustrates the composer’s
commitment to and understanding of the instrument.
The tantalising comment that an orchestrated suite,
based on the Two Insect Pieces, was on the way is
especially of interest (Moore 1993). Ranging from
Monday 30th
Dear Ben
You are owed an apology & it wasn’t my fault! The
announcer cut into ‘Niobe’ & I wasn’t able to turn her
into a mountain! I am so sorry – it so horrified me
that I hardly remember Bacchus 1st half – I could have
wished that **** announcer elsewhere. Just in case
you didn’t hear the pieces I thought I’d better write
& tell you, & thank you so much for all your help – so
many people have said nice things about them to me.
Boughton, 1953
This letter, written at the end of December 1953,
was followed on the 10 January 1954 by another
suggesting to Britten that ‘they’ (the BBC) should
replace the curtailed Niobe with her own recorded
version from the year before (Boughton, 1954). The
fact that the existing BBC recording from the National
Sound Archive has Niobe placed after Bacchus seems
to indicate a further error by the BBC (Boughton
1952). The announcer on this recording refers to the
first performance “last year” which must confirm it as
Janet Craxton
the oboe’s lowest note, Bf (for the depths of Phaeton’s
plunge) to high f ’’ for the last flicker of a bat’s wing at
the end of Bacchus (a semitone advance on the range
ARTICLES
heart of the oboe repertory. After the first broadcast
by Joy Boughton in a live relay which went out on
the BBC Third Programme on 3 October 1952, these
miniature masterpieces were recorded live for the
radio again by Boughton in December 1953. This
second broadcast apparently suffered a mishap in
which the BBC announcer spoke before the last phrase
of Niobe, an incident referred to in an apologetic note
to the composer:
77
78
The search for the right notes keeps Britten working
very hard for hour after hour and day after day……..
he listens in his mind’s ear to the way the notes he has
written that morning are taking their place in the overall shape of the music. This shape may have been in
his thoughts for many months before he began putting
anything down on paper.
(Holst, 1966, 52).
Conversely, Colin Matthews’ view is that ‘Although
Britten claimed that he would usually have everything
in his head before committing himself to paper, the
evidence from certain works makes it clear that this
Coutesy of the Britten-Pears Library, Aldeburgh
ARTICLES
of the Phantasy Quartet), the oboe’s characteristics are
completely and remarkably understood. Britten makes
it capture the dazzling allure of Pan, the expressive
despair of Niobe and the beauty of Narcissus whilst also
bringing energy and even danger into Phaeton and
Bacchus. He asks the oboe to play exquisitely quietly
(Niobe and Narcissus especially) and also raucously
and brazenly (Phaeton and Bacchus). Sarah Francis
reports that Britten asked Boughton what was difficult
to play on the oboe and all that Boughton told him
(a sharp to b trill, downward slurs etc.), he included.
Britten obviously wanted to push the instrument to
its limits. Note should be taken of the oboist, Natalie
Caine’s memory of Britten regretting that oboists
seemed not to be able to play raucously enough in
relation to her own rendition of the Oration of the
Temporal Variations (Caine, no date)
Britten is renowned for his ‘Mozartian’ ability
to compose music in his head and to develop highly
detailed visual images for his work. Imogen Holst
points out:
Benjamin Britten, 1951 Pocket Diary.
was not always the case’.4 Given the busy schedule
which Britten had in the spring and summer of 1951,
the Metamorphoses could be seen to be one such
work.
Britten’s ability to visualise is described by Donald
Mitchell in connection with Billy Budd (Mitchell
1993, 111-112). This accurate and vivid imagination
surely places obligations on the interpreter of Britten’s
music. Nevertheless there is an ambiguity around
Britten’s visualisation no more apparent than in Billy
Budd, where the ‘surface’ picture is subsumed within
a much more profound musical ‘meaning’. In the
Metamorphoses, this leaves the oboist to handle such
an ambiguity between simple depiction and more
subtle musical and emotional realisation. Edwin
Roxburgh, who studied the work with Joy Boughton,
supports this view and feels that Boughton understood
the sophistication of this ambiguity.5
It is true that Britten was always keen for his music
to be played accurately. Boughton’s advice to students
points this out: ‘Britten’, Joy declared, ‘knew what
he was doing: it is all written down…..play what is
there’ (Francis 1994) Janet Craxton also reported this
commitment to accuracy after her recording sessions
of the Metamorphoses at the Snape Maltings, passed
on to generations of her students in lessons.6 Even so,
the music requires freedom of interpretation and for
this reason, there are many questions to ask about the
relationship between accuracy and licence.
But despite the clarity of Britten’s writing and the
concept behind the work as set out in the published
edition, the Metamorphoses seem still to have
mysteries and ambiguities which need exploration. As
Mitchell and Keller point out, the six movements are
inspired by characters in Greek legend from Publius
Ovidius Naso’s great poem and are
obviously depictions of these characters
and the stories surrounding them. The
characters are encapsulated in Britten’s
appended subtitles (‘Pan, who played
upon the reed-pipe which was Syrinx,
his beloved’). But what the exact
characters are in relation to the stories
and why Britten chose them from the
hundreds available in the Ovid classic
poses some interesting questions about
the work as a whole.
With these thoughts in mind, the
first part of this study seeks to look at
the musical text of the Metamorphoses
and the two main sources of the printed
edition, the original Fair Copy now
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79
ARTICLES
Benjamin Britten, Composition Sketch, Six Metamorphoses after Ovid
in the possession of the Paul Sacher Foundation in
Geneva, and the Composition Sketch held by the Britten
Library at the Red House in Aldeburgh. Both of these
contain fascinating information on the composition
process and also give some leads to Britten’s intended
characterisation. A thorough discussion of the Ovid
classic, the characters selected by Britten and how
these are interpreted by oboists will be dealt with later.
80
Sufficient for now will be a close look at what Britten actually wrote.
THE COMPOSITION SKETCH
The Composition Sketch consists of three double sheets of 28-stave manuscript paper,
written in pencil in Britten’s clear and firm handwriting. The pages are laid out as
follows:
1r
1v
2r
2v
3r
3v
4r
4v
5r
5v
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6r
6v
Six Metamorphoses, Op 49
Composition Sketch
blank
Pan
Phaeton (beginning)
Phaeton (remainder)
Bacchus
Bacchus
Narcissus
blank
Arethusa (beginning)
Niobe
Arethusa (remainder)
blank
blank
Imogen Holst’s view that much of the composing took place in Britten’s mind before
putting the music on paper is born out by some of the movements which appear in an
almost completed form. Niobe, especially, seems to be more-or-less ‘copied’ from an earlier
source, most likely straight from the composer’s mind although we do have the short
opening from Britten’s 1951 diary. Other movements, notably Bacchus and Arethusa, are
less finished and include material, which is not eventually included in the final versions.
Examples below are from the Sketch or Fair Copy in the following respective sections;
those marked a, for instance 1a, are from the published edition and are for comparison.
Bar numbers relate to the Sketch, Fair Copy and Edition and occasionally differ. Material,
which is crossed out or rejected, is un-numbered.
Pan
Pan is one of the more complete versions in the sketch but there are a number of
intriguing differences, which could clarify some interpretative issues in this subtle and
remarkable piece.
Firstly, Britten writes an accent under the opening a’’, with a delayed diminuendo in
the first bar:
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81
This could give weight to the view, reported by Janet Craxton, that Britten saw Pan as a
frightening personality as well as the benign god of the woods and fields.
The trace of an a’’ at the beginning of bar 2 shows Britten rejecting this figure as an
ornament of the first bar in favour of an answering motif:
In bar 4, it looks as though Britten wrote the opening quintuplet over a faster motif with
demisemiquavers in it. This he rejects, perhaps to enable the slide in bar 5 to grow out of
the slower quintuplet:
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What seems certain, though, is that he is retaining the quaver pulse to the end of this first
section as there is a trace of a triplet motive at the end of bar 4, and a clear indication of a
3-4 split of the first beat and triplets in bar 5. Note should also be taken of the pp marked
on the D at the end of this section.
82
It could be argued that in arriving at his final version Britten does ask the performer to
move from a quaver to a crotchet pulse in bar 4. The third beat of bar 4 is rubbed out
and rewritten as a quintuplet in the Composition Sketch and the first beat is eventually
rationalised to a semiquaver quintuplet in the edition. In Ex 5 the double slur at the end
of the bar will account for the rubbed out notes.
ARTICLES
It is generally accepted that a quaver pulse is intended for the opening of the second
section. It is interesting, though, that, in the Composition Sketch, Britten asks for an
accelerando in the first bar of this section which is delayed to bar 7 in the printed edition.
Britten probably made this change to ensure that the section started calmly enough. With
this change in place he is also able to shorten the final crotchet a’ to a quaver. But the
early version is an important signal towards the constant ebb and flow of the pulse in this
piece. This ‘ping-pong ball rhythm’ is the key to the performance of the piece.
An important detail to note at the end of this middle section is the slower mordent onto
the final as’’, following a more rapid diminuendo.
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83
A fortissimo at the recapitulation in bar 9 seems to have been rejected in favour of a
forte, probably to allow for a greater climax at the end of the work. Had Britten retained
this dynamic, the cs’’’ in this bar would have been highlighted in keeping with Cook’s
a-cs-d framework for the piece (Cook 1987). In this same bar, Britten tried out a more
flamboyant resolution to the phrase, but rubbed these notes out in favour of the falling
scale (cf bar 5). The answering phrase of bar 10 brilliantly mirrors the penultimate phrase
of the opening section (bar 4) thus setting up the long melisma and the final bars. This
answering phrase has a very marked diminuendo in the Composition Sketch giving visual
emphasis to the need for a real sense of silence before the Lento ma subito accel. Most
interestingly, Britten also wrote the word Comminciando (starting….slow but suddenly
getting faster) before Lento emphasising the drama of this moment. But he drops this
word in the Fair Copy.
A further clue that the composer saw the accelerando of this section as beginning
from a very still point is provided by the sketch version of bar 11:
Two other rhythmic matters are of significance to the performer. In bar 12, Britten writes
eight semiquavers in two groups of four and then `crosses out the final two:
ARTICLES
The slow triplet on the second beat gives the opening of the phrase a much more poised
and held-back feel than in the final form. In the melisma, group 7 is written as a triplet and
dotted quaver and there are two crossed-out figures simply showing the composer trying
and rejecting different turns of the phrase. Furthermore, the double value semiquavers
begin a beat earlier in group 13; could these relate to the triplet mark which Britten uses
in group 2? Lastly, the final trill lacks the acciacatura d’ – a small but interesting detail:
84
The eight semiquaver version would require the performer to retain a crotchet pulse,
albeit with some licence to relax the tempo. The six semiquaver version, however, surely
asks the performer to revert to a quaver pulse, reminiscent of the middle section. The
divided crotchet beat after the pause in bar 13 would support the idea that the performer
begins this penultimate bar, feeling quavers. Notice the accelerando in the Sketch in this
bar.
Finally, the trace of a quaver rest before the three-note coup-de-grace and its rejection
in favour of a comma gives credence to the idea that the use of the comma throughout
could represent a downbeat or an upbeat and of course could be interpreted in varying
lengths during the piece. Here, the comma (like the erased rest) is arguably on the beat
and very short.
ARTICLES
Phaeton
The Composition Sketch of Phaeton is striking in the differences of phrasing throughout
based on the opening:
The slurs and lack of accents give an effect which clearly was not biting or energetic
enough for Britten. Nonetheless the slurs do show us something about the rhythmic drive
of the music and perhaps the need to avoid an over-dry approach to the articulation. The
asymmetric bar lengths come over more obviously in this version as a result of the slurs.
Notice the Vivo ritmico marking, remembering that the printed metronome marks of the
modern edition are still nearly twenty years away. (see below, Metronome marks)
A lower start to bar 5 and two extra beats to bar 10 are crossed out in favour of the
final version. These notes are difficult to read but could be:
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85
In bar 9, the first beat has been added on to the front of the line with a handwritten
extended staff showing that this beat could have been an afterthought. The fact that the
second and third quavers of this beat are slurred is an added complexity here:
In the Sketch, bars 11 and 12 seem to lack a bar line between them:
More interesting is the rather hazy end to the first section which looks like this:
ARTICLES
The first two slurred beats are crossed out and do not survive but give a lead to the
composer’s invention in relation to the last line of the piece. The extended ending is
unclear, but again provides an intriguing possible link to the middle section.
The middle section is slurred as we all know it but there is a whole line of material
crossed out from bar 22:
86
ARTICLES
Where the music of Pan seems almost complete in the sketch, we see here Britten making
decisions about the length and shape of this middle section, favouring the economical
and finely balanced final version. It is exhilarating to see the composer’s logic at work.
The final section has no agitato marking. This, with the racier phrasing might suggest
a faster tempo for the whole piece (cf the later metronome marks).
Some rubbing out in bar 30 continues the feeling of Britten revising as he goes here,
though a dn second note as Phaeton hits the water is probably an error, but note the
unslurred crotchets. It is worth writing out this section from the Sketch to show Britten’s
original intentions:
The double fs in the final bar is clear but does not survive and Britten writes a double
pause (as though two bars) before the final phrase. Not necessary, he eventually decides,
but we must give time for this mythical catastrophe to sink in before all is gone in a puff
of wind!
Finally, Britten writes a first version of the last line and then crosses it out. The threenote ending is reminiscent of the end of Pan, perhaps.
Bacchus
The next movement in the sketch is Bacchus although it is marked 4. This could be
because Britten already had a near-perfect version of Niobe in his head and was using the
sketch to work on the less finished movements. It could also be that he was following the
sequence of stories in the Everyman edition of the Metamorphoses that he appeared to
use (Golding 1943; Caird 2006). Certainly, Bacchus is very incomplete in the sketch and
there is much rejected material which can illuminate the final version.
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87
Firstly, Britten begins with a sixteen-bar opening for Bacchus in D major:
ARTICLES
This may have been rejected because he realised the key would pre-empt the D major of
Arethusa in the overall key scheme. The fact that the tonality is being worked out in this
way is really significant as we see Britten making an important structural decision even
with much of the material already created.
The F major opening is then fully stated with one small difference in that there is a
comma rather than a pause at the end of bar 5. The F major tonality seems much ‘righter’
for this piece and is arguably a delayed resolution of the C7 chords in Phaeton. The
crossed out second idea, gives an intriguing alternative version for the second section
and a possible reference to Billy Budd:
88
The second section in the Sketch is similar to the printed edition with some
minor differences, but note the dot on the first a’’ which clears up one small
anomaly from the final version:
The third section gives us an extra beat in bar 29 which is later removed:
ARTICLES
The fourth section, lacking the final direction Con moto, consists of a
considerable amount of material which can be laid out as follows:
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89
ARTICLES
CONTINUED
ON NEXT PAGE
ARTICLES
90
These sketches work on the material for the ‘spinning wheel’ effect (Caird 2006) with (i),
(ii) and (vii) yielding recognisable patterns though by no means finished. (iii) and (vi)
deal with the recapitulation of the opening motif, whilst (iv) and (v) play with the minim
pause and arpeggio ’bat’ idea Britten eventually sets out this section more or less notatim
in (viii) with two improvements to the ending (ix and x). NB: examples ii – vii are crossed
out in the Sketch.
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91
The sketch of Bacchus represents ‘work in progress’ and comparison of this with the
final autograph will demonstrate the extent to which Britten organised his thinking away
from the page.
Narcissus
Marked Lento only, Narcissus appears fairly complete in the Composition Sketch.
Interesting differences are:
gf crossed out
extra quaver a flat’ and added upbeat in turquoise ink:
Bar 17
Bar 22
no tie on the en
two cfs (see Fair Copy, below):
Bar 23
a cn trill following a group of three semiquavers.
Then three upbeat semiquavers into the final sections:
This c n will have been rejected as too much of an arrival before the final section in C.
After a line of crossed out material :
the last two bars in this Sketch version are of real interest:
ARTICLES
Bar 7
Bar 9
92
Here, the diminuendo is missing at the end of bar 28 and the extra three quavers lengthen
the end and keep the 6/8 pulse going. By cutting these beats, Britten arrives at a 9/8 bar as
in the printed edition. Could this have been a sop to the breath control of oboists?
Niobe
Written neatly and compactly at the top of Arethusa’s second page, Niobe is the most
completely perfect movement in this sketch. Whether Britten had completed an earlier
version and simply copied it out is not known, although the diary entry indicates that he
had made a start in March 1951. The only substantive point of comment is that Britten
omits bars 20 and 21 at the beginning of the last section, writing them separately below
with an insertion arrow. The final phrase, senza espressione, he writes with an added two
bars, again omitting these for the shorter and arguably more breathable version of the
edition.
ARTICLES
Other details are:
Bar 4
Bar 13
Bar 16
Bar 17
Bar 19
Bar 20
Bar 24
the diminuendo is continuous into bar 5
mp rubbed out
there is a crescendo over one beat to the top df
no animando is marked (n.b Joy Boughton’s 1952 broadcast
has quite a marked animando)
begins with a diminuendo
has a rallentando marked
crossed out illegible notes on second beat leaving a 3/2 bar
for the edition.
Arethusa
The Composition Sketch of Arethusa begins with three crossed out false starts which
have an interesting variant for bars 6 and 7 in the first;
and another one for bars 5 and 6 in the third:
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93
It is then more or less possible to reconstruct the final version from the Sketch. The
opening section is written out as is but it should be noted that the ending is reconsidered
in the Fair Copy with some ambiguities to resolve (see below).
The central section initially has only two phrases prior to the Animando. The first is
as in the printed edition but with a long crescendo from pp to the third bar and then a
similar diminuendo. These bars are bracketed with a question mark. The second phrase
appears to be identical with the final version though some notes are very indistinct. A
third phrase is written at the end of the movement as an afterthought:
The final section of the sketch is, with one exception, in keeping with the final edition,
although Britten begins at the second bar here and inserts the first as an afterthought. The
exception relates to bars 10 and 11 of this section (bars 71 and 72 of the edition) where
the following bars are inserted in place of the repeated figure finally arrived at. The words
‘from the beginning’ are written over these bars with a bracket:
Written in ink, the autograph score contains far fewer surprises but nonetheless repays
investigation. Dedicated with the words “For JB to play on the Meare” and dated June 14,
1951, we are reminded of the reason for the work, an open air concert with madrigals
and a chance for Britten to explore the inspiration of Ovid’s natural world. Sarah Francis
makes the point that the subtitles are written in this copy in Joy Boughton’s handwriting
with the words on the first page: ‘Before each piece – Inscription – ’. Could these subtitles
or inscriptions have been co-authored by Boughton?
Pencil markings seem to indicate that this score was used at the time of the first
performance. These include breath marks for the oboist in Pan and Narcissus and the
tell-tale o for a ‘forked f ’ putting these marks down as Boughton’s own.
Interesting features of this score are:
Pan
who played upon the reed-pipe which was Syrinx, his beloved
The opening bar has crossing out and the third comma is a large one giving support to
the variability of the lengths of these.
ARTICLES
THE FAIR COPY
94
Phaeton
Who rode the chariot of the sun for 1 day & was hurled into the river Padus
by a thunderbolt
The main point here is that the existing articulation is now in place with no slurs to be
seen. The crossed-out accent on the third beat weakens the argument that Britten forgot
to put an accent here. Nevertheless, this is the only instance of a missing third beat accent
(cf bar 6):
There is still no agitato for the third section.The 2 +1 slurs are here still and in bar 32, the
quavers are slurred 3 +2 with a further slur over all five at the beginning of the bar.
Niobe
(who) lamenting the death of her 14 children, was turned into a mountain
ARTICLES
Lacks the ‘who’ in the subtitle. The two extra bars are still in the final phrase showing this
is a last-minute rejection, maybe based on Joy Boughton’s performance. Certainly there
are in and out breath marks from her in these final phrases!
Bacchus
at whose feasts is heard the noise of gaggling women’s tattling tongues & shouting out
of boys
Apart from a pair of missing slurs (p5, line 2, bar 1), this version is now as we know it
until the last section. The words, Con moto, are still absent and when we arrive at the first
long low C, extra notes are still in the arpeggios:
Two beats of semiquavers are also inserted engagingly in the flourish before the final C:
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95
Narcissus
who fell in love with his own image and became a flower
Here everything is in order but for three main details of interest. Firstly, Britten corrects
the two-note pattern of Narcissus’ image in bar 22, replacing the second cf with an af:
It should be noted that breath marks indicate further that Joy Boughton used this score
for the performance.
Arethusa
flying from the love of Alpheus, the river god, was turned into a fountain
Apart from the water damage referred to on the front sheet of the Fair Copy, the opening
of Arethusa appears to be as in the final version. But the alternative ending to the first
section now makes its first appearance possibly as a result of work with Joy Boughton.
The printed ending which is in place in the Sketch is now crossed out in favour of the
alternative with a large cross mark next to it. The last four bars of this section are also
written out again at the end of the piece with no slurs (probably for note accuracy).
The inclusion of this new ending is puzzling as the first ending alternative is reinstated in the printed edition with the alternative printed at the bottom of the page,
again with a cross sign. It should be assumed that Britten felt the alternative ending to be
too final and too much like the end of the work to be his choice, but still left the option in
ARTICLES
Some players, Gordon Hunt included, have re-corrected their readings to maintain the
familiar pattern. (Hunt, 1997) Certainly Britten does seem to have been undecided on
this small but significant point, only arriving at the printed version at a late stage.
Secondly, an interesting feature relates to the demisemiquaver patterns in bar 22.
These are consistent in both the Composition Sketch and the Fair Copy but have been
‘clarified’ in the most recent impression.
Thirdly, the continued extra beats in the penultimate bar retaining the 6/8 pulse, but
then crossed out:
96
for the performer. One wonders how many times this
ending is ever performed.
The middle section of Arethusa reaches it’s final
state but with a correction in the final bar of the second
phrase and with the entire third phrase appearing as
an insertion and written at the bottom of the page.
It seems that this section was settled only at the last
minute.
ARTICLES
METRONOME MARKS
The first edition of the Metamorphoses contains no
metronome marks and it is a matter of great interest
as to what speeds the composer intended. Apart
from recordings, beginning with Joy Boughton’s in
1952, there is no early available evidence. However, a
letter from Britten to Friedrich Krebs, dated 26 July
1957 (Britten 1957), containing some fascinating
information on Britten’s views of the characters and the
music, states: ‘In case it is useful to you I append a list
of rough metronome marks.’ The Britten-Pears Library
has a copy of this letter but no metronome marks. It
goes without saying that these marks, if found, would
be of considerable importance in understanding
Britten’s views on tempi. A further correspondence
between Britten and Boosey and Hawkes (Britten
1965) containing a list of metronome marks identical
with the 1968 reprint indicates that, in that year, a
‘reprint has gone without metronome
marks etc.’
Edwin Roxburgh makes the point
Pan:
that, while the tempi of these pieces are
Phaeton:
bound to fluctuate in performance, a basic
tempo was intended by the composer.
Niobe:
Joy Boughton, in working with him,
Bacchus:
likened this to the difference between the
rhythm of a written poem as opposed to a
recited performance. This latter might be
Narcissus:
rhythmically free but nonetheless would
Arethusa:
have an underlying rhythmic discipline.7
Neil Black also studied the work with Joy
Boughton and supports this argument, remembering
Boughton’s disciplined approach and adherence to
detail. He also performed regularly with the composer
and recalls Britten’s idealistic standards and precision
with metronome marks.8
In 1968, Boosey and Hawkes brought out a
second impression of the Metamorphoses with the
added metronome markings from the composer. It is
thought that Britten had become concerned by what
he considered to be ‘wayward’ interpretations and this
led him to their introduction. But he had by then also
heard some remarkable performers playing the pieces
and these could have encouraged some of the tempi
he put down. For example, Britten was apparently
astonished by the technical and musical expertise of
Heinz Holliger whose playing could have argued a case
for the tempi in Phaeton and Bacchus for example.
It should be noted, too, that on 1 March 1976,
Britten wrote a letter to Janet Craxton having heard
the tapes for the recording of the Metamorphoses that
she did with him at Snape: ‘As I thought all along, my
choice of you to record these two pieces was an excellent
one and, I can tell you that I was delighted with what
I heard’ (Britten 1976). An undated Christmas card
to her also says ‘I loved your metamorphoses at the
proms. Thank you!’
Some misunderstandings in performers’ readings
of the demisemiquaver patterns (which could be read
as tremoli) leading to the metamorphic trill in bar
23 of Narcissus may have lead to the typographical
clarification of this bar in the 1968 impression. Also
added was an explanatory note that the music was a
visual pun on reflection (Britten 1968).
The tempi will be discussed in detail in due course.
For now it is interesting to note the 1968 tempi against
Joy Boughton’s original recording. It should be said
that these tempi can only be approximate due to the
natural fluctuation of tempo. Nonetheless they are
indicative.
EDITION
BOUGHTON
quaver = approx.138
quaver = c.100
dotted crotchet = 152
dotted crotchet = c. 132
crotchet = 60
quaver = c. 92
1. crotchet = 112
2. crotchet = 120
3 crotchet = 132
crotchet = c. 96
crotchet =.c.112
crotchet = c.112 +
quaver = 84
quaver = c. 80
quaver = 152
quaver = c. 84
CONCLUSION
It has to be assumed that Britten was happy with
the printed edition of the Metamorphoses as he
made no attempt to change anything in the 25 years
after publication, save for the minor changes to
the 1968 impression. However, there are details in
these two sources which can help the performer
THE DOUBLE REED
97
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ardito, L., 1999. “The Aulos: Symbol of Musico-Medicinal Magic”. The Double Reed, Vol 22 No 2, 67 – 72.
Banks, P., 1999. A Catalogue of the published works of Benjamin Britten. Aldeburgh: Britten-Pears Library.
Boughton, J., 1951-1960. Letters to Benjamin Britten. Aldeburgh: Britten-Pears Library (unpublished).
Britten, B., 1950-1951. Pocket diaries. Aldeburgh: Britten-Pears Library (unpublished).
———1952. Six Metamorphoses after Ovid. Boosey and Hawkes.
——— 1957. Letter to Friedrich Krebs. Aldeburgh: Britten-Pears Library (unpublished).
______ 1965. 15 July Correspondence with Boosey and Hawkes. Aldeburgh: Britten-Pears Library
(unpublished)
——— 1968. Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, second impression. Boosey and Hawkes.
——— 1976. Letter to Janet Craxton. Craxton papers (unpublished).
Caine, N., Double Reed News – This seems incomplete
Caird, G., 2006. Benjamin Britten and Ovid’s Metamorphoses (unpublished).
Cook, N., 1987. A Guide to Musical Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Crosse, G., 1976. Sleeve note for B. Britten, Fantasy/ Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, S. Francis. Argo ZRG 842.
Evans, P., 1979. The Music of Benjamin Britten. London: J. M. Dent and Sons.
Graf, F., 2002. “Myth in Ovid” in P. Hardie, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Ovid. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 108-121.
Francis, S., 1994. “Joy Boughton – A Portrait”. Double Reed News No 26, 4 – 7.
Golding, A. (trans.), 1943. Ovid’s Metamorphoses. London, J. M. Dent and Sons.
Hamburger, P., 1952. “The Chamber Music” in D. Mitchell and H. Keller, eds, Benjamin Britten: a commentary on
his works from a group of specialists. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
ARTICLES
with interpretation. One might be tempted to try
a performance with the extra notes in Niobe and
Narcissus or with the added arpeggio notes in Bacchus.
It would certainly repay practising Phaeton with
Britten’s original slurs and the patterns that he tries for
the Con moto section of Bacchus might lead to a new
interpretation of this section. Working through the
Sketch does give the performer a remarkable feeling for
the music itself. In many cases, a rejected phrase does
underpin why the composer chose his final answer.
The circumstances surrounding the composition
and first performance of the work may never be fully
clarified though it is hoped that more information may
emerge in the future. When did Britten begin thinking
about the Metamorphoses? What led him to the idea?
Was there a connection between this work and others
written around that time, notably Billy Budd and
the new edition of Dido and Aeneas? What was Joy
Boughton’s role? These and other questions remain.
It is hoped, at least, that this essay goes some way to
starting the debate.
With these thoughts in mind, discussion will
continue on this great little work in my next article, a
consideration of the connection with Billy Budd, the
influence of Ovid and how the characters themselves
fired the inspiration of the composer and, in turn, the
inspirations of generations of performers. ◆
98
Hiramoto, S., 1999. “An Analysis of Britten’s Six Metamorphoses after Ovid”. The Double Reed, Vol 22, No 2, 23
– 26.
Holst, I., 1966. Britten. London: Faber and Faber, 52.
Howes, F., 1951 “Aldeburgh Festival”. The Times. 16 June.
Mcquinn, J., 2003. “Exploring the erotic in Debussy’s music” in S. Trezise, ed., Cambridge Companion to Debussy.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 117-136
Melville, A.D. (trans.), 1986. Ovid: Metamorphoses. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mitchell, D., 1994. “A Billy Budd Notebook, 1979-1991” in M. Cooke and P. Reed, eds., Billy Budd (Cambridge
Opera Handbooks). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 111 – 134.
Mitchell, D, P. Reed and M. Cooke, 2004. Letters from a Life: Selected letters of Benjamin Britten, vol. 3. London:
Faber and Faber.
Mitchell, D. and H. Keller, 1952. Benjamin Britten: A Commentary on his Works from a Group of Specialists.
Greenwood Press. 211.
Moore, L., 1993. Inlay notes in B. Britten, Simple Symphony/Temporal Variations, orch. Colin Matthews/Suite on
English Folk Tunes. Naxos 8.557205.
Mulder, F. (no date). An Introduction and Programmatical Analysis of the Six Metamorphoses after Ovid by Benjamin
Britten. The Double Reed, IDRS
Peters, J.R., 1987. Paradigmatic Analysis: A Reconsideration. 7. PhD Thesis University of Leeds.
Reed, P, 1993. “From first thoughts to first night: a Billy Budd chronology” in M. Cooke and P. Reed, eds., Billy
Budd (Cambridge Opera Handbooks). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 42 – 73.
ARTICLES
DISCOGRAPHY
Boughton, J., 1952. Broadcast performance. National Sound Archive. 3 October, 11.00pm
Britten, B., 1976. Phantasy Quartet/ Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, S. Francis. Argo ZRG 842.
——— 1993. Simple Symphony/Temporal Variations, orch. Colin Matthews/Suite on English Folk Tunes. Naxos
8.557205.
Holliger, H. no date. BBC Broadcast recital, National Sound Archive.
Hunt, G. 1997 Soliloquy. Bis CD 769.
Walker, S., 2006. “Debussy’s Syrinx”, Building a library. BBC Radio 3 broadcast, 4 February.
NOTES
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
As reported by Sarah Francis (personal communication).
E mail to George Caird (personal communication)
Email to George Caird (personal communication)
Email to George Caird (personal communication)
As reported to George Caird (personal communication)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to Boosey and Hawkes Publications Ltd. for permission to publish extracts from the edition of Six
Metamorphoses after Ovid, Op. 49, to the Britten-Pears Library, Aldeburgh for permission to publish extracts
from the Composition Sketch and Britten’s 1951 pocket diary and to the Paul Sacher Foundation for permission to
publish extracts from the Fair Copy.
THE DOUBLE REED
99
Thanks to Robert Allan, Nancy Ambrose King, Neil Black, Ian Boughton, Nick Clark,
Jane Craxton, Michael Craxton, Mervyn Cooke, Andrea Cox, Clive Fairbairn, Sarah
Francis, Chris Grogan, Steve Halfyard, Angela Heap, Norma Hooks, Gordon Hunt, Peter
Johnson, Janice Knight, Lesley Knowles, Colin Matthews, Felix Meyer, Donald Mitchell,
Robin Moore-Ede, Stephen Powell, Philip Reed, Edwin Roxburgh, Jane Salmon, Dan
Stolper and Richard Weigall for support and advice.
Music examples produced by Stephen Powell Music Services –
www.powellmusicservices.co.uk
Photo on page 1 courtesy of the Britten-Pears Library, Aldeburgh.
George Caird’s article “Benjamin Britten and Ovid’s Metamorphoses” will follow in the
next edition of The Double Reed.
ARTICLES
100
ARTHUR BRIDET (1873-1945)
Arthur Bridet (1873-1945)
André Lardrot
Servion, Vaud, Switzerland
(This article first appeared in La Lettre du Hauboïste Number 15, 2nd Semester, pp. 30, of the French
Oboe Society and is reprinted here with permission. The translation is by Ehsan Ahmed.)
ARTICLES
S
everal times I have received inquiries about Arthur Bridet.
Other than his Education of the Oboist which
he published himself in 1928 and his teaching in Lyon, I
must admit that I knew nothing about him.
We know however that he obtained his First Prize in
1893, the same day as Louis Bleuzet. The careers of these
two artists were for many years quite similar.
They both were from the north and were born under the same sign: Bridet was born on April 29, 1873 in
Douai and Bleuzet on April 26, 1874 in Hazebrouck. They
bought their first English horn (Lorée) before the end of
their studies - in the same year, 1891.
Bridet took part in the Concerts Colonne and the
Concerts Lamoureux.
Bleuzet was a member of the Concert Society of the
Conservatory.
They both had a long career: Bridet at the Grand
Théâtre of Lyon, Bleuzet at the Comic Opera and then the
Paris Opera.
Bridet taught at the Conservatory of Lyon from 19241939. Bleuzet was a professor at the Paris Conservatory
from 1920-1941.
Bridet wrote in his method an “Historic Overview”
of the oboe “through the centuries,” an extremely welldocumented text, starting from India with the otou (from
the 12th to the 7th centuries BC), passing through China,
Mongolia, Burma, Greece, etc., and giving each time the
name and the particularities of the different local ancestors of our present-day oboe. In preparing his text, Bridet
borrowed from the book of Leo Bechler and Bernhardt
Rahm, Die Oboe und die ihr verwandten Instrumente (The
Oboe and Related Instruments), which was published by
Karl Merseburger in Leipzig in 1914. The German version
of The Education of the Oboist was done by Mr. Constant
Kretz and Mrs. Klara Bridet.
In 1926, Bleuzet wrote the article, “Oboe,” for the
Encyclopedia of Music and the Dictionary of the Conservatory of Lavignac and La Laurencie (Paris: Delagrave,
1926). He limits the historical part to the Europe of the
Greeks and Romans and gives a detailed account of the
instrument’s evolution fom the aulos up to the modern
baritone oboe.
Bridet’s The Education of the Oboist was dedicated
“to the memory of Georges Gillet and to my friends
Louis Bleuzet and Fernand Gillet,” while Bleuzet’s “Oboe
Technique through a rational study of the scales” (Alphonse Leduc, 1936) was dedicated “to my friend Arthur
Bridet.”
In his letter of application for the position of professor at Lyon (September 1, 1923), Bridet indicated that he
had been the solo oboist of the Casino of Aix les Bains
for twenty-six years, that he was the author of works on
instrumental musicology published by the International
Society of Music, and that he was the author of a text on
musical theory, “Teaching Music to Your Children.” (It
is in fact a game, of the puzzle genre, designed for little
children [Paris, Editions de la pensée latine].)
It would be equally interesting to find his patent
(concerning refinements to instruments of the oboe family) and to know in what way, from 1903, he was technical adviser to the Paris and New York instrument maker
Selmer.
At the beginning of World War II (October 1, 1939),
the oboe class in Lyon was cancelled for lack of students.
In June 1942, Arthur Bridet asked that his work history be reexamined by the Municipality of Lyon. The
answer was sharp and without appeal: “Mr. Bridet cannot claim any pension, because he did not contribute to
his retirement while working at the Conservatory. On
the other hand, for his work as musician at the Grand
Théâtre, he had no connection with the city. (!) Moreover,
it is impossible to foresee Mr. Bridet’s reinstatement, because he is 69 years old and has, therefore, gone beyond
the age limit.”
Perhaps the reference to “Part-time lecturer at the
Lyon Conservatory” and not to “Professor” on the first
page of his method explains this final response.
Bridet lived at 146 rue de Vendôme in Lyon where he
died on December 15, 1945.
If Louis Bleuzet continues to live in the heart and
memory of his grandson Mr. Bernard Treizenem and in
those of his former students, whom we see in the context
of the AFH, Arthur Bridet, in contrast, seems to remain
in darkness. It took the help of my friends, Jean-Paul
Voiland of Lyon and Claude Wartelle of Douai, whom I
sincerely thank, so that today, we could honor for a brief
instant his memory. ◆
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101
The French School of Bassoon Practice and Pedagogy
Svetoslav Atanasov
Chicago, Illinois
French/English translations by Zakir Paul, Paris, France
The following article is extracted from the doctoral dissertation: A Description of Selected Aspects of Three
Approaches to College-Level Bassoon Instruction by
Dr. Svetoslav Atanasov in which he outlines the basics
of French bassoon instruction. His source is the great
French bassoonist Gilbert Audin, who is Professeur
du Basson at the Conservatoire Nationale Supérieur
du Musique of Paris and co-principal bassoonist of the
orchestra of the Opéra de Paris. In later articles, Dr.
Atanasov will also analyze the American School, using
Professor Kim Walker as his source, and the Viennese
School, using the expertise of Professor Eleanor Froelich of Vienna, Austria. These articles will appear in
future issues of The Double Reed. Ed.
Alors, je pense que la première chose c’est
évidemment la maîtrise technique, et à commencer par la maîtrise technique du son.
(Well, I think that the first thing is obviously technical mastery, which begins with the
technical mastery of the tone, specifically,
the quality of the tone, quantity of tone, the
dynamics, the intonation and eventually flexibility, which has to do with the adaptation of
the tone to various tonal contexts, the environment, depending on whether you are playing a bass or tenor part, the ability to listen
to tone in a harmonic way. Technical mastery
is also being able to master fingerings, being
able to master velocity. I believe however that
these are not the most important aspects for
the bassoonist, the difficulties bassoonists face
are rarely difficulties of velocity but rather, in
general, difficulties that relate to the mastery
of tone).
The teaching philosophy that Audin favors focuses on the mastering of two specific areas - tone
ARTICLES
T
his article is concerned with an analysis of
the French practice in bassoon methodology as shown by Gilbert Audin. I outline
the principal differences between the French and
American schools of bassoon pedagogy and describe
the specific aspects of the format that Audin employs
in his teaching curriculum at the Conservatoire National Supérieur du Musique de Paris.
The French tradition of bassoon pedagogy has
a rich and important history. Its methodology and
practice are closely related to the concepts of Professor Maurice Allard, Audin’s last professor and
a major influence on his instructional philosophy
and practice as a teacher. Like Audin, Maurice Allard studied bassoon at the Paris Conservatory and
in 1949 won the coveted First Prize at the Concours
International de Genéve. He succeeded his teacher,
Gustave Dherin, as bassoon professor at the Conservatoire in 1957. Audin then succeeded Allard at the
Conservatoire in 1988. This continuity of philosophy
epitomizes the principal characteristics attributable
to the modern French school of bassoon pedagogy.
The most important aspects that characterize the
French school are closely related to Audin’s vision
about style and tone quality. He says:
C’est à dire la qualité du son, la quantité du
son, c’est à dire, les dynamiques, l’intonation
et éventuellement aussi la flexibilité du son,
c’est à dire l’adaptation de ce son aux différents contextes sonores, à l’environnement,
selon que l’on joue une basse ou une partie
ténor, et apprendre à écouter le son de façon
harmonique. Maîtrise technique, c’est aussi
la maîtrise des doigts, maîtrise de la vélocité. Mais je pense que pour un bassoniste ce
n’est pas l’aspect le plus important, puisque
les difficultés rencontrées par des bassonistes
sont rarement des difficultés de vélocité mais
plutôt, en général, des difficultés de maîtrise
du son. Donc, c’est pour moi un aspect qui,
oui, va être travailler, mais qui ne sera pas
primordial dans l’enseignement, puisque, je
pense que, en général, en travaillant le reste
on arrive à la maîtrise de cet aspect là. Alors
que, à l’inverse, en travaillant cet aspect là,
c’est à dire, en travaillant en priorité la maîtrise des doigts, on ne progresse pas nécessairement sur le son.
102
THE FRENCH SCHOOL OF BASSOON PRACTICE AND PEDAGOGY
color and technical precision. By tone color, he includes matters such as correct tone production, tone
flexibility, and intonation control. Audin addresses
each of these aspects by allowing and encouraging
the student to experiment with them. Through such
experimentation the student is introduced to a number of performing possibilities among which he/she
can choose an approach that can help his/her perfection of tone color.
Technical precision is not an isolated process in
Audin’s bassoon curriculum. Rather, it is considered
in the context of musicality, stylistic awareness, and
familiarity with the practice methodology employed
by other national schools. He explains:
ARTICLES
Ensuite, je pense qu’il est primordial aussi
que les étudiants étudient différents styles de
musiques et soient conscients des différentes
possibilités d’écoles pour jouer certaines oeuvres. C’est pour ça que je pense qu’il est bien
qu’ils soient en contact avec un maximum de
références, de références de styles...
(I think that it is of crucial significance that
the students study different styles of music and
are aware of the different schools and their approach in playing certain pieces. This is why
I think that bassoonists should be exposed to
a number of different references, references of
style…)
Audin stresses the student’s musical taste and
artistic individuality by allowing her or him to explore unconventional performing ideas. His curriculum plan encourages the consideration of a variety
of performing styles. This is a distinctive element of
the French school that reveals the importance of solo
preparation in France.
The major areas of concentration in Audin’s curriculum plan are also directed toward nurturing
performance flexibility. It is important to clarify that
this is not an aspect of his pedagogical approach that
is limited to a specific area of the performer’s arsenal.
Similar to the American school of bassoon pedagogy,
Audin favors a broad philosophy that addresses intonation, dynamics, interpretational skills, and the
ability to blend harmonically and melodically when
performing in a group. These qualities are important
in developing a strong artistic individuality because
they address the major issues a professional bassoonist is likely to encounter regardless of whether he or
she chooses a career as an orchestral musician or a
soloist.
The importance of flexibility in Audin’s curriculum plan is evident in his consideration of breathing,
embouchure, body posture, tone control, articulation, and vibrato. Note in the following quotation
how he addresses embouchure:
Concernant la position du corps : là, de la
même façon que pour l’embouchure, je n’ai
pas de position de principe. Simplement, je
pense qu’il est important que le corps, comme dans tous les instruments à vent mais à
cordes aussi, [que le corps] soit toujours relâché dans le geste technique. Relâché, mais on
voit souvent des positions qui sont...Il y a certaines personnes qui préfèrent être penchées
légèrement vers l’avant, qui préfèrent avoir la
tête un petit peu baissé, d’autres qui préfèrent
avoir la tête bien haute quand ils jouent. En
général, ça...on peut laisser un certaine marge
d’appréciation aux étudiants, pas leur imposer trop de choses parce que...de la même
façon, bon, si la tête est raide vers le haut, ça
n’est pas bien. Mais il peut y avoir des positions liées aussi à la morphologie de chaque
étudiant (c’est à dire : il est grand, il est petit,
il est gros, il est maigre) ne se tiennent pas de
la même façon, ne marchent déjà de la même
façon, donc, ne tiennent pas l’instrument
de la même façon et on peut les laisser aussi chercher souvent. Alors, on procède, je
procède, avec des corrections pour essayer
d’adapter le geste à la morphologie de chacun, mais, de toute façon, pas quelque chose
de trop dirigiste.
(In regard to embouchure I am quite flexible,
because I realize that embouchure is something very personal that has to do with the
shape of the lips, the size of the mouth, the oral
cavity, and even old habits. So, even if I am, at
times, led to correct the embouchure of a student, it will always be a correction in relation
to an observation that I have made and not in
relation to a general principle. In my career as
a professor I have seen a lot of different kinds
of embouchure that students utilize, and often
things that I couldn’t possibly do have proved
to be very effective for some of the students.
That is why I tend to let them search for themselves, in thinking that, well, they need to be
guided, but in essence quite often their em-
THE DOUBLE REED
bouchure has been chosen in an empirical way
that is effective on its own. Thus, on this front,
I am not very dogmatic nor am I very strict).
tion. Staccato is an area where he requires the student
to develop a sense of finesse. He is concerned with the
student’s ability to develop numerous staccato traits
ranging from soft to extremely short, secco articulation. In fact, he points out that his practical instruction is directed toward quality and precision of articulation and less toward speed and endurance. My
sense is that Audin’s demand for wider variety and
precision in terms of articulation is directly influenced by the fact that he perceives staccato as the most
natural yet idiosyncratic quality of the bassoon.
The flexible approach that Audin has adopted towards technical mastery is visible in his treatment of
vibrato. Similar to the way he refers to articulation,
tone production, body posture, and embouchure,
Audin encourages his students to avoid a mechanical approach to vibrato. He understands that the bassoonist needs to be able to blend musically with other
musicians’ sounds, and when necessary, adjust the
intensity of the vibrato.
According to Audin, the process of producing vibrato is entirely individual and he does not prefer or
dismiss any of the standard vibrato techniques - vibrato performed with diaphragm, air, throat, or lips.
Audin concedes that even his own vibrato technique
is a unique mixture combining elements of a number
of different techniques. He says:
C’est à dire, moi j’ai ma technique qui inclut
un petit peu toutes ces méthodes et je ne dis
jamais à un étudiant, «Tu ne peux pas vibrer
avec les lèvres, tu ne peux pas vibrer avec le
diaphragme ». Je pense que beaucoup de gens
réalisent des gestes technique au niveau du
vibrato qui sont magnifiques, avec des moyens qu’ils ont trouvés eux mêmes et qui sont
souvent toutes ces techniques un petit peu
mélangées, et c’est le réglage que chacun va
faire entre toutes ces techniques qui va faire
un vibrato qui appartiendra à chacun, qui
sera personnel.
(Of course, I have my own technique which
includes bits of all of these methods therefore I never tell a student, “You can‘t vibrate
with your lips, you can’t vibrate from the diaphragm.” I believe that a lot of people achieve
technical results, in terms of vibrato, that are
magnificent, with methods that they have
found on their own and that are often a mixture of all of the above mentioned techniques.
The balance that everyone will manage be-
ARTICLES
Here, Audin maintains that embouchure is
unique to the physique of the bassoonist. He advocates
an approach that allows one to search for and adjust
the embouchure in accordance with one’s particular
physique; no one approach to embouchure works for
every student. Such an assessment, however, does not
prevent Audin from correcting his students when improper embouchure appears detrimental to technical
progress. This approach differs from Kim Walker’s
approach to bassoon pedagogy where embouchure is
taught in a specific manner often in conjunction with
breathing and posture.
Similar to embouchure, Audin approaches body
posture with great flexibility. His teaching philosophy emphasizes the fact that the bassoonist’s body
has to be relaxed and free from anxiety that can affect negatively the performer’s technical abilities.
Audin also indicates that posture is directly allied
with the physique of the bassoonist. As a result he
does not insist on a specific approach that requires of
the student to adopt a principal position in regard to
posture. Rather, the student is allowed to experiment
and utilize a posture that fits best his or her current
physique.
There is a difference in the approaches Audin
and Walker use to address breathing issues. For
example, Audin’s perception about the benefits of
alternative breathing techniques differs from that
of Walker. Walker not only encourages Alexander
Technique and Yoga but relies on them in preventing
detrimental muscle tensions that can affect breathing
and posture. Walker also recognizes the benefits of
head resonance as a closely affecting the tone feature.
These are methods that Audin does not address. His
involvement with alternative breathing techniques
is limited to an individual adjustment of the body as
opposed to a common concept that recommends a
particular method.
Audin addresses tone production and control
primarily by analogy. Observation and imitation are
essential to Audin’s approach as he notes that imitation allows the bassoonist to assimilate new skills by
rationalizing them and not just mechanically acquiring/following to them. Furthermore, he stresses the
fact that mental work rather than repetitive practice
needs to direct the refinement of tone.
Audin’s emphasis on technical excellence is evident in his approach toward staccato and articula-
103
104
ARTICLES
tween all of these techniques will produce a
personal vibrato, unique for the performer).
Similarly to Walker, for Audin the issue of sitting versus standing while performing is an area
that is addresses in his teaching. He insists that the
student should be comfortable playing either way, as
the playing position should not affect his or her technical abilities. In an attempt to expand the student’s
comfort zone, he requires that if a student constantly
performs standing he/she must modify one’s position
and sit; if a student constantly performs by sitting
one must modify his/her position and stand. Only
during individual lessons with his advanced students
Audin recommends that they perform standing. He
explains that such an approach improves communication within the studio and allows him to interact better with the rest of the class. Still, he does not
prefer a particular playing position or impose it on
his students. Rather, they are trained to feel equally
comfortable while performing seated or standing.
In Audin’s view, those who have not developed their
adult stature should perform by sitting since this position will decrease the probability of developing any
serious physical injuries due to the large size of the
instrument.
In regard to technical preparation, Audin pays
special attention to articulation, fingerings, rhythmic precision, intonation, and performance flexibility. Each of these aspects is mastered through consistent work on scales and etudes. It is important to
underscore that Audin insists that work on scales and
etudes needs to address all of the above mentioned
technical aspects simultaneously. He also clarifies
that in terms of velocity and tone control one must
consider the fact that intensity throughout the different registers of the bassoon differs. Fast tempi must
not be exercised with the same intensity in the upper
register of the bassoon as they are in the middle or
low registers. Audin explains why:
Mais en général, dans le suraigu, on essaie
de ne pas nécessairement maintenir le tempo
parce que, pour moi, il est plus important que
d’avoir quelque chose de souple et de juste
plutôt que de garder le tempo dans l’aigu,
alors qu’on joue rarement très vite dans le
suraigu du basson.
(Normally, with the upper register of the bassoon, we do not necessarily try to maintain
tempo because, personally, for me, it is more
important to have a flexible and in tune sound
rather than a steady tempo in the extremely
high register, given the fact that in reality we
rarely play exceedingly fast in the upper register of the bassoon).
In the area of technical preparation Audin, like
Walker, relies on etude selections that are considered
universal. He says:
Les cahiers d’études que je fais travailler
pour cette technique, pour la technique des
doigts, sont en général, comme je pense un
peu partout, le premier cahier des études de
Milde, mais je fais aussi beaucoup travailler
les études de Giampieri éditées chez Ricordi,
les études journalières, en forme de répétitions basées sur les tonalités circulaires. Je
fais aussi beaucoup travailler les études de
Piard, qui ont été rééditées chez Billaudot,
Marius Piard, ce sont des études qui sont formidables, qui remplacent ou qui complètent
les études sur les gammes. Voilà, donc, un
petit peu tout ce que nous travaillons pour la
technique des doigts.
(The etudes that I require of my students aiming to improve technique and fingerings, in
general, like almost everywhere else, are the
first collection of etudes by Milde, and in addition I also ask for Giampieri’s daily etudes,
published by Ricordi. I also require of my students to work a lot on the etudes by Marius
Piard, which were republished by Billaudot;
these are great etudes that could substitute or
complete Milde’s scale etudes. That is nearly
all that we work on in terms of technical
preparation).
Orchestral preparation at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris is a process that
spans the entire course of bassoon study. Audin indicates that the common approach to orchestral preparation is to allow his students to familiarize themselves with the major solo literature during the first
two years, while still working aggressively on technical refinement, and go into greater detail of orchestral preparation during the third and fourth years of
study. He explains that the last two years are normally the period when orchestral repertoire is prepared
for professional competitions or auditions.
Audin’s approach in the area of orchestral prepa-
THE DOUBLE REED
Les études de contre-basson ne sont pas
obligatoires pour mes élèves, absolument pas.
J’ai même insisté au niveau de l’administration
du Conservatoire pour qu’aucun étudiant ne
soit obligé à jouer de contre-basson s’il ne le
souhaite pas. C’est à dire que, la plupart du
temps, les étudiants sont contents d’avoir une
initiation, sont contents d’avoir un contrebasson à leur disposition, ils le travaillent,
ils se documentent. Nous avons fait venir
régulièrement au Conservatoire des professeurs qui doivent leur donner une forma-
tion, mais ça c’est sous forme de stages, s’il
n y a pas de professeur de contre-basson au
Conservatoire, mais sous forme de stage, il y
a un professeur qui vient aux Conservatoire
pendant deux ou trois jours, une fois par an,
deux fois par an pour donner des conseils. Et
les étudiants en général travaillent ça beaucoup par eux-mêmes...mais même au niveau
des orchestres, on se débrouille toujours pour
mettre au contre-basson un étudiant qui a
souhaité le faire. Mais quelqu’un qui ne souhaite pas de jouer du contre-basson ne serait
pas obligé de le faire. Voila. Dans ce cas là, de
toute façon, ceux qui veulent le faire peuvent
le faire dans toute leur scolarité, au moment
où ils le souhaitent dans leur formation.
(Contrabassoon studies are not required of my
students, absolutely not. I have even insisted
on administrative level in the Conservatory
that no student should be forced to play the
contrabassoon if he does not want to. With
this said, most of the time the students are
happy to have an introduction, they are happy
to have a contrabassoon available, they work
on it and they do some research. We have professors that come to the conservatory regularly
and train them, but this is structured more as
an intensive course, there is no contrabassoon
professor at the conservatory, though again an
intensive course is being offered. There is a professor who comes to the conservatory for two
or three days, once or twice a year to advise the
students. And the students, in general, work
on contrabassoon studies themselves; even on
orchestral level we always make sure to place
a student at the contrabassoon position that
has expressed a desire to play the instrument.
Therefore, if a student does not want to play
the contrabassoon we are not forcing anyone.
With this said, those who want to do it can do
so throughout their studies, whenever they
want during their degree work).
The optional nature of contrabassoon studies in
his program is noteworthy since it allows the student
to prioritize his or her interests in bassoon literature
and performance and it further assists curriculum
flexibility. It also further supports the idea that Audin considers curriculum flexibility as the focal point
of his educational philosophy.
One of the principal differences between Walker
ARTICLES
ration is similar to the philosophy adopted by Walker.
In France, orchestral preparation begins with work
on the fundamentals and basics of technical training
during the first year of bassoon studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. Audin explains that orchestral solos are introduced later,
only when a sufficient knowledge and technical skills
have been acquired by the student. In addition, works
likely to appear during an audition or competition as
well as pieces that are not intended for professional
auditions are included in the repertoire learned by
his students. In North America, the first two years
of one’s education are typically dedicated to revision
and re-evaluation of one’s basic performing skills.
During the first and second years Walker is likely to
introduce some of the major orchestral literature for
bassoon, however, the primary focus of her instruction remains placed on technical refinement. During
the third and fourth years of bassoon studies Walker
offers meticulous investigation of standard literature
likely to appear during professional auditions.
In regard to chamber music studies, Audin states
that this is a subject that is taught outside the standard bassoon curriculum. A professor of chamber
music is typically responsible for this specific area of
the bassoonist’s education although when needed issues of technical difficulty are addressed in the bassoon studio. Audin’s involvement is primarily limited to technical instruction and he does not interfere
with the work of the chamber music professor.
One of the major differences between the French
and North American practice of bassoon pedagogy
regards the inclusion of contrabassoon studies in the
bassoon curriculum. In France, including contrabassoon in the studies of the bassoon students at the
Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris is contingent upon their interest in the instrument.
Furthermore, Audin insists that contrabassoon studies are not mandatory in his curriculum. He says:
105
106
ARTICLES
and Audin’s approaches to bassoon pedagogy is the
role of alternative relaxation techniques as a mandatory part of the curriculum. These are methods that
Audin does not favor although, when necessary, he is
likely to refer to them when a specific issue in regard
to posture or breathing needs to be addressed. He
also clarifies that he relies primarily on his own experience and knowledge when bassoonists from his
studio have to overcome performing anxiety, stress,
muscle strain, or postural difficulties.
The lesson format that Audin favors offers a
weekly meeting with him lasting one hour. He says:
Mes élèves ont un cours par semaine avec moi,
sauf exception, sauf en certains cas quand
nous faisons des cours avec piano, quelque
fois ce cours vient en plus d’un cours normal.
Mais en général le cours est d’une heure par
semaine, quelquefois un petit peu plus long
quand le programme le nécessite, mais très
souvent en fermant le cours, en le bloquant
sur une heure, on est obligés d’être rapides et
efficaces, on obtient plus d’attention des étudiant que quand on leur laisse entendre qu’on
peut prendre son temps plus avec eux, ça c’est
un procédé pédagogique qui existe. Tous les
morceaux qui nécessitent un accompagnement avec piano sont joués avec piano et souvent ils sont joués quand ils sont au point c’est
à dire que...mais il ne s’agit pas d’une exécution avec piano pour vérifier, il s’agit d’un
vrai cours avec piano où il vont apprendre les
répliques, où il vont apprendre à se comporter rythmiquement, musicalement, au niveau
du son avec le piano. Et dans certains cas il
y aura deux cours avec piano, un cours pour
découvrir l’œuvre et un cours pour essayer de
le jouer de façon plus approfondie. Mais tous
les morceaux, toutes les concertos, toutes les
sonates sont joués avec pianos.
(My students have a lesson with me once a
week, except in certain cases when we do lessons with piano, sometimes such a meeting
takes place in addition to the regular lesson.
In general the lesson lasts an hour every week,
maybe a little longer when the program requires it. Quite often however, by limiting the
lesson to an hour, we get a lot more attention
from the students as opposed to giving them
the impression that we can take our time with
them; this is a pedagogic device that exists. All
the pieces that require piano accompaniment
are played with piano, they are performed
when they have been perfected, which means
that this is not a practice session with piano,
this is a true lesson with piano where the students will learn the responses, they will learn
to comport themselves rhythmically, musically, on tonal level with the piano. In certain
cases there will be two lessons with piano, a
class to discover the work and another to try
and play it in a more advanced way. However,
all pieces, all of the concertos, all of the sonatas
are performed with piano).
The teaching philosophy that Audin follows requires the teacher to be both strict and flexible in the
early stages of bassoon studies. He points out that the
student has to understand that precision and focus
during the lesson are as important as systematic exercise. This is why Audin limits individual lessons
to only one hour per week in addition to work with
piano accompaniment. The standard masterclass format that American teachers favor, in which all the
students in the studio gather to hear each other play
(in contrast to weekly private lessons) does not exist
in France. Rather, students are given the opportunity
to interact as a group primarily during individual lessons. Audin welcomes and encourages his students to
attend the private lessons of other students in order to
gain a better perspective of the teaching process. The
fact that all lessons are open to the public, however,
does not deny the right of a student to request a “private” lesson with the major professor when particular
issues such as stage discomfort, technical difficulties,
or mental preparation need to be addressed. Audin’s
decision to encourage students to attend their classmates’ lessons is directed towards fostering a resilient
and stable performance mentality. Not only does this
approach offer the bassoonists a better assessment of
their current technical level, but Audin explains that
the public lessons provide invaluable experience to
those students that might be interested in pursuing
careers as professional teachers. He says:
En général, dans ma classe quand il y a un
élève qui joue, il y en a toujours au moins
quatre ou cinq qui écoutent. Ils rentrent,
ils sortent, ils vont boire un café, ils reviennent, enfin bon ça c’est assez libre, mais en
général, ils écoutent les cours des autres parce
qu’ils sentent bien que c’est quelque chose va
les concerner aussi eux. Et si un jour ils sont
THE DOUBLE REED
professeurs, ils vont aussi avoir besoin d’une
autre expérience que la leur proper.
(In general, when I teach a lesson if there is a
student playing, there are always at least four
or five students listening. They come in, they
leave, they go have some coffee, they come back,
well, this part is pretty lax, though in general
they attend the lessons of others because they
are well aware that this is something that concerns them as well. And if one day they become
professors, they will need such an experience,
an experience other than their own).
Les étudiants que je forme au Conservatoire
en général arrivent et ils ont déjà eu des idées
très précises au niveau des anches, ils sont, en
général, tout à fait autonomes. Ensuite moi, je
continue à participer à leur formation, je leur
donne des conseils, je leur fournis éventuellement quelques anches, je les donne des anches à moi à titre de comparaison mais sans
obligation, bien sûr, d’imitation précis.
(The students that I train at the Conservatory
on the whole arrive having had very precise
ideas about reeds; they are, in general, entirely
independent. I continue to take part in their
training, I give them advice, I may eventually
give them some of my own reeds for comparative proposes but without any obligation, of
course, for precise imitation).
In France, bassoon students are not required
to undergo an intensive reed-making course as is
typically the practice in North America. The work
performed in Audin’s studio is focused on refi nement and adjustment of the cane. French bassoonists arrive in Paris to study with Audin having all the
necessary skills to gouge, profi le, and perform basic
adjustment work on their reeds. In fact, with the
presence of Maison Glotin, one of the world’s most
renowned reed suppliers located in Ezanville, France,
Audin’s students have access to nearly finished reeds
that only occasionally require additional adjustment
work. As a result, the skills that Audin introduces to
his students are generally directed toward practical
improvements to already basically finished reeds and
he does not follow a particular method of instruction
in reed-making.
It is important to clarify that Audin’s approach
to reed-making is based on the nature of the French
bassoon and the specific reeds that are required for
it. The French Buffet bassoon necessitates an entirely
different reed than the German Heckel bassoon due
to a number of factors; the two instruments use different fingerings, have different pitch characteristics,
use bocals that are shaped differently, and employ
significantly different reed measurements. For example, Maison Glotin offers gouged cane that is 135mm.
for the French Buffet bassoon and 120mm. in length
for the German Heckel bassoon. This difference in
the length of the gouged cane results in differently
sized, finished, reeds used in the German and French
bassoons. Audin specifies, however, that Glotin’s
products are not limited to the French bassoonists
since Glotin also provides finished reeds and other
technical appliances, including raw cane products,
precisely for German Heckel bassoons.
The fact that the bassoon players who become
part of Audin’s studio arrive with an extensive arsenal of technical skills means he is able to focus on
enhancing already existing skills. Many of the practical differences that Audin’s approach exemplifies
are directly related to the centrist model of bassoon
education that exists in the Conservatoire National
Supérieur de Musique de Paris and the Conservatoire
National Supérieur Musique et Danse de Lyon-two of
France’s principal academic institutions offering advanced bassoon studies.
When asked about the structure of bassoon education in Europe and the teaching methodology that
the American school employs Audin explains:
Question numéro quatorze concernant les
différences entre l’enseignement des écoles de
ARTICLES
At the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris early music studies and baroque bassoon lessons in particular are offered as an elective
course lasting two years. Audin explains that many
bassoonists take advantage of this opportunity although historical instruments are hard to secure and
the students are often forced to rotate through instruments in order to prepare adequately. This lack of
instruments presents a challenge to those who wish
to pursue the baroque bassoon in a more intensive
way.
Reed-making is another area in which the French
school curriculum differs from the standard practice
employed in North America. According to Audin,
most of the students who enter the Conservatoire
National Supérieur de Musique de Paris do so with
already well polished reed-making skills. He says:
107
ARTICLES
108
basson de France, Allemagne et Etats-Unis.
Alors, je pense déjà que les méthodes de travail se sont énormément rapprochées entre
l’Allemagne et la France. C’est à dire, qu’en
fait, en Europe, il y a beaucoup de brassage.
Il y a maintenant des grands professeurs en
Allemagne qui sont italiens, norvégiens,
beaucoup d’étudiants français qui sont allés
travailler à l’étranger, beaucoup d’étudiants
étrangers qui sont passés en France pour leur
perfectionnement. Nos méthodes se sont
beaucoup rapprochées. En général, il y a en
France peut-être un peu plus de travail proprement technique, un peu plus de travail sur
les gammes et les études qu’en Allemagne ou
en Autriche. En France, on travaille beaucoup sur les oeuvres du vingtième siècle, les
oeuvres d’écriture classique de vingtième
siècle, c’est-à-dire (ce que on appelle comme
ça, c’est) Jolivet, Boutry, Bitsch, Tomasi, toute
cette littérature un petit peu académique et
très difficile techniquement. On travaille
beaucoup là-dessus; on travaille beaucoup
le répertoire soliste et les traits d’orchestre
sont travaillés en complément, un petit peu
comme on travaille les études.
J’ai l’impression qu’aux Etats-Unis le travail est beaucoup plus basé directement sur
les traits d’orchestre; ensuite j’ai l’impression
qu’aux Etats-Unis le travail des concertos se
fait sur les concertos important qui seront
données dans les auditions, mais qu’il n’y a
pas forcément une très grosse curiosité pour
travailler les concertos par exemple moins
connus.
(Well, first of all, I think that the working
methods in Germany and France have gotten
a lot closer. What this means is that in Europe
there is a lot of mobility. Nowadays, there are
great professors in Germany who are Italians
or Norwegians, a lot of French students who
have been studying abroad, a lot of foreign
students who have come to France to perfect
their skills. Our methods have come a lot closer. In France there is usually more distinctly
technical work being done, a bit more work is
done on scales and etudes than in Germany or
Austria. In France, we work a lot on compositions from the twentieth century period, works
of classical writing from the twentieth century
(as we describe it) that includes Jolivet, Boutry,
Bitsch, Tomasi, all the considerable academic
literature that is technically very difficult. We
work on this a lot; we also work a lot on solo
repertoire as orchestral parts are treated in a
rather complementary way; similarly to the
way we approach etudes.
I have the impression that in the UnitedStates the work being done is a lot more directly oriented towards orchestral playing. I also
get the impression that in the United States the
concerto work is done on the most important
concertos that will be given during auditions,
but that there isn’t necessarily a great deal
of curiosity to work on, for example, lesser
known works).
Here, Audin notes that regional limitations no
longer constitute obstacles that separate the various
European and American schools as they once did,
rather he sees these schools as coming together more
closely than in the past in terms of their philosophies
and teaching methodologies. Many of the individual
features that used to separate the European schools
for example are currently less perceptible because of
the exchange of practicing musicians between them
such as Professor Walker.
Regarding principal differences between France
and North America and their particular professional
orientations, Audin indicates that distinctions still
exist. These include practical differences such as repertoire considerations, orchestral preparation, and
pedagogical approaches influenced by the differing
professional realities addressed by exponents of each
school. He says:
J’ai l’impression, qu’aux Etats-Unis, on aura
un petit peu tendance de passer beaucoup
plus de temps sur le concerto de Mozart
parce qu’il sera donné dans le compétitions
pour les orchestres, pour les auditions, mais
on ne fera pas forcément un travail avec toute
la curiosité que l’on pourrait avoir. C’est ça
qui caractérise un petit peu notre école. J’ai
l’impression que les plus grandes différences
sont à ce niveau-là.
(I have the impression that in the United
States, one would have a slight tendency toward spending a lot more time on the Mozart
concerto because it will be given in competitions and auditions for orchestral placement
but that one wouldn’t necessarily work on it
THE DOUBLE REED
niveau de la méthode. Maintenant, je dois
dire que je me suis assez écarté de son exemple comme artiste, comme bassoniste.
In Audin’s view, the American school has a much
more pragmatic approach to the bassoon curriculum.
Certain pieces are studied because they are likely to
appear during professional auditions. This is not the
practice in France where the bassoon student is exposed to a much broader selection of repertoire that
does not necessarily favor the well-established and
known pieces. For example, Audin explains that his
curriculum incorporates a number of Vivaldi concerti that are less likely to be studied in the United States
because they are not likely to appear on repertoire
lists for professional competitions. Audin believes
that the inclusion of such works as the lesser-known
Vivaldi concerti can be beneficial to the education of
the bassoonist.
Similarly, Audin recommends works that are
comparable in fashion and technical difficulty and
can further enhance the student’s understanding
of style. For example, he points out that the Danzi
concerti can greatly assist the bassoonist in his or her
preparation for the Mozart concerto as these pieces
employ similar phrasing patterns and articulation.
In so doing, Audin attempts to build a solid education that involves a broader vision of music and its
style variations than that taking a solely pragmatic
approach to the performance of pieces likely to be
called for in orchestral auditions.
According to Audin, the French school is particularly interested in recent bassoon compositions.
He believes that there is a tendency to explore musical literature that is less likely to be considered by
other national schools, especially in North America
where orchestral preparation is prevalent in the closing stages of bassoon education.
Although Audin’s teaching philosophy is strongly
influenced by the practical methodology utilized by
Maurice Allard, Audin notes that his current view on
academic preparation is considerably different than
the French school of the past and his current focus
on bassoon education reflects his understanding that
music is a constantly evolving creative phenomenon.
He says:
(I must say that Maurice Allard had a vital
influence on me as he was my last professor.
His influence was above all on the level of my
work-process, had to do a lot with perfectionism and method. Now, I must say that I have
considerably distanced myself from his approach both as an artist and as a bassoonist).
Je dois dire que Maurice Allard a eu une influence déterminante sur moi. Evidemment,
puisque c’était mon dernier professeur. Surtout au niveau de la démarche dans le travail,
surtout au niveau du perfectionnisme, au
Audin’s teaching philosophy is concerned with
the ability of the performer to adapt, blend, and
evolve artistically during the course of a musical
performance. He therefore emphasizes thorough understanding of these specific aspects and their proper
assimilation by the students is emphasized in his
teaching curriculum. Audin stresses solid technical
preparation and a broad vision of musicality. These
two aspects are always investigated simultaneously as
students are encouraged to craft their own creative
approaches. In so doing, he seeks to develop bassoonists with a good sense of style, musical maturity, and
unique performing qualities. This specific approach
is also the catalyst behind the highly individual and
expressive performing style often associated with
French bassoonists. ◆
ARTICLES
with all possible curiosity. This is what characterizes our school. I have the impression that
major differences on this level exist).
109
110
THE WORKS FOR BASSOON OF GUSTAV SCHRECK
The Works for Bassoon of Gustav Schreck
Daniel Lipori
Ellensburg, Washington
G
ustav Schreck’s Sonata for Bassoon and Piano is now considered a standard work in the
bassoon repertory, and one of the few sonatas from the Romantic period of music for the bassoon. Little, however, is known about the composer.
In addition to the bassoon sonata, Schreck also composed a Nonett for two flutes, oboe, two clarinets, two
horns, and two bassoons.
ARTICLES
BIOGRAPHY
Gustav Schreck was born in Zeulenroda on September 9, 1849. He studied at the Lyceum in Greiz, from
1863-67, where he gained some musical experience
singing in the choir. After short stays in Gommla and
Remptendorf, Schreck entered the Leipzig Conservatory in 1868, where his primary teachers were Ernst
Friedrich Richter (1808-79), Robert Papperitz (18261903), and Salomon Jadassohn (1831-1902). After
graduation in 1870, he taught at a private high school
in Viborg (now in Denmark) until 1874. It was during
his time in Viborg, that he met his wife, who would
later write several of the texts to his vocal works.
Schreck moved back to Leipzig in 1874 and in 1887
began teaching at the Leipzig Conservatory as a theory instructor. In 1892 he was appointed as Kantor
of the Thomas School (where J. S. Bach [1685-1750]
had previously taught). In 1898 he began teaching at
the University of Leipzig, and was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from the university in 1909. He
started to become ill in the Fall of 1917 and passed
away on January 22, 1918.
Since Schreck worked at the Thomas School for
much of his adult life, it is no surprise that the majority of his compositions are vocal. He is probably most
known today for his editions and piano reductions
of many of Bach’s cantatas and other compositions.
His work with the boys’ choir at the Thomas School is
also very noteworthy. Under his direction, the choir
began to perform outside of just Sunday services,
gaining a national reputation, performing with the
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and other notable
ensembles.
Gustav Schreck only wrote a few works for in-
strumentalists. These include the Sonata for Bassoon and Piano, a Sonata of Oboe and Piano, and the
Nonett for winds. His music falls into many of the
traditional forms and structures of Romantic instrumental compositions.
BASSOON SONATA
Schreck’s Sonata for Bassoon and Piano op. 9 is in
three movements with the melody given equally to
both instruments. The piano part, however, is quite
thick at times, which may require the bassoonist to
play slightly louder than the marked dynamics. There
are many opportunities to use rubato throughout the
work. It is not known for whom Schreck composed
this work. However, a very prominent bassoonist in
Leipzig up until 1888, was Julius Weissenborn (183788), so perhaps it was written with him in mind.
The first movement is marked “Allegro ma non
troppo” and is in a sonata-allegro form, beginning in
the key of E f Major. The transition begins in measure 15, which leads to the second theme at measure
32 in the key of B f Major. The closing theme begins
in measure 43 in B f Major, which ends the exposition at measure 64. All of the melodic material in this
movement is slurred and is mostly scales and arpeggios. The development begins in measure 65 and goes
through several key areas before the recapitulation
occurs at measure 109, back in the home key of E f
Major. The transition is eliminated in the recapitulation, so the second theme immediately follows the
principal theme, beginning in measure 117 in E f
Major. The closing theme begins in measure 127 and
there is a short coda to finish out the movement in
measure 143.
The difficulties in this movement lie in getting all
the slurs to be smooth, and balancing with the heavy
piano part. Some of the slurs are quite large and may
require a flick or alternate fingering to produce the
slur effectively. For example, in the first measure of
the movement, there is a slur from g to e f1, which
may require either flicking the c s key or lift ing the
first finger in the right hand for the e f to speak. The
range of this movement is not terribly large, only go-
THE DOUBLE REED
NONETT FOR WINDS
Schreck’s Nonett op. 40 is for the unusual combination of two flutes, one oboe, two clarinets, two horns,
and two bassoons. It was composed in 1905, however
the reason for its writing is unknown. Perhaps it was
written with members of the Leipzig Gewandhaus
Orchestra in mind. As with the bassoon sonata, this
work has many ‘vocal’ qualities to it. Melodic material is constantly passed between all instruments,
sometimes only a measure at a time. It is not an overly
difficult work, and could be handled by a competent
college ensemble. Probably the most difficult aspect
of this work for wind players is the primary key of
E Major.
The first movement begins with a Largo introduction in the key of E Minor in a 6/4 meter. There is
a slow quarter note melodic fragment passed between
many voices with dotted half note chords primarily in this section. This leads to an Allegro ma non
troppo in measure 31, which begins the sonata-allegro section in the key of E Major, marked in a cut
time. A transition beginning in measure 39 leads to
the second theme in the key of B Major at measure
50. The closing area, beginning at measure 61, then
completes the exposition. The development begins in
measure 70, and is quite lengthy, lasting until measure 166, where a return of the principal theme back
in the tonic key occurs. The transition begins at measure 175, with the second theme following at measure
186. The closing material returns in measure 195,
and a coda, beginning in measure 208, completes
the movement. The melodic material throughout this
movement is comprised primarily of quarter note
and eighth note passages, incorporating several triadic figures. Most of the melodic material is slurred
throughout and there are not many large jumps in
any of the parts.
The second movement is a scherzo and trio, primarily in the key of C Minor. There are much lengthier melodic lines in this movement and one instrument will keep the melody for a longer period of time.
Section two of the scherzo begins in measure 19, also
mainly in the key of C Minor. The Trio begins numbering at measure 1 again in the Edition Compmusic score in the key of A Minor. This section moves
to A Major beginning in measure 38, with a return
of the first section in measure 78, back in the key of
A Minor. A da capo brings a return of the scherzo
portion and coda finishes out the movement, which
concludes in the key of C Major. In this movement, a
staccato quarter note melody of mostly stepwise mo-
ARTICLES
ing up to a f1 a few times.
The second movement is marked “Largo” and is
in an ABA form. This movement in particular, has
a lot of ‘vocal’ qualities, almost in imitation of an
opera aria. The movement presents the first theme
in the key of Af Major with the piano accompaniment being much thinner in this section. The ‘B’ section of the movement begins in measure 17 and has a
thicker and more agitated piano line. There is a short
cadenza, beginning in measure 29, which leads to the
return of the ‘A’ theme in measure 33. Another short
cadenza at the end of measure 44, leads to a coda in
the next measure, which ends the movement.
The difficulties in the second movement are very
similar to those in the first, as most of the passages
are slurred and have some larger intervals within
these slurs. The range of this movement is a bit wider,
going up to d f2 in the second cadenza.
The final movement is marked ‘Allegro’ and is
also in a sonata-allegro form, beginning in the key
of E f Major. After a four bar introduction, the principal theme is presented in measure 5, with the transition beginning in measure 13, leading to the second
theme, which begins in measure 38 in the key of B f
Major. The closing material begins in measure 50 and
the development begins in measure 64. The principal
theme does not return in the recapitulation so the development ends at the return of the second theme in
measure 105, back in the tonic key of E f Major. The
closing material begins in measure 117, leading to a
short cadenza in measure 140. A slightly faster coda
begins in measure 145, which brings the work to a
resounding close.
Since the tempo in the final movement is a bit
faster than the first, there are a few more technical demands in this movement. There are several 16th note
passages throughout, some repeating just a few notes
in close succession. For example, at the beginning of
the development in measure 64, there are 16th notes
going up and down between d1, e f1, and f1, which
may require an alternate f1 fingering to produce this
passage smoothly. A common alternate for the f1 in
a passage such as this, is to play the e f1 normally,
then lift off all the fingers in the left hand to produce
the f1. Again there are some balance issues with the
piano, which may require louder playing by the bassoonist. The piano part is fairly difficult, so you will
need a competent player to perform this work, but it
certainly is an enjoyable and satisfying work to play
for both the bassoonist and pianist.
111
ARTICLES
112
THE WORKS FOR BASSOON OF GUSTAV SCHRECK
tion prevails the scherzo section, while the trio portion has a slurred dotted quarter note melody, often
with a held drone beneath. There are several abrupt
dynamic changes within, adding to the excitement
and intensity of this movement.
Movement three is marked Adagio di molto in a
3/4 meter beginning in the key of B Minor, and appears to be a theme and variations. Most of the key
areas do not settle for very long before they move to
another tonality. After a four bar introduction, the
main theme is presented in measure 5. Variation 1
begins in measure 37 in the key of A Major. The second variation begins in measure 49, primarily in the
key of A Minor. A third variation begins in measure
65 in the key of B Minor, which moves to a coda in
measure 86, with the movement concluding in the
key of D Major. There is a bit more rhythmic variety
in this movement, with the melodic material moving between quarter notes, eighth notes, eighth note
triplets, sixteenths, and dotted rhythms. Most of the
material is slurred and the dynamics are much softer
here, with several piano and pianissimo markings.
The fourth movement is in a sonata-allegro form
in the key of E Major. There are a few instances that
the first flute part is to double on piccolo. There is
somewhat of a march-like quality to this movement,
with many dotted rhythms throughout. After the
principal theme is stated, the transition begins in
measure 19, leading to the second theme in measure
29, in the key of B Major. A closing section begins in
measure 51 brings an end to the exposition, in the
key of B Major. The development section begins in
the new key signature of E Minor and lasts until the
return of the principal theme in measure 101, back in
the home key area of E Major. There is no return of
the second theme in the recapitulation, so the closing area follows the principal theme in measure 119,
and a coda beginning in measure 131 completes the
movement. The melodic material in this movement
is again mostly stepwise and has a greater variety of
dynamics throughout. The dotted rhythms appear
in the accompaniment, as well as within the melody.
The coda has a sixteenth note E Major scale going
through a large portion of it, mainly in the upper
winds.
I know it is hard to get an idea of the sound of
this piece from my description, and there is no commercial recording available of which I have been able
to locate, but this is a wonderful piece to add to your
chamber music repertoire list. All of the instruments
are given melodic material and it would be a nice
change of key areas, from the more common wind
band works in two or three flats. There are sections
that are a bit more adventuresome harmonically, in
that the key areas move around quite a bit, which
will give your performers a little more of a challenge.
None of the individual parts require a great deal of
technical proficiency. The horns must transpose in E
and D, and clarinets in A are needed as well, along
with a piccolo for the final movement. There is also a
bit of variety in the rhythms presented, in that several
times it will move from duple to triple rhythms, for
a measure at a time. Both of the bassoon parts fall
fairly well on the instrument, and neither part goes
extremely high; with the first bassoon going up to b1
one time, and the second bassoon ascending once to
g s1. This work might be a good opportunity to practice the left hand Fs fingering, as there are many passages that go between Fs and Gs.
If you are not familiar with these works of Gustav
Schreck, I hope you will find the time to read through
them. Bassoonists have very little repertoire from the
Romantic period, and these compositions would be
great additions to your library. ◆
THE DOUBLE REED
British
Double
Reed
Society
113
Research Comparison
The influence on tone quality of different shapes of bassoon crook - a sequel by Roger
Grundmann and Hans Krüger to the article by Roger Grundman which was published in the last
issue. This translation was made especially for DRN by Michael Johnson.
(Editor’s Note: This article is a followup to the reprinred article in The Double Reed, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 99-102. The article below is
reprinted with permission from the Double Reed News of the BDRS, No. 72, Autumn 2005, pp. 27-31.)
THE SECRET OF TONE QUALITY
I
THE STATE OF RESEARCH AND APPRAISAL
OF TONE QUALITY
At the Institute for Aviation and Space Technology at
Dresden University, a test rig for blowing a bassoon
(Figure 1, see following page) was constructed as part
of a programme of diploma studies2. By this means
it is possible to achieve regular repetitions of a note,
ARTICLES
f an engineer discusses with professional bassoon players the secrets of what makes a really
good crook, it is not surprising from a purely
technical point of view if there is a discrepancy between the descriptions which are offered and how
they are understood. However if the engineer has
tried to penetrate the secrets of the bassoon by playing it, then it is more possible to come to terms with
the descriptions. “It’s like blowing into a sack of
potatoes; it has a warm bottom register; it hits the
heights”, are just a few of the remarks which you
can hear in technical conversation when crooks are
being tested. Those are off-the-cuff observations
which can obviously be clarified in further questioning. So, through learning the other person’s
technical language, you can get progressively closer
to identifying the criteria which have to be isolated
for further physical research.
“A tone is the sum of fundamental and overtones; tone quality is the periodic oscillation of different tones over time”. That is the general sense of
the definitions of these concepts which can be found
in Ziegenrücker’s ABC Musik, Allgemeine Musiklehre
(General Music Manual)1. Certainly that description
covers the characterizations of different crooks which
are quoted above. But how are we to unlock the actual
physical secrets of “tone quality”?
Imagine the bassoon player on the platform, surrounded by his colleagues. He himself will experience
the sound of the new crook which is being tested, as
also will his immediate neighbours, and they will all
be able to make a judgment. Further away in the auditorium an informed member of the audience will
equally be able to make a judgment. What is heard
must be processed through the medium of psychoacoustics, which has been developed to assess individual parameters statistically by applying known
variables and then assessing them retrospectively.
By the time the stage of technical psychoacoustic
assessment is reached, the phenomenon of tone quality has already passed through many different physical stages. Let us consider the distribution of sound
in space. It consists of pressure disturbances, which
combine with the characteristics of a given space to
create a sound field. This is sensed by the human eardrum and interpreted in the inner ear, especially in
the inner spiral cavity (the cochlea). The process consists of analysing and fi ltering frequencies, in which
individual frequencies are broken down according to
their pitch and amplitude. Low frequencies are located at the entrance to the cochlea, high frequencies at
its upper end. The auditory nerve transmits this deconstructed sound along multiple nerve fibres to the
nerve centre in the brain hemisphere on the opposite
side to the sound source, specifically to the auditory
surface in the temporal lobe. There too the sound is
broken down, with lower frequencies remaining on
the surface and higher ones transmitted to the centre of the brain. The sound must then be combined
with the time-determined tone quality in order to
compare it with sounds which are stored in the episodic memory. It is at this final stage that the circle
of tone quality and psychoacoustics is completed.
Psychoacoustics registers what is experienced as harmonious or dissonant and which can be shown on an
oscilloscope.
It must be stressed again that this extremely complex sequence of perception of sound or tone quality
by means of pressure waves travelling through space
is converted by a two-dimensional eardrum into a
frequency analysis. In measurement technology a
microphone can be compared with the eardrum.
Analogous to that, the perception of sounds can be
achieved by means of a Fourier electronic frequency
analysis of sound pressure over the frequency range.
This is one of the very few technico-physical aids to a
verbal description of the meaning of tone quality.
ARTICLES
114
RESEARCH COMPARISON
will be constantly variable, despite intense efforts to
achieve stable conditions.
The test rig in Figure 1 produces a flow of air at
a constant pressure which is adjustable according to
the tone desired. The artificial lips which hold the
double reed are also adjustable. The sound is registered by frequency analysis equipment manufactured
by the firm of Bruel and Kjaer and further processed
by specially written soft ware.
The attempt was made to compare the tonal qualities of crooks of different profi les, all having identical
material composition, surface preparation and tube
strength, and a constant coefficient of taper in the
bore. Apart from the fact that every crook is individual because of the craft methods employed in manufacture, the only remaining difference is the curvature, measured according to the direction of air flow.
In the first article (published originally in Rohrblatt,
December 2003) a new profi le for a bassoon crook was
proposed for the first time. When blown, this offered
a 30% reduction in air resistance. Such ease of blowing is one of the parameters which could be isolated
for analysis. It was purely mechanical considerations
of air flow which led to the quest for greater ease of
blowing, not any acoustic imperative. At that time
Figure 1: Bassoon test rig designed for
repeated blowing of a note on a constant
there was still no thought of investigating tone qualbasis. Experimental bassoon by the firm of
ity criteria. Meanwhile the firm of Guntram Wolf in
Guntram Wolf, Kronach
Kronach, through systematic empirical investigation, developed
an optimised geometric profi le for
the new crook, which is indistinguishable as regards tone quality
from the traditional crook.
The purpose of the present article is to set out the physical proof
that differences in tone quality are
hardly discernible in frequency
analysis of the bassoon. With the
generous support of the firm of
Heckel in Wiesbaden-Biebrich
three differently shaped crooks
were manufactured (see Figure
2). Production of all three crooks
was carried out according to the
Figure 2: Selection of CC1-S bassoon crooks by the firm of Heckel, Biebrich.
manufacturing method CC1,
From top to bottom: traditional CC1 crook, general new S-crook profile (S27),
which is well known among basoptimised S-crook profile (optimised S-27) after Guntram Wolf, Kronach
soon players.
The first step was obviously subjective investiand by picking it up through a microphone, to subject
gation of the group of crooks. The middle crook in
it to frequency analysis in an acoustic chamber with a
Figure 2 failed this test as carried out by professional
resonance period of 0.2 seconds. Mechanical repetibassoon players, according to their initial judgments.
tion under constant conditions is important, because
The other two crooks, respectively of new and traif a musician plays the note the frequency analysis
THE DOUBLE REED
115
Figure 3: Sound composition curves of three CC1-S bassoon crooks by the firm of
Heckel, Biebrich
ditional construction, were found to be more or less
equal. This test can be seen as a non-professional psychoacoustic examination. Studies were then carried
out with the aid of the test rig. These were designed
to focus on the only difference, namely the three different geometries. It is important to bear in mind
that the two newer profi les differed little from one
another. The same is the case with traditional crooks
manufactured by different firms. The result is shown
ARTICLES
Figure 4: Statistical analysis of the sound composition curves of the traditional S-crook CC1
(crosses), general new S-crook S-27 (dots) and
the optimised S-crook S27 circles), according
to Principal Component Analysis.
in Figure 3 in the form of curve patterns of the three
crooks, which were tested on the same experimental
bassoon. The curves demonstrate groups or partials
which stand out in the frequency spectrum because
of their greater intensity or greater sound pressure.
Figure 3 plots sound pressure level against frequency. These comprehensive curves plot the sequence of all maximum divergences in the sound
pressure level of fundamental and overtones against
the fundamental note f=174.61 Hz. This procedure
of examination of sound pressure maxima is called
“level addition”. These curves were derived by averaging up to 30 individual measurements. From them
it can be concluded that the traditional (CC1) profi le
has the same high and low points over the full range
of the curve as the new (S27) optimised profi le. On
the other hand the new non-optimised S27 profi le
shows marked opposing displacements of the curve
above 1900HZ. Psychoacoustically, this crook was
judged not to have such a good tone quality.
Figure 4 contains further confirmation of these
results, based on the statistical method known as
Principal Component Analysis.
This Analysis leads to the obvious conclusion
that the traditionally shaped CC1 crook is indistinguishable from thenew optimised S27 profile. The
non-optimised S27 shows considerable divergences
116
RESEARCH COMPARISON
and forms its own cluster which is to be interpreted as
evidence of inferior tone quality, just as on a subjective basis it was considered by professional bassoonists to be inferior.
It appears that we have established a standard
for assessing good and inferior tone quality on the
basis of a purely geometrical crook profi le, provided
that all other parameters were kept constant. At the
same time, because the new profi le was developed to
produce the lowest pressure resistance, this demonstrates that the rate of air flow itself significantly affects tone quality.
ARTICLES
PROSPECT
The theme which we have embarked on here, of isolating individual parameters which determine the tone
quality of a crook, is of exceptional interest. Subjective perceptions are described by individuals as their
individual experience. Collecting together a number
of opinions can also have a general value in psychoacoustic terms. However the result of assessing just
one parameter produces results that are of practical
application for both musicians and instrument makers. This can then set us on the path to new developments which can help to make life easier for musicians, without conflicting with general perceptions
concerning tone quality. There are already signs that
the new-profi le crook is spreading outside Germany,
to the New York Philharmonic and to orchestras in
Australia. For this reason the German research community has already committed resources to enable
fundamental research to be undertaken at the Technical University of Dresden, particularly concerning
the tone quality of the bassoon. ◆
[This article was translated and published by permission of the authors.]
NOTES
1
Ziegenrucker, W.: ABC Musik, Allgemeine
Musiklehre (General Music Manual). Wiesbaden:
Breitkopf & Hartel 1997
2
Kruger, H.: Construction and experimental
verification of a bassoon test rig, Diploma thesis,
Technical University, Dresden, March 2005
THE DOUBLE REED
117
Not Just for Bassoonists:
Expanding Kovar’s Exercise on 5 Tones
Daryl Durran
Penn State University
S
imon Kovar’s 24 Daily Studies is a 111- page collection of technique exercises in
scales, arpeggios, intervals, attacks and long tones. It is unfortunate that this
book has been unavailable for many years, for it contains a lifetime of technical
exercises. While every study contained in Kovar’s book is valuable, I have found the
“Exercise on 5 Tones” to be particularly useful for players of all abilities. (The example
below is printed with the kind permission of Eleanor and Leah Kovar.)
Exercise on 5 Tones from 24 Daily Studies
Simon Kovar
This exercise can be played beginning on any note, in any register, in any key, and
in any articulation. If a student can play in the first register of their instrument, they
can begin practicing these patterns. For the non-beginner bassoonist, this exercise
has proven to be especially useful in developing facility in the bassoon’s third register.
These patterns are effective in addressing a significant number of technical problems.
As powerful a practice tool as the “Exercise on 5 Tones” is, an expanded-range version of the exercise has also been useful. These expanded patterns markedly increase
the exercise’s difficulty, particularly in the patterns of 3rds and 4ths, and with the addition of 5ths. Again, this exercise can be played beginning on any note, in any register,
in any key, and in any articulation.
CONTINUED
ON NEXT PAGE
ARTICLES
118
NOT JUST FOR BASSOONISTS: EXPANDING KOVAR’S EXERCISE ON 5 TONES
Expanded Kovar
- C,
- G, - A
1
3
2
4
5
6
ARTICLES
7
8
9
10
11
13
12
With its limited range and short patterns, the “Exercise on 5 Tones” can be easily memorized and transposed to different pitches and registers. Memorization of the expanded-range version is more difficult. To aid in
developing facility with the expanded-range version, I have placed on my web page a Sibelius fi le of the exercise
and several pdf fi les with different starting notes. You are welcome to download these fi les at www.music.psu.
edu. (click “faculty,” click “winds, brass, percussion,” click “Daryl Durran”).
I hope you will find this exercise, “inspired by Kovar,” to be of value to you and your students. ◆
THE DOUBLE REED
119
Dirt, Dust, Crud, and Junk
Betty Asher
Loomis, California
D
irt, dust, crud and junk: these four letter
words should be in every bassoonist’s musical vocabulary, and probably aren’t. We are
all so busy worrying about reeds, intonation, alternate fingerings, and other essentials, that we never
stop to think about that other fact of life, dirt. But
you should, and here is why.
Bocals need special care. Do you doubt your bocal
needs cleaning? Just smell the large end. A recent discussion on the IDRS chat site had good cleaning ideas
and stressed the importance of frequent washing of
bocals. Running really hot water through it frequently usually will be enough to keep it clean. Just be sure
the cork is well greased before you do it.
Now for the inside dirt (and I am not talking about
the love lives of various IDRS members!): The “inside
dirt” is what is in your mouth all the time: leftover
teensy bits of food, the bacteria that grow on your
tongue and in your saliva. Every drop of saliva that
goes into your reed, through the bocal, and down
into the wing joint carries minute particles of this assortment, and if you have a stuff y nose, some of that
gunk goes too.
What to do about all this accumulation? You can’t
get rid of all of it, but you can substantially decrease
the amount that goes into your instrument.
Here are a few tricks:
1. Always scrub your teeth well just before you
play your instrument, and if you can, floss.
Flossing will get rid of itsy-bitsy tidbits of
steak, donuts, or whatever that your toothbrush couldn’t reach. Then, rinse well.
2. This next process sounds gross, but it makes
a difference: gargle. Food, bacteria, and that
stuff - like viruses from your nose - collect
on your tonsils and in the back of your throat,
and travel with your saliva into the bassoon.
Now here is the tricky part: you need to gargle
with your head tilted back and your tongue
sticking out. Sticking your tongue out allows the water to drop further back into your
throat around your tonsils, and the agitated
ARTICLES
Dirt happens. It happens all the time, everywhere,
inside your mouth and outside, wherever you are
playing. Stages are dusty, teeth don’t get brushed, and
when was the last time you vacuumed your practice
area? Am I making a big deal out of this? You bet! Just
ask your repairman what has the most impact on the
efficient working of your instrument and he will most
likely say: crud.
Let’s start with “outside” dirt. Look under the
rods on your instrument; they are probably dusty.
That dust gets into the lubricant between the rods
and the pins and gets gummy. “Gummy” equals
slower response time. A folded pipe cleaner is handy
for dusting under the rods and keys. Don’t use one
of those compressed air cans; they just blow the dust
someplace else.
Take another pipe cleaner, fold it in half, and
twist it around in your tone holes. Is it a sickly shade
of brown? That is crud in your tone holes, a combination of saliva, perspiration, dust, and whatever was
left on your fingers after lunch. Get rid of it! If the
crud is hard and dry, try a little baby oil on the pipe
cleaner; don’t use alcohol, it is a solvent that could
damage the finish. Be sure to bend the pipe cleaner
and always insert the folded end into the hole. The
ends of a pipe cleaner are sharp and could easily
scratch the wood. Clogged tone holes have an impact
on your intonation, so get out the tuner after you have
cleaned them.
Whatever you do, don’t forget the basic! Always
swab your instrument after you play.
During a break in the rehearsal, swab! Don’t lay
an unswabbed bassoon down with the tone holes
down: your saliva in the bore will run into the tone
holes and make crud of the dust in them and gurgle
at a most embarrassing time. By the way, take a look
at your swab: is it still the same color as when you got
it? Probably not, so take a few minutes every couple
of months and wash it with soap and water! Not only
will it not stink anymore, but it will do a better job
drying your instrument.
120
DIRT, DUST, CRUD, AND JUNK
ARTICLES
water loosens the crud. (My doctor had a detailed physiological explanation of how this
works, but just take my word for it…) The really good fringe benefit from this tongue-out
gargling (use the hottest water you can stand;
don’t waste money on mouthwashes) is that it
removes a lot of those unpleasant viruses that
cause sore throats as well as food leftovers
that cause halitosis. The best place to try this
gargle procedure is in the shower; all of the
water you spritz out of your mouth won’t get
on the mirror!
3. Another almost-as-gross keeping-it-clean
procedure is cleaning your tongue. After you
scrub your teeth, look at the surface of your
tongue. Is it a nice bright pink? Or does it
have a thick coating of “snow”? That “snow”
is a humongous colony of bacteria that loves
the moist warmth of your mouth, but doesn’t
hesitate to travel with your saliva into your
reed where it hangs out, clogging its pores.
So what to do about it? After you scrub your
teeth, take a fingernail fi le or dull knife (not
your best reed knife!) and scrape off the
“snow”. Then rinse your mouth to get rid of
the loose stuff. You’ve heard or read the pros
and cons about soaking old reeds in hydrogen peroxide to bring them back to life; this
“snow” and other dried mouth gunk is what
the peroxide loosens and removes.
About your reed: after practicing or rehearsing, all
that gunk that left its mouth-home is either in your
reed or your bassoon. Do something about it! If nothing else, jiggle your reed up and down in your soaker
jar. Better yet, go to the nearest faucet and simply run
a strong stream of water through your reed, and then
air-dry it.
Try these tricks. Teach them to your students; it’s a
sure thing their mothers didn’t. The procedures don’t
cost anything but a little time. You and your instrument will be healthier and work better, and possibly
you just might be more kissable! ◆
THE DOUBLE REED
British
Double
Reed
Society
121
Bassonicus - Aura versus merit?
Bassoon Sonatas by Arnold Cooke and Hindemith
Jefferey Cox
Godalwing, England
Reprinted with permission from the Double Reed News of the BDRS, No. 73, Winter 2005, pp. 16-17.
OBITUARY: ARNOLD COOKE (1906-2005)
Arnold Cooke was born in Yorkshire, studied at
Cambridge and under Hindemith in Berlin, returning for a short time to Cambridge as Director of Music for the Festival Theatre. Until World War II he was
Professor of Harmony and Counterpoint in Manchester. After the war he joined the staff of Trinity
College of Music. His many compositions include an
opera based on Mrs. Gaskell’s novel, Mary Barton.
In the Spring 2002 issue of DRN (No.58) Jefferey Cox
compared the Cooke and Hindemith sonatas for bassoon. We reprint the article here as a tribute to Arnold
Cooke.
ARTICLES
T
he refracting lens of a big name can play curious tricks - a dove drawn by Picasso carries
quite a different resonance (and price tag!) to
one drawn by an unfashionable artist, whatever the
merits of the drawing. The same can apply to music
- a minor work by a major composer can be vested
with greater status that its equivalent by a relatively
unknown composer simply because it benefits from
the aura of that composer’s overall reputation. This,
to my mind, is the fate that has befallen Arnold
Cooke’s Sonata for bassoon and piano, a work that by
rights should be as well known and frequently played
as Hindemith’s; but is more or less unknown because
Cooke is himself so little known.
Cooke was Hindemith’s pupil and the works are
very much from the same mould. As a young music
student at Cambridge, Arnold Cooke had been impressed by Hindemith’s musical ideas and he decided
to study with him in Berlin. He went there in 1929
and stayed a total of 3 years at the Hochschule fur
Musik, where Hindemith was a member of the faculty. Hindemith, who was concerned at the increasing alienation of the listening public from music as
a result of Schoenberg’s 12-tone system, had set out
to re-establish that relationship, which he believed
could be best achieved by forging a new musical lan-
guage firmly set within the framework of tonality.
Hindemith’s musical intelligence, commitment, and
composing and teaching skills ensured a wide international exposure and earned him a reputation as
one of Europe’s leading musical thinkers. His prolific
output over a variety of musical forms was also dazzling, but although he endeared himself to musicians
by his ideas and by composing for their instruments,
he no less than Schoenberg failed to attract an enthusiastic audience. Indeed, his productivity contrived
to undermine his standing. So did his emphasis on
the importance of craftsmanship as opposed to inspiration (a deliberate down-playing of the romantic image of the composer as mouthpiece of the Muse). He
also set out to write ‘fun and functional music’, which
was sometimes dismissed as ‘Gebrauchsmusik’- utilitarian music. It became fashionable for antagonistic
critics to denigrate him as a jobbing composer and
pedant.
But worse was to come. Hindemith fell foul of
the Nazis, who prohibited performance of his music
and harried him until in 1936 he chose to emigrate
first to Switzerland, then to the United States, but not
before he had written Mathis der Maler, a thematic
symphony. He subsequently developed this into an
opera expressing the anguish of the artist struggling
to maintain his artistic integrity in a time of massive
social upheaval. Not surprisingly, the opera did not
receive its first performance in Germany until after the war, and meanwhile Hindemith’s music was
branded ‘kulturbolschewistisch’ and even ‘entartet’,
a German word with almost Darwinian connotations
- ‘art’ being in its most fundamental sense a biological or zoological species, so a debasing of the ‘species’
music.
But back to the musical specifics which attracted
Arnold Cooke. Hindemith’s music has a very particular overall sound - a distinctive musical signature
that makes it instantly recognisable. This derives from
the importance he gives the interval of a fourth in
his musical language, and to a lesser degree, that of a
fi ft h. In a nutshell, the musical path he trod was based
on a re-ordering of the accepted harmonic hierarchy
ARTICLES
122
BASSONICUS - AURA VERSUS MERIT? BASSOON SONATAS BY ARNOLD COOKE AND HINDEMITH
fourths; the ‘Red Shift’ in overall sound; and the mu- a shuffling of existing cards rather than the invensical notation is smothered in accidentals - most of
tion of new decks. To my mind, the effect is vaguely
them flats or double flats! Even after playing the work
modal, and a kind of ‘Doppler Shift’ towards the red
several times it can still feel like being in a Formula
end of the spectrum. The predominance of fourths
One car negotiating a series of unfamiliar chicanes.
gives the music a pervasive seriousness, not to say
One memorable passage (in the tenor clef!) being the
melancholy, and shafts of sunlight seem relatively few.
sequence below.
Also, Hindemith liked to develop his ideas in linear
terms, and his music can be highly contrapuntal.
Taken together, they endow his
music with a certain unrelieved
gravitas, which may account
for his lack of appeal to a wider
audience.
Hindemith’s Sonata for
bassoon and piano was written in
the same year as the opera Mathis
der Maler (1938), and is one of a
series he decided to write for all
the instruments of the orchestra
- an undertaking that is itself a
clue to his systematised approach
to music. The Sonata exhibits the
characteristics described above,
though has a refreshing simplicReproduced by kind permission of the publisher - June Emerson
ity and directness. It fits into a
I began this article by suggesting that Cooke’s is
small space. Its demands on the player are ones to
the better of the two sonatas. I think it is the more
do with expression and a sense of structure rather
substantial work, the more memorable, makes more
than technical facility and Hindemith takes a rather
of the bassoon’s range and is more satisfying to play.
conservative view of the instrument’s compass. HinIn terms of inspiration, Cooke’s slow movement is
demith played the bassoon (amongst several instrurather special, whereas Hindemith’s is more an apolments), but not to a professional standard and this
(as well as the desire to position the piece so that it
ogy of a movement and to my mind the weakest secwas accessible to students) may have influenced his
tion of the piece.
choice of range and difficulty. The first movement is
Convinced? I would not expect you to be - these
a distinct entity and based on a theme consisting of
matters are highly subjective. My point is that there
intervals of a fi ft h, followed by a fourth, followed by
is a fine bassoon sonata out there waiting for the ata third, a second and finally a fi ft h again. The next
tention it deserves. I believe it is only the aura surthree movements are continuous, with a short march
rounding Hindemith that has attracted players to his
separating a meditation and a re-working of the maSonata rather than that of his pupil.
terial of the first movement in wistful mood.
There have been any number of recordings of the
Arnold Cooke wrote his Sonata in 1988, so 50
Hindemith. I have it played by Milan Turkovic on
years after Hindemith’s. Its structure is more conSony SK64400; Dag Jensen on Dabringhaus Grimm
ventional that Hindemith’s - three separate moveMDG 603 0831-2; and Mauro Monguzzi on Bonments (two quickish ones bracketing a central Largiovanni GB 5565-2. The only recording I know of
go) and it is also a third longer (about 12’ 30”). The
the Arnold Cooke is by Roger Birnstingl, to whom
things that distinguish this Sonata for me are the
the sonata is dedicated and who gave the first perforfine sweep of the first movement, which sounds commance in a BBC recital in 1988. It was that recording
pletely of a piece; the wonderfully elegiac principal
(which, by the way, is full of inspirational playing)
theme of the second movement (with its contrasting
which introduced me to the work and inspired this
and mood-lightening central section); and the energy
article. ◆
and bounce of the Finale. The student’s homage to his
master is very evident - there is a predominance of
THE DOUBLE REED
123
Historical Oboes 15
Lorée Oboes of John Mack’s Era
Robert Howe
Wilbraham, Massachussetts
Figure 1. Lorée
oboes CY68
(1973) and
PO24 (2004).
The decorations
on PO24’s bell
were added by
the author’s
daughter.
T
ARTICLES
his year marks the 125th anniversary of the
founding of the most prominent French oboe
making firm, F. Lorée of Paris. This is also
the centenary of the modern oboe, the System 6 bis
“conservatoire” mechanism, developed by Lorée1,
which is used by most oboists of North America and
Europe.2 In my columns this year, I had intended to
explore little-known aspects of Lorée’s oboe production. However, on July 23 we lost one of our giants,
John Mack. Mack’s playing in the Cleveland Orchestra and teaching at the Cleveland Institute of Music
set the standards for American oboists of his generation. Most of us are indebted to Mack in one way
or another, whether by having studied with him, by
having heard him in performance, by being enchanted by his elegant recordings, or by simply working in
the community of oboists which he influenced from
the 1960’s until his death. This column is my homage
to John Mack.
John Mack played Lorée oboes for his entire career, a decision that was easy for him early on - he
studied at a time when almost all American symphony oboists used oboes by Lorée or Alfred Laubin; the
multiplicity of fi ne oboe makers that we enjoy today
developed in the 1980s. Intensely loyal to the Lorée
firm, Mack went to Paris regularly to pick oboes,
even after retiring from the Cleveland Orchestra.3
He maintained this preference as many of his colleagues - including some on stage with him at Severance Hall - took to playing oboes by other firms. It
thus is fitting and instructive to examine two oboes
that, although not owned by Mr. Mack, crossed his
path at an interval of 30 years. By doing so we can see
some of the alterations made upon the conservatoire
oboe and learn how it has continued to develop, nine
decades after its invention.
My first exposure to John Mack came at age 16,
when I purchased the Cleveland Orchestra’s 1967
recording of Rossini Overtures.4 Captivated by the
oboe playing, I took the LP to my teacher, Larry Allen, who told me of Mr. Mack, and who suggested
that, as a student intending to study science and
music, I might enjoy attending college in Cleveland.
Having just received my first professional quality
ARTICLES
124
HISTORICAL OBOES 15: LORÉE OBOES OF JOHN MACK’S ERA
oboe, CY68 (figure 1), I took his advice seriously and
ended up at Case Western Reserve University. There
I had the pleasure of studying with Felix Kraus,5 of
attending John Mack’s master classes, and of hearing the Cleveland Orchestra almost 100 times in four
years. A previous teacher, Isai Belinsky, had ordered
CY68 for me in February 1973. In 1973 few dealers
sold imported oboes, so Mr Belinsky dealt directly
with Robert de Gourdon at Lorée.6 This was my only
oboe from September 1973 until February 1995.
The purchase price of approximately $800 (including taxes and shipping) was the equivalent of
$3800 today.7 As a Lorée oboe sells for about $6000 in
2006, a college education is not the only commodity
whose price rose in excess of inflation during my lifetime! Mr. Mack tried this oboe when I played for him
as a college freshman, in July 1977, in May 1978 and
again in July 1981, speaking well of it each time.
Oboe PO24, although also by Lorée, is very different from CY68. PO24 is Lorée’s Royal model, introduced in 1989.8 Mr. Mack chose this oboe from
three at the Lorée atelier in April 2004. The differences between these oboes are revealing. PO24 has a
different color, more mass, larger tone holes, a more
complex bell design, and a more intricate mechanism
than CY68. Each of these factors can be related to
modern trends in oboe playing.
PO24’s body is of violetwood (or “kingwood”),
which is yellow-brown and less dense than grenadilla.9 Mr Mack picked a kingwood oboe for me because
arthritis of the right elbow and wrist makes a heavy
oboe burdensome. CY68 weighs only 646 grams;
PO24 weighs 701 grams; Lorée oboe QM74, a grenadilla Royal, weighs 747 grams, 16% more than CY68.
Thus the violetwood saves me from heft ing 46 grams
as I play the oboe.
Does it matter what an oboe weighs? Mr. Mack
felt so, telling me that heavier oboes have a bigger,
more interesting sound than their lighter cousins.10
Although physicists and musicians argue over the relationship between the materials and woodwind playing characteristics, his assertion is very reasonable. A
denser wood has more material per unit of volume
and thus, per unit of bore surface area. Denser wood
will provide a bore with a smoother, more highly polished grain, which will induce fewer perturbations in
the air stream and will require less energy to put the
air into motion.11
Woods other than grenadilla were rare as material for oboes in the 1970s, but have become more
popular of late; this mirrors the situation of a century
ago, when grenadilla achieved dominance over South
American tropical hardwoods as the primary material for woodwind bodies.12 Players usually choose
exotic woods for their sonic qualities rather than for
their weight; they are held to have a softer sound than
grenadilla.13 It is interesting that, although grenadilla
is the most popular wood for oboes (and the only
wood Mr. Mack used), the Lorée website emphasizes
the kingwood Royal oboe.
How is it that PO24 weighs more than CY68,
which is made of a denser wood? Two facts explain
this. PO24 has more metal; there are several more
keys and the thumb rest is bigger. But more important to the characteristics of these oboes is that the
Royal oboe has thicker walls than does the standard
Lorée, then and now. At the decorative bead atop
the upper joint, for example, CY68 has a diameter
of 20.9mm; PO24, of 21.3 mm. One calculates that
PO24 has about 8% more volume of wood than the
older oboe.14 Having more wood makes an oboe more
thermally stable. PO24 thus takes longer to warm up
and to come to pitch than does CY68, but I find that
once warmed up, PO24 holds its pitch better through
the course of an evening. Having more wood also
may make the top joint less susceptible to cracking;
Viennese oboes have a large baluster on the top joint,
purportedly to reduce the incidence of cracks. The
trick seems to work, as I know of few cracked Royals
and of no cracked Viennese oboes.
The keys of PO24 are larger than CY68’s; their
low B keys, for example, have diameters of 15.5 and
14.1 mm respectively, a proportion that applies also
to the tone holes underneath. This is a consequence of
the Royal oboe’s thicker walls. Having thicker walls,
the newer oboe also has longer tone hole chimneys,
which if uncompensated would cause it to play flat.
Enlarging the tone holes corrects this, although there
is a limit to how far this process can be taken; making
the tone holes too large will give the oboe too bright
a sound. Thus one is not surprised to find that PO24
is 2.6 mm shorter than CY68, most of the difference
being in the lower joint. Many players make sharper
reeds for their Royal oboes; Mr Mack was one such
oboist.
While I have no detailed measurements, simple
observation shows that the bell on CY68 is composed
of a relatively broad cone intersecting the main bore
of the instrument just below the B f tone hole, thus
having two tapers. The Royal’s bell includes three tapers. Placing the older bell on the newer instrument,
I feel that the tone gets less dark; but performing the
reverse experiment, I can perceive no reciprocal difference. Mack was very fussy with the bells of his
THE DOUBLE REED
Figure 2. F-resonance mechanism on Yamaha Wieneroboe 0010, made before 1994. When the Ef key is
pressed, the metal loop closes the F resonance key.
erwise employ forked F. Mr. Mack, in the 1970s, was
adamant on using left hand F rather than forked F
whenever possible; this was at least in part because
the forked F resonance mechanism did not as effectively match the sound of long F as it does today.
Until I bought my second professional oboe, I almost
never used forked F. The discipline that this practice
instilled has been as valuable to me in medicine and
in writing as in oboe playing.19
Another key which became standard between
1973 and 2006 is the low B f resonance vent. Bell
tones on conical woodwinds are notorious for being
loud and rough-edged; the vent key makes the low B f
easier to play and permits the oboe’s lowest note to
match its neighbors in timbre and response. This key,
like all others on the oboe, carries the risk of leakage;
if the vent leaks even a little bit, the upper E in the
staff can be greatly perturbed. Most oboists prefer the
key, but not all; the American makers Alfred Laubin
and Paul Covey find this key to be redundant and do
not routinely provide it.20
The final mechanical addition to PO24 is the
third octave key. This opens a tiny vent to facilitate
playing high notes from E, especially in a piano dynamic. The merits of this key are subject to legitimate
debate, but it has become part of the standard setup
of a modern oboe. A professional oboe player who
must perform a lot of modern music will find this key
to be more useful than will an amateur who rarely
plays above Ds.
Playing these oboes, one finds several invisible
differences. Competition between makers and ongoing research have led to many improvements in the
conservatoire oboe. Most of the problem notes of 30
years ago are now improved or corrected, including
ARTICLES
instruments; I recall a master class in 1977, when
Dianne Byberg noted yellow tape inside the bell of
his oboe. She made a teasing gesture as if to remove
this tape, to which Mack responded that her doing so
would ruin his high G.
When I bought CY68, there was one bore for all
Lorée oboes; now, in response to the demands of the
market, one can purchase a Lorée oboe in a standard bore, a DM bore, or an AK bore.15 The AK bore,
which replicates a series of oboes from the late 1930s,
has been applied to both the standard (thin-walled)
and Royal model Lorée oboes. PO24 is in fact an AK
bore.
Let’s look now at the keywork.16 CY68 is in the
Tabuteau system, a variant of the conservatoire system. Marcel Tabuteau, who was the principal oboist
in the Philadelphia Orchestra at mid-century, taught
oboe at the Curtis Institute. While there he mentored
many of the prominent American oboists of the late
20th century, including Mr. Mack, Mr. Kraus, Harold and Ralph Gomberg, John de Lancie, Robert
Bloom and others. The main distinction of the Tabuteau system oboe is that it omits resonance keys for
forked F and low B f, as well as the third octave key.
Each of these resources can be found on oboes from
before 1950,17 but they were not generally used in the
1960s and 1970s.
The F resonance mechanism is the most important of these devices. Introduced to French oboes
by the firm of A. Robert in 1907,18 the F resonance
key was considered optional in the 1960s but is now
standard equipment. The forked F on any oboe is very
stuff y, especially in the lower register. The F resonance mechanism opens a vent when fingers 4 and 6
are pressed, with 5 open. This vent improves the tone
and response of the F. In fact, the F resonance key
is redundant, because the E f tone hole is in almost
the same location and can be used to vent the otherwise-stuff y forked F. The F resonance mechanism
gives this venting function without pressing the E f
key, thus simplifying many fingering combinations.
As nice as this is, it has the weakness that in fast passages where the E f key is kept down for facility, having both the E f and F resonance keys open makes the
forked F sharp. This flaw is avoided on the modern
Vienna oboe (as made by Yamaha) by the placement
of a simple wire loop which, when the E f touch is depressed, prevents the F resonance hole from opening
(figure 2).
An oboe that lacks the F resonance key obliges
the player to make more frequent use of left hand F,
even in combinations with D and E f that might oth-
125
ARTICLES
126
HISTORICAL OBOES 15: LORÉE OBOES OF JOHN MACK’S ERA
the sharp fourth space E, sharp high Cs and D, difficult low Cs, and flat low B.
John Mack used Lorée Royal oboes from the early
1990s until his death. How did this model of oboe relate to his work?21 As American orchestras become
louder and darker in overall sound during the 1980s,
Mack and other players demanded oboes to match.22
He found that the more massive, larger holed Royal
oboe allowed him more projection and a more secure low register. The Low B f vent and third octave
key provided small but meaningful tonal advantages
(Mack had always used oboes with F resonance keys)
while the improved scale called for less fussing with
pitch. Thus in the 1990s, Mack and his colleagues
adroitly exploited the Royal’s characteristics to meet
the demands of playing in large orchestras, even as
musical fashions called simultaneously for bigger and
darker woodwind sounds. Players and instruments
thus affected each other as they have for centuries.
Americans do not achieve nobility; we have no
counts, dukes or earls. Yet in 1997, after a series of
performances at Carnegie Hall, the New York Times’
critic referred to Mr. Mack as “a prince”, singling out
just one player out from the extraordinary Cleveland
Orchestra.23 How apt that the Prince of Oboists ended his career playing on a Royal oboe. ◆
NOTES
1 Robert Howe, “The Boehm System Oboe and Its
Role in the Development of the Modern Oboe.”
Galpin Society Journal 56 [June 2003]: 27-60, 190192. Geoffrey Burgess and Bruce Haynes, The Oboe
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004), 125-69.
2 In Great Britain the thumbplate system oboe remains dominant. Robert Howe, “Historical Oboes
13: A Système 5 Oboe by François Lorée, Paris”.
The Double Reed 29:1, 99-102, 2006.
3 He once described a very fine oboe of mine, made
by another firm, as being suitable “for amateurs
and saxophone players”.
4 LP record, Columbia MS 7031. The overtures are
La scala di seta, La Gazza ladra , L’Italiana in Algeri, Il Turco in Italia and Il viaggio a Reims.
5 Felix Kraus was then the Cleveland Orchestra’s
second oboist; he moved to English horn in 1979
and enjoyed a 25 year career on that instrument.
6 Lorée was then located at 4 rue de Vert-Bois,
Paris, near the National Conservatory. The firm
moved to its present address on rue de Rome, in
Paris’ wonderful music district, only four years
ago.
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Calculated from US rates of inflation, 1973-2005.
The standard Lorée today sells for about $6000;
the grenadilla Royal is $7500 and the violetwood
Royal, $8000. http://eh.net/hmit/inflation/inflationr.php, accessed September 26, 2006. www.
mmimports.com, accessed October 1, 2006
Note that the title is “Royal”, not “Royale”. The
company’s advertising notes, “In 1989 a Masterpiece of art is created, combining musicality, reliability and beauty: Le Royal. Among the piece
of Grenadilla wood with fine and homogeneous
grain selected by Lorée for its instruments, only
those with the most beautiful aspect are used for
the manufacturing of the Royal. The instrument
appeals to those looking for a darker and rounder
tone given by thicker wood. Stricter jointing tolerances and the multiplication of tests throughout the production stages lead to an improvement
of the legendary reliability of the Lorée mechanism.” http://www.Lorée-paris.com/htgb/0001.
htm. Accessed October 1, 2006
This is not rosewood, an endangered species that
is no longer legally harvested. Makers using rosewood, like those using natural ivory, thus must
have pre-existing stocks of material. Rosewood
also has a greater tendency than other tropical
hardwoods to cause dermatitis in woodworkers.
Allen St. John, “Guitar Builder”, Popular Mechanics, October 2005. “Rare guitar woods”, New York
Times Magazine, Vol. 143, Issue 49599:9, 2/6/94.
B. Woods, B, C. Calnan, “Toxic woods”, British J
Dermatology 94: 33-36, 1976
This was in a conversation with Ruth Cameron
and the author, November 2003
Arthur Benade, Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics (New York: Dover, 1990), 499-501.
Burgess and Haynes, The Oboe, 142-3.
A major Lorée dealer notes, “(Grenadilla) is the
most dense of the woods used to make oboes.
Grenadilla oboes project very well and are less
prone to cracking. These oboes change dimensions more slowly over time often taking longer
to “blow out”. Cocabola wood, from Mexico,
is less dense than grenadilla. It keeps the beneficial traits of grenadilla while having a slightly
warmer sound. Violetwood (also called kingwood), from South America, is less dense than
cocabola, and thus has a characteristic warm,
sweet sound. Rosewood is the least dense of the
standard woods used to make oboes. It has the
sweetest sound but doesn’t always project as well
(it is well-suited for chamber music). Some points
THE DOUBLE REED
14
15
17
18
19 Indeed, many of Mack’s aphorisms are good
advice for surgeons. One thinks of the need to
“make every gesture meaningful”, of “never take
no from an inanimate object”, of “wishing won’t
make it so”, and of my favorite—“if you keep
learning new tricks, you’ll never be an old dog”.
20 Covey, who was an early student of Mack’s at
the Cleveland Institute of Music, includes a low
B f resonance on his Traditional Model Oboe (a
design dating from 1979) but excludes this and
the third octave key from his Classic Model, introduced in the Fall of 2000. http://www.oboes.
com/TheCoveyOboe.html, accessed October 3,
2006.
21 Data in this paragraph come from a series of conversations I had with Mr Mack in September-December 2003.
22. Anne deGourdon, the present proprietress of
Lorée, noted, “It is very difficult to tell you when
exactly the tone holes of our oboes became larger.... We always try to improve our instruments
and things are slowly changing, following the
demands of our Customers all along the years.”
E-mail to the author, October 6, 2006.
23 “Among many others, the principal oboe sounded like a prince, especially in Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ and Luciano Berio’s ‘Rendering’, which
renders (Schubert’s) late symphonic sketches. So
many pleasures.” Paul Griffiths, “Clevelanders’
Three Nights of Reveling in Schubert”. New York
Times, February 3, 1997: C13.
ARTICLES
16
to keep in mind: denser woods generally project better, are less prone to cracking, and don’t
change as much with time. Less dense woods
generally produce a warmer, sweeter sound with
less of an edge.” www.mmimports.com, accessed
October 1, 2006
Hence much of the 101 gram difference in weight
between CY68 and QM74, both of which are
grenadilla; I calculate that about half of this is
due to the extra wood.
The website of a major Lorée dealer notes: “Lorée
oboes come in three bore styles, which physically differ mostly in the bell: 1) Regular bore, the
standard. This bore style predates both the AK
and the DM bore. It has a rich, dark tone which
oboists have come to love. 2) AK bore: this is bore
is based on the AK-series oboes. This instrument
has a slightly more conical bore than the Regular,
rendering it narrower near the top and slightly
wider at the bell. The resulting sound is focused
and dark, with less of an “edge” to it. This bore
is very popular, especially in North America. 3)
DM bore: The Deutsche Model, is more cylindrical than the Regular bore. A full, dark “German”
sound results from the wider top and the narrower bell.” http://www.mmimports.com/oboes.
cfm, accessed October 3, 2006.
The extension on key 4 on PO24 and the unique
C-D trill key on CY68 are meant to provide the
player a more comfortable reach.
Robert Howe, “Historical Oboes 7: A Bleuzet
Model Oboe by Couesnon/Triébert.” The Double
Reed 25:2 [2002] p. 117-120
Robert was a major competitor of Lorée in the
early 20th century. “En 1907, M. ROBERT trouva le moyen d’employer cette clè de resonance
pour le fa de fourche exclusivement.” M. Bleuzet,
“Hautbois”. In, Lionel de la Laurencie (ed), Encyclopédie de la Musique et Dictionnaire du Conservatoire (Paris, Libararie Delagrave, 1925) 2:
1538.
127
128
VIBRATO: NO LONGER A MYSTERY!
Vibrato: No Longer a Mystery!
Jan Eberle
East Lansing, Michigan
ARTICLES
A
s oboists, many of us have found the subject
of vibrato to be taboo. If it were mentioned at
all by our teachers we were most likely told,
“If you blow right, vibrato will appear” or “Vibrato
comes with maturity, you just need to experience
more of life.” While this approach may work for some,
others might benefit from a more concrete method.
Let’s define vibrato as “a waver to the sound which
adds warmth and expression.” It is a desired skill that,
unfortunately, many of us find difficult to achieve or
teach. Perhaps I can help. This article presents various forms of vibrato and reveals tests to locate areas
of production. Then, it describes methods to develop
a chosen style and shows techniques to musically implement it. What fun! Let’s get started.
At this time, I know of nine ways to produce vibrato on the oboe. Here they are:
Hand vibrato is produced by wiggling a hand on
the instrument while playing. Check for the use of this
vibrato through visual observation…is the hand moving? While this technique may be useful on jazz trumpet, it does not work well on the oboe. Our instrument
requires the balanced use of both hands while playing.
This vibrato cannot be easily produced without some
sacrifice to that position. My recommendation: avoid
this method.
Jaw vibrato is produced by actually opening and
closing the jaw while playing, or with a more subtle
motion of tightening and loosening the lower lip.
Look for this type of production by observing motion
of the jaw or by placing a finger in the mouth to feel for
a grab and release of the lower lip. While this vibrato
style works well in the saxophone world, on oboe it
causes too much variance in pitch. Better methods
follow; keep reading!
Tongue vibrato is produced by saying “yo, yo, yo”
while playing. Try saying this while placing a finger
far inside the mouth. With each statement of “yo” you
will feel the middle of the tongue arch to touch the finger and then recede. This motion does produce a waver of tone but has adverse effects on pitch and timbre.
I recommend it not be used. Let’s reserve the tongue
for the duties of articulation, tone color and voicing.
Diaphragm vibrato is produced by panting or
pulsing with the diaphragm area while playing. If specific instruction on vibrato is given, this is the form
most often taught. Testing for this method involves
placing a hand on the abdomen at the diaphragm
area and feeling for any kind of motion. While it does
quickly produce a waver to the tone, I must say that I
see the diaphragm vibrato as unacceptable for use on
the oboe. GASP! I know I have startled many of my
readers, but please, read on!
My biggest issue with using diaphragm vibrato
on the oboe is one of concept. Let’s look at the violinist. He produces his sound with the right arm, his
vibrato with the left. This seems natural enough. Can
you imagine a violinist wiggling the bow while playing in order to produce the vibrato? Of course not, this
seems absurd! He would not use his source of sound
as his source for the waver to that sound. Yet, that is
exactly what the diaphragm vibrato is making oboists
do! We produce our air stream from the diaphragm
area and therefore we should not use that same source
to produce the waver to that sound. Okay?! Doesn’t
that make sense? The other problem with using diaphragm vibrato is that it is very difficult to change
speed, depth, or color. Look again at the string player.
A violinist is initially taught to produce vibrato by using a motion with the left arm, from the elbow up. As
the player becomes more sophisticated, subtler actions
are engaged. He will then be taught to move from the
wrist, then from the hand, and at the highest degree
of refinement, from the knuckle. An elite player will
use all of these in combination, or pick and choose
among them to achieve different sounds. He may vary
his choice according to the style of music or even alter
between forms within one phrase! Diaphragm vibrato
on an oboe does not allow for these subtleties. So, if I
could get past the conceptual difficulty of using the
air source for the air waver, I would still reject the diaphragm vibrato based on its limited variety.
Now, on to what I DO accept! Some may refer to
it as the “throat” vibrato, but I prefer to designate five
specific locations. These are presented in order, from
the “highest” spot, meaning a place higher in the
throat or closer to the oboe reed, to the “lowest” one,
meaning a place lower in the throat or further from
the oboe reed. Remember, for the moment we will be
trying these SANS oboe!
Whistle. This vibrato is produced by whistling a
tune without creating the pitches. “Yankee Doodle”
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school. All week long the Vocal person will serenade
the neighbors, the “Cougher” will worry her parents,
the “Whistler” will annoy his roommate, the “Laugher”...well, you get the idea. Develop the chosen vibrato
AWAY FROM the oboe. Strengthen the muscles that
produce the waver. In week two, use that stronger vibrato action while blowing on the BACK of the oboe
reed. Yes, that means place the oboe staple in your
mouth instead of the cane! This gives the sensation
of an oboe embouchure but eliminates the resistance
of the reed. Again, strengthen the vibrating muscles.
In another week or so, when the vibrato is occurring
easily under these conditions, move to the next phase.
Place the reed in the oboe and the oboe into playing
position. Now, blow with the vibrato action but without using enough air speed or support to actually produce a sound on the oboe. You should be hearing just
air which now has a waver. Remember, there is to be
no pitch or tone, just air motion. Get familiar with this
feel for yet another week. The final step is to increase
the support and air speed enough that an oboe tone
with vibrato emerges! It works like a charm.
Or rather, it should. If it doesn’t, one of several
things has happened. Most common is that the process
got cheated. Perhaps the student didn’t really spend
the week strengthening his vibrato source away from
the oboe. Or, he did, but then skipped the work on the
back of the reed. This results in failure because the vibrating muscles don’t have enough power to counteract the resistance of the oboe. Just as the weight lifter
gradually adds weights and the runner gradually adds
miles, we must gradually add resistance. Be certain to
take the time to build the vibrato strength.
Another common problem is that a student will
hear the initial vibrato result as being too broken. This
causes him to stop the action! Instead, at that point,
have him keep the motion going while using even
more support and wind speed. He must think of blowing “across” the waver in order to make it smooth.
Some students have a mental block. The symptoms are clear: every time the reed goes in the mouth,
the vibrato action stops; or, in those that were taught
the diaphragm vibrato, every time the reed goes in the
mouth, the diaphragm motion starts. To solve this
problem, use the following additional step. Have the
student begin his vibrato without a reed. Then, in slow
motion, have him slide the reed into his mouth. He
must keep the waver going, without the diaphragm
action, as the reed slides in. Have him repeat this
process until it can be accomplished with ease. Then,
introduce the oboe-with-reed in the same manner.
This procedure breaks the mental connection of reed-
ARTICLES
works nicely. Feel for some motion in the soft area under the chin about one inch back from the tip of the
jawbone.
Sister. Saying the first syllable of the word “sister”,
repeatedly, produces this vibrato. In other words say
“sis, sis, sis, sis”. Be certain that it is “sis” not “tsis”. Begin the action with a hiss of the “s”, rather than a clear
articulated “t”. Take care to continue the air stream
while repeating the syllable. Now, feel for movement
at the “tonsil area” where the doctor would check for
swollen glands.
Vocal. Sing a note and make it vibrate. Place your
flat fingers over your voice box. You may feel some vibration there. Or, you may hear a vibration, but not
really be able to locate a physical motion for it. Try
as you may, you will hear the vibrato but not be able
to feel its location. This is the classic vocal vibrato, as
I call it. By the way, this was most likely the vibrato
source used by those teachers who said, “If you blow
right, vibrato will appear.”
Cough. Imagine that you have a very sore throat
but must cough. You don’t want to, but you must. It
would be a very weak attempt at that cough wouldn’t
it? Try that, and feel for the motion that this action
creates at the sides of your throat slightly below the
Adam’s apple.
Laugh. Place your open palm just where the chest
meets your neck. Place your thumb on one side of
your neck and your four fingers on the other side.
Now laugh. Yes, laugh! Feel for a motion all along the
edge of your index finger, your thumb, and the curve
of flesh between them.
Okay, as I see it, these are the five acceptable forms
of vibrato. Each one alone offers a great deal of variety in speed and depth. Plus, a player can use these
in combination or switch among them at will. Wow!
This gives us the same capabilities as the most sophisticated violinist! Now, let’s get to work.
First, run a test to discover your best vibrato
source. Without the oboe, try Whistle, Sister, Vocal,
Cough, and Laugh. Use the checks mentioned above
and decide which form produces the strongest action. My experience tells me that everyone can immediately access at least one of these motions. In
fact, most people have several methods that work, so
rank them according to ease of production. Once the
favored version has been determined, spend at least
one week, without the oboe, strengthening that action. So, a person with Sister ranked as number one
will spend a week saying “sis, sis, sis” in the shower,
walking between classes, while waiting in the post office line, and at each stop light during the commute to
129
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130
VIBRATO: NO LONGER A MYSTERY!
in-mouth/vibrato stops or reed-in-mouth/diaphragm
kicks in.
Okay, we now have a lovely vibrato on the oboe.
Bravo! And, if you desire more options, you can repeat
this process for the other acceptable forms. Fabulous!
But, how shall we get this vibrato into the music? For
this task, I have a list of DOs and DON’Ts.
DO practice holding a long note while turning
the waver on and off at random time intervals. Having
this ability guarantees that you are in control of the
vibrato; it will no longer mysteriously appear and/or
disappear.
DO practice varying the vibrato speed during a
single note. Many of us understand the term “long
tone” to mean a single note held very long with an
increase then decrease in dynamics. Let’s add to this
concept the idea of a “vibrato long tone”. Hold a long
note and vary the vibrato speed. Go from no speed
through slow to fast and back again. Master this technique to assure vibrato flexibility.
DO learn to disassociate the vibrato action from
the fingers. This prevents two common faults: 1) vibrato always beginning after the start of the note,
and 2) vibrato being used on slow notes but not on
fast ones. Develop the ability to vibrate the phrase regardless of the pitch or rhythm changes. To discover
this skill, enlist a practice buddy. “Student” will hold
the oboe with reed-in-mouth and right hand only.
“Buddy” will cover the left hand pads with his left
hand fingers one, two, and three, thus fingering the
note G. Student blows with continuous vibrato action,
varying the speed as in the vibrato long tone. Buddy
now improvises a melody with the left hand by changing fingers one, two, and/or three to randomly produce notes G, A, and B. These finger changes should
be made with various rhythmic patterns and tempos.
The vibrato-producing person (student) will now actually hear and feel the vibrato continue through pitch
and tempo changes. This exercise duet firmly establishes the concept that vibrato can be disconnected
from finger action.
DON’T practice the vibrato by pulsing a set
number of wavers (triplets, sixteenths, etc.) per metronome beat. This concept may have stemmed from
string pedagogy. String players benefit from this type
of practice because of the actual distance that the arm,
hand, finger, or knuckle must travel. It forces them to
vary the speed and enables them to better feel how far
to move. In a wind player’s case, this practice can be
musical vibrato suicide! We want a flexible, living vibrato that can be added at our discretion to a musical
line. We do not want to sound like a vibrato stop on
a theater organ! Do not use this rhythmic method to
vary the speed and depth of your vibrato. Instead, refer to the previous “vibrato long tone” discussion.
DON’T begin applying vibrato to music with
the idea of using it only on long notes. This thought
strengthens the mental block preventing the disassociation of fingers and vibrato.
Instead, take a simple melody…lets say, “Happy
Birthday”. Now, imagine the melody while playing
only one pitch. Vary your wind speed, dynamics,
and vibrato on the one tone to enhance that imaginary musical line. Next, imagine that same melody
but play only the first note, the climax note, and the
ending note. Again, move your wind speed, dynamics, and vibrato to enhance that slightly more complex
presentation of the line. Finally, play the melody in its
proper form. Move your air speed, dynamics, and vibrato to enhance it and VOILA! There is a beautifully
vibrated musical line produced with control at your
discretion.
So, we have arrived!!! You now have a lovely vibrato to add life, warmth, and expression to your playing.
You are armed with tips and techniques to help your
students. And, the vibrato mystery has been solved.
Enjoy! ◆
AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY
Jan Eberle is associate professor of
oboe at Michigan State University,
East Lansing. During the summer
months, she serves as principal
oboist of the Chautauqua Symphony and teaches at the Chautauqua
School of Music in New York.
She is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music
in Philadelphia, having earned a Bachelor of Music degree and a Certificate of Special Study. Her principal
teachers have been John Mack, John de Lancie, and
William Criss. Other strong influences have been Joseph Robinson, to whom she played second oboe for
four summers, and Marcel Tabuteau, through study
of his tape-recorded master classes and teachings of
his former students.
Prior to teaching at Michigan State, Jan spent eighteen years as principal oboist of the Fort Worth Symphony in Texas. She has recorded orchestral, chamber
music, and solo repertoire for Musical Heritage, Zefel,
Resmiranda, Blue Griffin records, and Rosen DVD.
She can be heard annually on the National Public Radio broadcasts of Concerts from Chautauqua.
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131
A Bassoon Lite, Please...
Divine Inspiration, Protective Mozart-ical Custody
Alan Goodman
Bedford, Wyoming
DIVINE INSPIRATION
B
ARTICLES
assoonajuana. Bassoonijane, Bassoonihemp.
The stuff was all over the place. Who would
have thought a high country meadow tucked
away within a half day drive of the Continental Divide would harbor what appeared to be several tons
of the stuff. But here it was just ten miles up from
Bedford, along the Strawberry Creek Trail, growing
as well as any native dandelion.
“Looks like poison ivy,” Horace Sherwood said
into the high altitude quiet.
Horace has lived in Bedford all his life, which
means he was born before the town. “Just one house
in 1938. And that’s the way it stayed until after the
war. After that all Hell broke loose when the GI’s
came home. Building like you never saw before.
When the dust settled there were four houses. That’s
when we decided on the name, Bedford. Things ain’t
never been the same since.”
“You sure it’s not bassoonajuana?”
“What in hell is bassoonajuana?” Horace said.
I’d learned to be patient with local folks like Horace. Several explanations of how I had made my living playing bassoon in a symphony orchestra hadn’t
really stuck. “You mean somebody paid to hear you
toot on that thing?” he’d managed to repeat after my
every introduction on the subject of classical music.
“Well, sure,” I’d say. “You see they got this big
building downtown where everybody goes to hear us
musicians play stuff like Mozart. I’d go onstage and
play my music along with about ninety-nine other
musicians…”
“Wait a minute,” Horace always said. He’d screw
his face up like he was trying to imagine one-hundred fleas dancing on the head of a pin. “You mean to
tell me you’d take that tooter of yourn and be tooting
away at the same time as ninety-nine other tooters,
plunkers and pickers?”
“Well, yeah. That‘s how it’s done. It’s like a family
reunion - we all talk at one time and somehow it all
makes sense in the end.” That’s when Horace would
turn his head from side to side and the eyes would
give a ‘You-think-I-was- born-yesterday’ look.
I leaned over one of the bassoonajuana plants and
was poised to pluck one of the leaves when a voice
boomed out from the surrounding mountains,” DO
NOT TOUCH MY STASH!”
“Holy crap!” Horace hollered. “What in hell was
THAT?”
“You know,” I said. “This stuff could be worth a
lot of money. It doesn’t work on the oboe. Those guys
are beyond help. But when you inhale some of this
stuff though the bassoon bocal suddenly your reeds
get less reedy and your tone gets tonier.”
Horace was tugging at my sleeve. “That voice was
unreal. Let’s get out of here. I been up here a thousand
times and I never ever heard a voice like that before.
As a matter of fact I never ever remember anything
like this poison ivy patch here. That stuff just doesn’t
grow in the mountains.”
But I was already stuffing several of the leaves
into my pocket. A bolt of lightning hit about a hundred yards from us and a pine tree the size of a ten
story building crashed down taking several other
trees with it. Horace bolted down the trail in the direction of town going about as fast as a man could
bolt carrying a heavy day pack through brush and
fallen timber.
“I WARNED YOU NOT TO TOUCH MY STASH.
THE NEXT TIME I WON’T BE SO MERCIFUL.”
Normally I would have been scared out of my
wits, but you just don’t come upon bassoonajuana in
the wild like this. I was delirious with the possibilities. I figured if I picked several pounds of the stuff
I could easily make my debut as the most fantastic
old bassoonist the world had ever seen. Why, with
enough of the stuff I could play the Stockhausen Bassoon Concerto with my eyes closed and my toes curled
over the edge of the manuscript. The future was mine
for the picking. No voice - no matter how frightening
- could separate me from my bassoonistic destiny.
That’s when the itching started. It began in my
pockets where the leaves were and headed up my
sleeve to my armpit. Before you could count to five,
I was dancing like a mad rabbit in heat. Every part of
my body was on fire.
“Oh, God!” I hollered into clear skies.
ARTICLES
132
A BASSOON LITE, PLEASE...
“YOU CALLED?” the voice boomed out.
“Why hast thou forsaken me? This itching is
driving me nuts.”
“I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE MY STUFF ALONE.
BUT NOOOOOOOO, YOU HAD TO HAVE SOME
OF MY PERSONAL BASSOONAJUANA. AT LEAST
I SPARED YOU THE BRIMSTONE, WHICH IS IN
GOOD SUPPLY UP HERE IN THE MOUNTAINS.”
“But I just wanted some for my old-age bassoon
comeback,” I said. “Just think, I could be the greatest
bassoonist who ever played after senility.”
“WHAT IS YOUR SENILITY COMPARED TO
MY RUNNING THE WORLD?”
“You mean you use this stuff to run the world?”
I said.
“LET’S JUST SAY WITH THINGS THE WAY
THEY ARE, IT HELPS TO BE HIGHER THAN
THOU... AND THOU … AND THOU … AND…”
It took me several hours to get down the mountain. Horace was waiting at the trail head when I got
there. “Geeez, you look like one large welt. I told you
that stuff looked like poison ivy,” he said.
Several weeks later, after the last of the rash had
disappeared and my skin began to look normal, I got
a call to give a bassoon recital in nearby Jackson Hole,
Wyoming. “I can’t,” I replied. “I would if I could, but
divine intervention has deprived me of inspiration.”
“Just as well,” Horace said when I gave him the
news. “Inspiration is overrated. At least now we have
time to go fishing.”
PROTECTIVE MOZART-ICAL CUSTODY
F
lashing red and whites in my rearview. Time
to pull over, roll down the window and remember if the auto insurance card was in the
glove compartment, my wallet or well-hidden under
the seat with the bubble gum and candy wrappers.
“Evening, officer.”
“Can I see your license, Sir? And proof of
insurance?”
The license was in my wallet. The insurance card
eluded my shuffling through both wallet and glove
compartment. The cop waited patiently.
“Officer, I’m glad you stopped me. I wonder if you
wouldn’t mind taking me into protective custody?”
“You been drinking, Sir?”
“As a matter of fact I just had two glasses of
red Mozart Bassoon Concerto, another of white
Beethoven Fourth Symphony. And afterwards, a cold
bottle of Last Rite Of Spring.”
“Sir, I need your insurance card.”
“Officer, I demand protection. For my own good,
lock me up!”
“Sir, you were only going ten miles per hour over
the speed limit.”
“You don’t understand, Officer. I’m a former bassoonist. I’ve just accepted an offer to play at a bassoon
festival in Idaho. Now I have to go home and make a
reed, something I swore I’d never, ever do again.”
“Sir, can I have your insurance card?”
“Officer, I’m a marked man. Cuff me. Throw me
in the clink. I can go eleven mph over the speed limit
if that helps. My bassoon is trying to reclaim my body
and soul.”
“Body and Soul? Sounds like the name of a tune
I heard once.”
“Yeah, sure, maybe on a normal instrument
like the saxophone. But we’re talking weird. Insane.
Something from out of your shadowed past. Creepy
things that go ‘Bolero’ in the night!”
“Bolero in the night. You been smoking something harmful to society, Sir?”
“Officer, my bassoon is gunning for me. I know
it. It can’t be a coincidence that there’s a full moon on
the same night I get a call to play in a bassoon band
in Idaho next month. Can it? Help me. Arrest me and
shuffle me into the bassoon protection program.”
“Sir, if you’ll just calm down and hand me your
insurance card we can both get on our way.” The officer tipped his Smokey The Bear hat when I found
the card. He walked back to his Black and White, assuring me he would be back in a moment. I sat there
thinking about the last time I had tackled Beethoven’s
Fourth Symphony. It had been at the Hollywood
Bowl. The cool Pacific breeze had wafted in like it always did just before the slow movement, tightening
violin strings to within a twang of criminally sharp.
I was squeezing the reed, the tune, the bassoon, and
my mortgage up to a unbelievably high tuning with
a mere two lips. My life passed before me. The last
movement with the speedy bassoon solo passed beneath me. Innocence passed me by for the umpteenth
time.
Without mustard, sauerkraut, and luck of the
Irish, Beethoven might easily have careened off the
tracks to meet up with some light-at-the-end-of-thetunnel Chattanooga Choo-Choo. Pupils still dilated
to full tilt, bassoon steaming from warp speed minus
any effective re-entry heat shield, I had nodded to an
ancient patron’s suggestion while coming offstage
that I must be the luckiest man on earth to be able to
actually sit in the middle of such a great performance
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133
night after night.
“Okay, Sir. Here’s your license. I’m going to let
you off with a warning this time. But be careful of
your speed.”
“Officer, please arrest me before I go home and
take the bassoon out of a dusty case. If I get mugged
by a large-bore bassoon with a Stravinsky score to
settle, it will be on your conscience.”
“Look, Sir. Why don’t you play it safe and send
a sub.”
“You mean like Ron Klimko?
“That’s the ticket.”
“I can’t do that, Officer.”
“Why not?”
“It’s against the Marquis D’ Compose rules of
critical engagement, as set down by the IDRS Bored
of Valid Excuses.’”
“They gunning for you too?”
“Not yet, Officer“
“Well, hang in there. Sounds like you’re ripe for
their list. Maybe next week.” He handed me my warning and drove off.
Cops are like conductors, I‘m thinking. They’re
always there to stop you, but rarely to offer the help
you need most. ◆
ARTICLES
134
REVIEWS
Reviews
THE DOUBLE REED
Bassoon
RECORDING
REVIEWS
REVIEWS BY RONALD KLIMKO
McCall, Idaho
135
between all instruments is incomparably good
- perhaps the best I’ve ever heard! It is as if one is
sitting in the ensemble oneself, surrounded by these
wonderful performers - quite a sensation.
With only these two works on the CD, the
recording is horribly short in length. But despite this
I MUST give the recording very high marks - in this
case, QUALITY wins out strongly over QUANTITY!
Rating: 3 Crows
Zéphyros Winds: Music of Gounod and
Mozart in Concert
(Jennifer Grim, flute; James Roe, oboe;
Marianne Gythfeldt, clarinet; Patrick Pridemore,
horn; Douglas Quint, bassoon; with guest
artists: Thomas Gallant, oboe; Gilad Harel,
clarinet; Laura Koepke, bassoon; Angela
Cordell, horn)
MCM Artists, PO Box 825, Highland, NY 12528;
Tel: 845.677.5881
No, this is not your usual combination of instruments!
As a matter of fact the opening work, Pas de Trio
by Dutch contemporary composer Bernard van
Beurden (b. 1933), was originally composed for
soprano saxophone, tenor sax and piano; and in this
recording the bassoon takes the place of the tenor
sax. In three movements: Overture, Pastorale and
Tarantella, the work takes on the quality of a ballet
- very “dance-like” throughout. At 10+ minutes, it is
not a very long work, but might be of interest to any
bassoonists looking for interesting and well-written
modern music to perform. I like the fact that the
program notes give the publishers of these works, (in
this case, it is MuziekGroep Nederland), since they
are so much less well known.
An equally spirited work by Czech composer
Jindrich Feld (b.1925) follows: Trio Giocoso (1994).
Also in three movements and published by Leduc
for clarinet, bassoon and piano, this arrangement for
sax, bassoon and piano was especially done by the
composer for Tse and Coelho, who gave it the first
performance with pianist I-Hsuan Tsai in 1997. The
altissimo parts in the saxophone are particularly
challenging, but come off beautifully in the recording
by saxophonist Tse, especially toward the end of the
final movement.
REVIEWS
This is a nice, live and lively recording of two of the
all-time favorite pieces for a chamber wind ensemble:
the Mozart Serenade in E f Major K. 375 (1781-2) and
Charles Gounod’s lovely Petite Symphonie for flute,
and oboes, clarinets, horns and bassoons in pairs.
Throughout the recording one can find everything
beautifully
handled:
performance,
tempos,
acoustics, recording technique, etc. Indeed the only
disappointing aspect of the recording, recorded live
at Northeastern Illinois University on April 1st,
2006, is the audience applause at the end of each of
the works - they obviously didn’t have as large an
audience as such a fine performance (and recording)
would merit!
The Mozart opens the recording with verve
and lots of spirit throughout. I particularly like the
brisk, sparkling tempo of the Allegro finale. Both
oboe soloist James Roe and bassoonist Doug Quint
have nice spurts of dazzling technique at this tempo,
and neither disappoint. Following this is Gounod’s
lovely Petite Symphonie, a long-time favorite
Romantic wind chamber work of mine. Here, I was
particularly impressed with the lovely Andante
second movement, where both solo flutist Jennifer
Grim and the ensemble accompaniment seem to be
in perfect sync throughout - both phrasing wise and
most especially dynamically. Bravo!
What is most impressive about this recording,
besides the excellent musical performances, is the
high quality of the recording technique. The balance
Pas de Trois: Music by Bernard van
Beurden, Jindrich Feld, Don Freund, David
Froom and Perry Goldstein
(Kenneth Tse, Saxophone; Benjamin Coelho,
bassoon; Alan Huckleberry, piano)
Crystal Records
28818 NE Hancock Road, Camas, WA 98607
Tel: 360-834-7022; Fax: 360-834-9680
Website: www.crystalrecords.com
CD358
REVIEWS
136
REVIEWS
By contast, the next work, Arirang Variations
(2005) by American composer David Froom (b.
1951) begins quietly with a simple statement of the
lovely, well-known Korean folk tune (in unison by
the saxophone and bassoon) upon which the eight
variations are based. This is a particularly lovely
composition, I feel. Each of the variations flow from
one another and are striking in their contrast in
the overall 11 minute length of the work. Especially
appealing was the one variation for the saxophone
accompanied by a dramatic, chordal piano part. The
bassoon and piano then follow very playfully in the
next variation, over which the saxophone soars with
a cantus-firmus-like statement of the original folk
tune - a lovely touch. After all this activity, however,
the final variation is very slow and quiet, as in the
beginning, and the piece drifts off gently and quietly.
This work is to my mind the most effective on this
fine recording.
The composition Noir (1999/2005) by American
composer Perry Goldstein (b. 1952) follows. It is a
busy, 14+ minute single movement work for alto
saxophone, bassoon and piano, originally for viola
rather than bassoon, and arranged here especially
by the composer for the ensemble on this recording.
Throughout, the work contrasts between slow, soaring
melodies in one part or another, while the other
instrument or instruments have short, sporadic “busy
work” to play. The result is a reasonably interesting,
and overall lively piece of music based upon the evershift ing contrast of these two “elements” throughout.
The work is published by Stone Breaker Music.
The concluding work on this recording is Louder
than Words (2001) by American composer Don
Freund (b. 1951). The 17+ minute composition is
divided into two roughly equal 8+ minute “Parts”.
Effectively, however, the work has a decided “streamof-consciousness” about it. The music seems to
jump from one thematic idea to another and then
goes on to something new, as if the work were in an
almost constant stage of beginning over and over
again. Some of the sections arrive at a climax, but
it never seems to lead anywhere beyond another
“beginning”. I suspect the composer might have been
cleaning out his sketchbook of thematic material
when he decided to throw it all together into one
composition. Moreover, there is virtually no contrast
to Parts one and two. The first ends frantically - and
the second begins with virtually the same frenetic
energy. I confess I had a harder time dealing with
this schizophrenic work than any other on the CD.
The best I can say about it is that it is energy-packed
throughout – much like a bad case of the jitters. The
final contrast comes between the boogie-woogie like
theme and the troubadour song at the very end of
Part two - a real “head-scratcher” to be sure!
If as a bassoon performer you are looking for some
different music to perform, you will want to check
out this overall finely played and fi nely recorded CD.
Ben Coelho’s bassooning, as in all his recordings, is
excellent throughout; and he is matched perfectly by
saxophonist Tse and pianist Huckleberry. This is a
first rate CD and I recommend it strongly to you.
Rating: 3 Crows
Intrada
(Ryan Hare, bassoon solo)
Present Sounds Recording
(Available from: www.presentsounds.com,
www.cdbaby.com or www.towerrecords.com)
PS040.
This is an hour long recording of modern solo music
for the bassoon by Ryan Hare, who is bassoon
professor at Washington State University, Pullman,
and a member of the resident Wingra Wind Quintet.
The CD gets its name from the opening
composition Intrada (2003), which is an interesting
work consisting of bassoon multiphonics throughout
its four minute length. Imposition (2002) by Tom
Swafford which follows is much less interesting,
consisting of a pointillistic atonal presentation
throughout it’s five minute length. Josh Parmenter’s
Music for Bassoon (2003) is a longer 10 + minute
piece for solo bassoon and interactive real-time audio
synthesis. This combination results with the bassoon
sound being constantly “processed” and altered
electronically throughout. This would have been a
much more effective compositional device, I feel, if it
hadn’t been so lengthy a work.
David McIntire’s Each New Departure is by
contrast a virtual “dinosaur” time-wise, compared to
the more recent composition of most of the works on
this CD, this one having been composed “way back”
in 1993! Musically, however, it provides little “new”,
with its moderately pointillistic, and rhythmically
driving
atonal-universal-but-not-very-individual
style. Again, brevity would have served this work
well, as it has a hard time sustaining interest over its
8+ minute length.
THE DOUBLE REED
opening Intrada and the very intriguing Distance,
Dance, Discern by Bret Battey. These were the only
two works I wouldn’t mind learning myself. Life is
too short to spend any time with the others, however,
in my humble opinion.
Rating: 2½ Crows
Brazilian Dances and Inventions
Vento Trio (Kevin Willois, flute; Sarah Koval,
clarinet; Janet Grice, bassoon)
Website: www.Gricemusic.com
JG206
This is a nice, lively recording of music by Brazilian
composers for wind trio. Included are compositions
by eight different artists, most of whom are, sadly,
not well known in North America. One of the nicest
works is a five movement Trio No. 2 Para Sopros
(Polca, Dança dos Caboclinhos, Canção and Frevo) by
Cesár Guerra Peixe (1914-1993), which is the second
selection on the album. The Canção movement is a
particularly lovely slow movement. According to the
program notes this work is more folk-like in character
based on the composer’s research in Brazilian folk
music. Peixe’s earlier Trio #1 pour flute, clarinette
et basson is also on the disc; but contrast this work
is in a more traditional three movement (slow, fast,
slow) format and is essentially atonal - possibly 12
tone, dating from an earlier “student” period in the
composer’s life. Although well written, it lacks the
warmth and quality of his later work.
Another three movement work is the Tres
Invenções para flauta, clarinete e fagote by José
Siqueira (1907-1985). One can feel very strongly
the legacy of Villa Lobos on the style of these three
movements. The final movement especially, with its
three way imitation, greatly suggest the influences of
both Bach and Villa Lobos on the composer.
Composer Oscar Lorenzo Fernândez (1897-1948)
is represented with his Duas Invenções Seresteiras
(Allegro Moderato and Ben Allegro). Both of these
inventions are also strongly reminiscent of the
Bachianis Brasilieras compositions of Villa Lobos.
The final multi-movement work on this recording
is the Micro Suite (Pequena Polka, Valsa Pequena and
Pequena Choro) by Luiz Otávio Braga (b.1953) which
consists of three short, “tiny” movements of dance-
REVIEWS
Following this, Elegy #2 (2002) by Tom Baker
begins with a lot of key and tone hole noises, and
only occasional splats of notes and silences. Next,
rapid-but-non-specific note patterns are introduced,
followed by multiphonics. These effects then alternate
with soft, sustained harmonic pitches. Sadly, however,
the work is almost predictable as it goes from one of
these effects to another, ending once again with the
key clicks of the beginning. Nothing new here.
Variation Variations (2002) by Michael
Chealander returns with the same pointillistic,
atonal style as Josh Parmenter’s previous work. It is
a virtual ‘clone’ of the latter, except being mercifully
shorter in length at 6 and ½ minutes. (It could almost
be Parmenter’s work backwards!)
By contrast, I really liked the next work, Distance,
Dance, Discern (1996) for bassoon and pre-recorded
sound by Bret Battey. It was, finally, a work that
seemed to be more than a bunch of non-related
sounds thrown together. The electronic sounds of
the accompaniment provided a nice, colorful, often
drone-like background to the bassoon, which also
provided its own interest in developing small motivic
musical ideas - at times both pointillistic and nonpointillistic. At 11 and ½ minutes, it was the longest
piece on the recording, but managed to maintain my
interest throughout, (unlike most of the other works
on the CD).
The final work, Verdichtung (2002) by Eric
Flesher, is another virtual “return” to the techniques
of Baker’s Elegy #2 – fingerwagging fast passages
followed by sustained notes or multiphonics, etc., etc.
In other words nothing new.
Bassoonist Ryan Hare has done a great job in
learning and performing all these pieces, most of
which, I confess, I wouldn’t have wasted my time
learning. As an album, however, it is pretty tough to
take in its relentless presentation of contemporary
bassoon techniques, interspersed only too rarely with
actual musical ideas, so few of which are even worth
hearing more than once. The recording technique,
while being very clean and clear, also has that “done
in a studio” sound, but since it is just solo bassoon
most of the time, I didn’t miss the “concert hall”
presence I usually prefer in modern recordings as
much as I normally would.
In summary, therefore, I applaud Ryan for his
effort and his obvious skill and facility with modern
bassoon technology. I urge him, however, to give us
a greater variety of music in his future recordings.
For those bassoonists looking for new literature,
I would recommend Ryan’s own composition, the
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REVIEWS
characteristic Brazilian music.
Interspersed between these works, all presumably
originally composed for wind trio, are arrangements
by bassoonist Janet Grice of single movement
compositions by other Brazilian masters which were
probably not for wind trio initially. These include
composer Pixinguinha (1898-1973), with the dancelike works Carinhoso and Naquele Tempo; Jacó de
Bandolim (1918-1969), and his Doce de Coco, which
begins with a long bassoon solo before turning into
a sprightly allegro; Milton Nascimento (b. 1942),
and his interesting Ponta de Areia, and finally Luiz
Gonzaga (1912-1990) with his slow/fast Asa Branca
Assum Preto, which brings the album to a lively
conclusion by starting lyrically before turning into a
fast and exciting final dance.
Bassoonist Janet Grice is to be congratulated
for bringing these interesting and beautiful musical
works to our attention. Her long active research
into the style and literature of the music of Brazil
has paid off with such nice dividends as this wellconceived and well-played CD. There are a few
minor technical problems with the recording in that
there is an inconsistency of quality and resonance
from one composition to the next, representing,
no doubt, different recording dates and/or venues.
Also, while all three artists are technically strong,
the clarinettist Sarah Koval has a rather “dark and
dead” tonal quality, compared to the more lively and
rich sound executed by both the flute and bassoon.
But that does not deter me from recommending this
CD strongly, especially for musicians looking for new
and interesting music to perform.
Rating: 2½ Crows
Bassoon
MUSIC
REVIEWS
REVIEWS BY DANIEL LIPORI
Ellensburg, Washington
MUSIC FROM TREVCO MUSIC
P. O. Box 4, Tallevast, FL 34270
http://www.trevcomusic.com
Burns, Michael:
Blues for Contra, for solo contrabassoon with
optional high-hat.
TCO 1329 ($8)
With Blues for Contra, Michael Burns has given
us a wonderful new addition to the contrabassoon
repertoire. It is an adaptation of Dr. Burns’ work
Blues for Tuba of 1998, premiered in January 2006
on contrabassoon. It has a catchy melody right from
the beginning, which should get the audience’s fingers
snapping and into the groove presented in this work.
It is not an overly difficult work, perhaps about a grade
of III for someone familiar with the contrabassoon.
The work is about six minutes in length, and the
range is just over three octaves, going from low
Bf up to a high Bn. There is included a suggested
high-hat accompaniment, which I believe could be
supplemented with a drum set, or even a double bass.
I highly recommend this piece and look forward to
performing it soon.
REVIEWS
Music of Nazzareno Gatti
edited by Steven Dibner.
San Francisco Symphony bassoonist Steven Dibner
presents these works of the Italian composer/bassoonist
Nazzareno Gatti, as a culmination of a sabbatical he
took in 2002. Gatti, as a student of Rossini’s, studied
and later taught at the Bologna Conservatory, where
the manuscripts to these pieces were found. They
explore some of the wonderful operatic repertoire of
the nineteenth century Italian composers, as it was
very common at that time to make transcriptions
of the popular opera melodies of the day. In these
eight compositions, familiar melodies of Rossini,
Donizetti, and Bellini, as well as original melodies of
Gatti are presented on the bassoon. I think you will
THE DOUBLE REED
enjoy performing just one, or the entire set of pieces.
All of these works have some similar qualities, so my
descriptions might be a bit repetitive.
Gatti, Nazzareno:
Capriccio Fantastico, op. 1,
for bassoon and piano.
TCO 1701 ($17)
This work begins with a short cadenza, before the
principal melody is presented, which is a quarter note
theme ascending up by step in an andante tempo.
Following this is a sixteenth note passage that does not
seem to be connected to the earlier material. A second
theme is presented next, again in a slower, andante
tempo, which moves into another cadenza passage.
The next section is a group of arpeggiated sixteenth
notes, which leads to the final melody presented. This
final melody is slightly faster, marked allegretto. The
final section of the piece is a eighth note triplet section,
which has many large jumps, which reminds me of
some of the virtuosic flute solos of this time period.
This is one of the more difficult works in the collection,
as I would give it a grade of IV+, and the range extends
up to c2. Of all of the Gatti compositions, this one
seems the least structured, as each section does not
appear to have any relationship to the previous.
Gatti, Nazzareno:
Reminiscenze Belliniane, op. 2,
TCO 1702 ($17)
Gatti, Nazzareno:
Concerto per Fagotto on themes from
Rossini’s opera William Tell,
TCO 1703 ($17)
This work uses some of the well-known melodies from
the overture, as well as some of the vocal arias within
the opera. You will hear the English horn excerpt early
on, and the work closes with the famous “Lone Ranger”
melody, so it is sure to be a crowd pleaser. Two aria
melodies from the opera are presented; first is “Ah!
Mathilde, idole de mon âme” and later on “Sombre
forêt” is heard. There are two moderately difficult
sections in this work, one being a triplet section with
many larger jumps within, and a sixteenth note section
within the “Lone Ranger” portion which has a lot of
jumps of thirds, that are fairly awkward (or they were
for me!). I would give this one a grade of IV+ and they
range only extends up to c2.
Gatti, Nazzareno:
Pensiero Melodico, for bassoon and piano.
TCO 1704 ($10)
Here is a short, slow aria-like work. It has several
short cadenza passages, and overall is not too difficult.
However, the bassoon line does go all the way up to
ef2, so this would earn a grade of III+ due to the range.
This might be a nice encore piece for a recital.
Gatti, Nazzareno:
Potpuri per Fagotto su vari motivi del
Donizetti, for bassoon and piano.
TCO 1705 ($17)
In this work Gatti uses the aria “Fra poco americovero”
from Donizetti’s opera Lucia di Lammermoor
in a wonderful adaptation for bassoon. It starts
with a recitative section before the first melody is
presented. Following another recit, the second theme
is introduced, followed by a variation. A third recit
occurs next, followed by a finale section, which is the
most technically demanding section of the work. The
range goes all the way up to ef2, and I would give the
work a grade of IV+. When I first played through this
piece, I recognized the primary theme right away, but
could not place it at first. I eventually realized that
this melody is also used in a recording of Stefano
Canuti titled “Fantasi di Bravura per fagotto ed
archi su temi di Verdi, Donizetti e Bellini.” The same
melody is used in Canuti’s performance of Antonio
REVIEWS
The main melody in this composition is “Ah! non
credeamirarti” from Bellini’s opera La Sonnambula.
The melody in the introduction immediately made me
think of the opera Norma, as it is very similar to some
of the march-like sections of that work. The main aria
is presented next, followed by a short cadenza section.
A new theme is presented afterwards, which is a bit
more virtuosic, using a variety of rhythms, and having
a faster tempo. The work ends with another difficult
section, using sixteenth notes with many larger jumps
in the line. This work is rather difficult, earning a grade
of IV+, and the range extends up to c2.
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REVIEWS
Torriani’s Divertimento su Lucia di Lammermoor di
G. Donizetti.
Gatti, Nazzareno:
Elegia, for bassoon and piano.
TCO 1706 ($17)
This might be my favorite piece of the set. There are
a few freer passages around the primary melodies
presented, which will allow each performer to interpret
the work slightly differently. The work is in a 6/8 meter,
with many arpeggios in the sixteenth note passages.
The range extends up to ef2 in this composition, and I
would give it a grade of IV.
Gatti, Nazzareno:
Preludio e Cantabile, for bassoon and piano.
TCO 1707 ($10)
Here, we have another original composition of Gatti’s,
that is very similar to a recitative and aria. The main
aria is a slow melody, with a few larger jumps in the
groups of sextuplets. This is one of the easier pieces
in the set, only earning a grade of III+, with the range
extending only up to c2. This is also a bit shorter in
length than the others, only being about four minutes
in length.
REVIEWS
Gatti, Nazzareno:
Capriccio per Fagotto, for bassoon and piano.
TCO 1708 ($17)
The Capriccio is another short piece, similar to a
recitative and aria as well. The main melody is in a
slow 12/8 meter, with some thirty-second notes at
the ends of phrases. This work has the smallest range
of the set, only ascending to af1, making it more
accessible to younger students. It also is not overly
difficult, earning a grade of III+. This might be a good
work to introduce your students to the operatic style
and working on rubato.
Dvořák, Antonin:
Quintet in E-flat for Winds, after the String
Quartet, opus 51, arranged by David Jolley for
Woodwind Quintet.
TCO 1055 ($ 44)
This four movement string quartet of Dvořák’s
transcribes very nicely for wind quintet. There is
nothing extremely difficult for any of the players and
the key of Ef major is fairly comfortable as well, perhaps
giving work a grade of III+/IV-. The only moderately
difficult movement is the final one, where there are
some sixteenth note scale patterns passed between all
the voices, as well as some repeated ones, that certainly
would be easier on the string instruments. Perhaps
these repeated sixteenths could be played as eighth
notes if needed. The melodic material is given to the
upper woodwinds, while the bassoon pretty much
plays the cello part, and only has occasional melodic
passages. While David Jolley has done a very nice job
in this particular arrangement, for some reason he
only included the metronome marking for the final
movement, when there are tempos given for the other
three in the original quartet version. Perhaps this was
just a publishing error, but certainly this is a welcome
addition to the quintet repertoire.
Holdeman, Chuck:
Lyric Seasons, for bassoon, harp or piano.
TCO 4309 ($20)
Lyric Seasons uses the unusual combination of bassoon
and harp, though the composer says that a piano, or
even a harpsichord could be substituted, but I get the
impression that the harp would be the ideal instrument
to use. The first movement, “Mist Plus,” has somewhat
of a minimal quality to it, with both voices having
repetitive patterns in the faster middle section, which
is surrounded by short recitatives, forming a basic ABA
structure. Movement two, “Ostinati e Soli,” again has
repetitive patterns throughout. The first section has the
bassoon playing the melody while the harp repeats the
same group of four sixteenths continuously. The harp
then presents a new, more rhythmic melody, while the
bassoon moves to the repeated sixteenths. The third
movement, “Adagio in 5,” has some similarities to the
slow movement of Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in
G. The primary melody is a slow eighth note pattern
that is presented first in the bassoon, and later in the
harp. The composer describes the fourth movement
as “written out jazz with homage to the Desmond/
Brubeck Take Five.” One will easily recognize the riffs
from the original jazz melody. There are a few short
speaking parts in this movement, where the performers
are asked to call out numbers, I assume to help lead
to the next section of the work. This composition is
moderately difficult, as I would give it a grade of IV,
and the bassoon part extends up to ef2.
THE DOUBLE REED
Holdeman, Chuck:
Bagatelle, for bassoon, vocalise or instrument,
and piano or harp.
TCO 4310 ($18)
When I first read through this work, I quickly
became scared, as there are several high F’s in the
line, and immediately thought I probably would
not be playing this piece soon. Then I turned the
bassoon part over, and saw an alternate part, written
down the octave in the higher sections. Boy was I
relieved!! I have always liked the use of a vocalise, so
this piece immediately intrigued me. The composer
does state that an instrument could be substituted
if needed, mentioning flute, oboe, English horn, or
violin as possible replacements for the voice. There
is a regular accompaniment pattern throughout the
entire work, while the bassoon and voice play over this
fairly simple pattern in the piano. There are very few
expressive markings in the score and Mr. Holdeman
encourages the performers to create their own unique
interpretation in somewhat of a Baroque fashion.
This work, with the original high bassoon part, would
definitely be a grade V work, but with the alternate
lower line, the work would only be a grade III+. The
majority of the voice part is within a small range
and has a nice variety of rhythms, including some
repeated staccato sixteenth notes. If you are looking
for something a little different for your next recital,
you might want to take a look at Bagatelle.
Bizet, Georges:
Carmen Fantaisie, arranged for woodwind
quintet by Marc Vallon.
TCO 5005 ($28)
Durocher, Silas:
Quintet in B Minor “Peanut Butter on Rye”,
and Quintet in C Major “Pink Lemonade”, for
Woodwind Quintet.
TCO 5108 ($15)
Here are two short, fun new quintets that will add a
nice variety to your concerts. Silas Durocher began
his musical training in popular music, before starting
formal, classical training, and employs elements
of funk, rock n’ roll, blues and other styles into
his compositions. The Quintet in B Minor “Peanut
Butter on Rye” combines elements of classical music
and funk. There is a catchy ostinato pattern through
much of the work in the bassoon line, while the other
instruments play melodic fragments above it. There
is a bit of syncopation in this work, and the counting
aspect might be the most difficult part of this piece.
The Quintet in C Major “Pink Lemonade” Durocher
describes as a “blow down hoe down.” You could easily
have your audience tapping their toes to this cute little
piece. As with the other work, the melodic fragments
are passed around between all the voices. This work is
not overly difficult, earning perhaps a III- grade and
none of the parts are extreme in range. These works
would be great additions to outreach concerts, or a fun
ending to a more serious concert.
Richards, Paul:
V’ha-eir Eineinu
(Enlighten our eyes), for solo bassoon.
TCO 6105 ($12)
Paul Richards has made an adaptation of this Chassidic
melody by Shlomo Carlebach in what is basically a
variation set, though there are a few recurring motives.
The primary theme has a variety of rhythms in it,
and encompasses almost a three octave range. Each
variation has its own unique character. For example,
the first variation is marked “somber, yearning,” while
the second variation is marked “strict, dancing.” There
are several large leaps throughout the work and the
range is quite large, extending from low Bf to e2. The
most difficult variation is one in a 5/8 meter primarily,
that takes a bit of practicing to understand the feel
and groove. It is a moderately difficult work, as I
would give it a grade of IV+. I enjoy pieces such as
this, where the performer can put more of their own
personal expression within the uniqueness of each
variation, and hope you consider adding it to your solo
repertoire.
REVIEWS
Marc Vallon’s arrangement of François Borne’s
Carmen Fantaisie is a bit of a showpiece for the
upper woodwinds, which have many fast runs and
arpeggiated figures throughout. Most of the wellknown themes from the opera and suites are heard,
which should bring a smile to the audience, as well
as to the performers. The bassoon line is mostly
accompanimental, including the famous habanera
rhythm. There is one rather tricky accompaniment
in this section as well, where the bassoon plays some
arpreggiated sixteenth note triplets. The work is
moderately difficult, earning a grade of IV/IV+ due
to the more virtuosic runs throughout. This would
be a great closing piece to a concert, that is sure to
generate lots of applause and is a welcome addition to
the quintet repertoire.
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REVIEWS
Kim, Chan Ji:
A Year from Tomorrow, for solo bassoon.
TCO 6106 ($12)
This work was written for Dr. Arnold Irchai, who just
recently performed it at the 2006 IDRS conference at
Ball State University. The composer writes of the title
“When Dr. Irchai asked me to write the solo bassoon
piece for him, I was pursuing my doctoral degree
feeling a bit overwhelmed. It was a time of uncertainty,
I did not know any more about tomorrow as a year
from tomorrow. Whenever I thought about the future
I was in the same place I started: ‘I do not know, but I
am curious to learn.’ Whenever the lowest tone, Bf is
heard in this piece, it represents that familiar place and
I think of a year from tomorrow.” As you can guess from
this description, there are several low Bf’s interspersed
around a variety of other ideas. Several extended
techniques are used, including multiphonics, free
glissandos, pitch bends, and varying vibrato speeds, to
name a few. There is a beautiful melody which occurs
midway through the composition, where it is marked
‘peaceful, with emotion,’ which is my favorite section of
the work. I had a little bit of difficulty interpreting some
of the extended techniques. Some of the multiphonics
did not come out initially for me, and I had to alter my
embouchure quite a bit to get them to speak properly.
Also there are notes marked ‘free glissando,’ where it is
a bit unclear to me as to whether the glissando should
only be around that note, or if it should go to higher
and lower pitches. With all the extended techniques
the work is fairly difficult, earning a grade of IV+, but
the range is not terribly large, extending only up to
bf1. I wish I had heard Dr. Irchai’s performance of this
piece at the convention, because there are few sections
I do not understand completely. I love the middle
section mentioned earlier, but I do not understand
the connection between that and the other material
where most of the extended techniques are employed
(maybe there is not supposed to be one). If you are
looking for a more challenging piece to refine some of
your extended techniques, perhaps consider looking at
Chan Ji Kim’s A Year from Tomorrow.
Reed, Tim:
Sonata, for bassoon and piano.
TCO 6108 ($16)
Tim Reed’s Sonata is a three movement work in a
neoclassic style. The bassoon and piano parts are
fairly equal, neither of which is overly difficult,
earning a grade of III-. This first movement is marked
metronome equal 120 and has the melodic material
passed back and forth between the two instruments
(Reed describes the movement as ‘conversational’). It is
in an ABA form, with many sudden dynamic contrasts
throughout. Movement two begins in a slow 5/8 meter
with a very lyrical melody in the bassoon, and then
moves to a 4/4 section, also mostly slurred throughout.
The form could be seen as ABAB and coda. The third
movement is marked at a very fast tempo (quarter
note equal 195) and has many off accents throughout.
This movement is mostly articulated, at times even
marked ‘mechanically’ with staccatos over a majority
of the notes. Though the tempo is quick, it is written in
mostly eighth notes, with a few eighth note triplets, so
the technical aspects are not overly demanding. There
are some rhythmic patterns that recur a few times
throughout the movement. This movement appears
to be in an ABA format as well and the range is not
extreme, extending to b1 only once. I enjoyed reading
this work. It would be a nice contrast to give your
intermediate students to work on.
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Mozart, W. A.:
Rondo in A Minor, KV 511,
for Woodwind Quintet and Double Bass.
EE 5310 ($29.95)
This is a very nice arrangement of this work of Mozart’s
originally for piano solo. Most of the melodic material
is given to the upper woodwinds, so the bassoon has
mostly an accompanimental role and only gets to shine
in a few places. Much of the double bass line is doubling
the bassoon at the unison or octave, and I believe that it
could be performed on the contrabassoon as well. The
work is not overly difficult, as I would give it a grade of
III. This might be a nice work for a intermediate level
student quintet to play.
Brahms, Johannes:
12 Waltzes op. 39,
for Woodwind Quintet and Double Bass.
EE 5308 ($34.95)
Similar to the Mozart work just described, this
arrangement of a work originally for two pianos could
be played with contrabassoon instead of double bass.
Again the bassoon serves more of an accompanying
THE DOUBLE REED
role, but does get some melodic material in two of the
waltzes. I believe the arranger, Heribert Breuer, has
done a very nice job of capturing the character of each
of the waltzes with the wind colors he chooses for each
waltz. This work as well would earn a grade of III and
would be very suitable for a young college ensemble.
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Flores, J. Abelardo D.:
Etchings in Shadow, for Woodwind Quintet.
WM 336 ($10)
The description of this piece on the back cover reads:
“The music for Etchings in Shadow was originally
written as incidental music for a public television
documentary on German Expressionism, focusing
mainly on the artist Kathe Kollwitz. A socially
conscious artist, Kollwitz was known for her protest
themes, championing the poor and oppressed of the
time via striking woodcuts, etchings, and haunting
wood-block prints. I chose serialism to complement
images of Kollwitz’s artwork, and the medium of the
woodwind quintet was ideal in musically portraying
the contrasts of light and darkness inherent in her
style.” I had problems understanding this work,
until I read this quote and then did some research
of Kollwitz and her artwork. The music is definitely
expressionist, and has a fairly sparse accompaniment
to the melodic material. It is a one movement work,
with several sections of different tempos, where new
melodic material is then presented. The work is not
very difficult, earning a grade of III and none of the
ranges for any instrument are extreme. This might be
a good piece to introduce your students to elements of
expressionism and also to elements of music written
to depict artwork.
Braga, Antonio:
Suite Greca, for Flute, Bf Clarinet, and Bassoon.
EV 330 ($8.50)
I really enjoyed reading this piece. It is a nice suite
of short dances of which I assume are of Brazilian/
South American origin. Though the flute has the
melodic material most of the time, each part has a
variety of fun rhythms and ostinatos throughout. In
the first movement, “Zámicos,” the primary melody
uses a variety of rhythms opposite a mostly eighth
note accompaniment in a moderato tempo. The
second movement, “Tragúdia,” is a slower, Lento
movement, again using a variety of rhythms in the
melody. The third movement is a lively “Choro” which
has a repeated rhythmic pattern used throughout in
the melody as well as the accompaniment. The final
movement, “Pentosalis,” again uses a repeated rhythmic
pattern in both the melody and accompaniment. This
movement, however, starts at a slower tempo, and
gradually increases in speed in each new section,
ending in a lively presto tempo. This work is not
overly difficult and I would give it a grade of III. This
would be another great work for a student group or
for adding a little variety to your chamber concert or
outreach program.
Guerra-Peixe, César:
Trio No. 1 – para Sopros,
for Flute, Bf Clarinet, and Bassoon.
EV 331 ($8.50)
This trio uses the expressionist (12 tone) compositional
method. Despite the stereotype that often comes with
this style, the melodic material is very prominent
throughout, and the technical demands are not overly
difficult. There are three short movements, which
have very contrasting ideas and styles and most of the
melodic material presented does not return, so all are
basically through composed. The work is of medium
difficulty, earning a grade of III+. This might be a nice
work to introduce a younger college group to some of
the elements of expressionism.
Guerra-Peixe, Cesar:
Trio no. 2 – para Sopros,
for Flute, Bb Clarinet, and Bassoon.
EV 332 ($8.50)
According to the liner notes for this piece, it is written
in an expressionist (12 tone) style, however after
reading through the work, I personally would not call
it that. Perhaps this comment is made in reference to
the difference between Guerra-Piexe’s earlier and later
works, where the later ones clearly use elements of
Brazilian folk music, while his earlier ones (including
this trio, written in 1951) do not use any folk elements.
Though it is not completely tonal it does not appear to
REVIEWS
MUSIC FROM EditionsVIENTO
8711 SW 42nd Ave, Portland, OR 97219-3571
http://www.editionsviento.com
143
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use all the elements of expressionism. Either way, this
is a very nice trio with four short movements. There
are some rhythmic ostinatos, which help to unify each
of the movements. Melodic material is passed between
all instruments fairly equally and many of the motives
use syncopated rhythms. The ranges are not extreme
for any instrument, and the work is of moderate
difficulty, earning a grade of IV-. This work might be a
nice filler work if you are looking to add a little more
time to a chamber ensemble concert.
MUSIC FROM GERNOT WOLFGANG
2065-67 Vine Street, Los Angeles, CA 90068
http://www.gernotwolfgang.com)
Wolfgang, Gernot:
Dual Identity, for solo bassoon.
05 514 (no price listed)
REVIEWS
Wolfgang wrote Dual Identity for Los Angeles area
bassoonist and teacher at USC Judith Farmer (who he
also happens to be married to!!). I thoroughly enjoyed
reading this work. There are a few repeated patterns (or
grooves, as Wolfgang refers to them), which act as an
ostinato, as well as the primary melodic material of the
piece. It has some syncopated ideas, and a small bit of a
jazz feel to it. It is an ABA form, with the outer sections
being faster and more detached, with the middle section
being slower, more lyrical, and mostly slurred. There
are a few multiphonic fingerings included, none of
which are difficult to produce. The range is moderately
extreme, extending up to df2 once, and I would give
the work a grade of IV-. I would definitely recommend
adding this piece to your repertoire. (And, if you like
this work, Wolfgang has written another piece for
bassoon, for Los Angeles Philharmonic bassoonist
David Breidenthal, title Moody Blues, for bassoon and
piano, heard on Breidenthal’s Bassoon Power CD.)
Wolfgang, Gernot:
Common Ground, for bassoon and cello.
06 713 (no price listed)
As with Dual Identity, this composition also uses a
lot of repeated patterns or grooves. Wolfgang says of
the title: “Common Ground seeks to establish just that
– a common ground between the traditional approach
to writing for this instrumentation and the grooveoriented world of jazz and funk.” The first movement,
“Blues Upside Down,” starts with a motive played in
octaves with a lot of syncopated ideas. The pattern
(as the title indicates) turns itself around midway
through the movement. It is a rather fast movement,
with moderately difficult riffs/patterns for both
instruments. The second movement, “Trading Places,”
begins with a long lyrical melody in the bassoon with
a basic eighth note accompaniment in the cello and
again as the title indicates, the two instruments switch
parts near the middle of the movement. The third
movement, “Igor, At Last,” uses some motivic material
from the previous movement, having some syncopated
ideas and exploring the ‘funk’ elements a bit more. The
title refers to a section of the movement that reminded
Wolfgang of a composition by Igor Stravinsky. The
work is rather difficult, and I would give it a grade of
IV+. I thoroughly enjoyed reading through this work
and hope to be able to perform it soon. There is a
limited amount of repertoire specifically for bassoon
and cello, and this is a welcome new addition.
Wolfgang, Gernot:
Cadenzas for the Mozart Bassoon Concerto
in Bf Major, K. 191.
05 507
(€5.90; available through www.doblinger.at)
Wolfgang originally wrote these cadenzas to the first
and second movements of the concerto for David
Breidenthal, who premiered them in January 2003. He
revised them in 2005 and this version was premiered by
Judith Farmer at the IDRS convention in Austin, Texas
of that year. As with many of Wolfgang’s compositions,
there are some jazz/blues elements in them which
brings up the recurring discussion. When composing a
cadenza, how close to the style of the original composer
should we follow, or is it appropriate to use newer
styles in a cadenza? I won’t get into that discussion,
but if you are more of a ‘purist’ when it comes to issues
such as that, then perhaps these cadenzas are not for
you. Both cadenzas start and end in more of a Classical
period style, but venture away a little in the middle.
Neither of the cadenzas is overly difficult, earning a
grade of a III+ for the first movement one and a III- for
the second movement cadenza. Both extend up to a d2
in range and Wolfgang has tried to notate his rhythmic
intentions as accurately as possible, so there are several
mixed time signatures in both as well as several tempo
indications. One small thing that caught my attention
was that the cadenza for the second movement is
written in two flats, when the rest of that movement
only has one in the key signature. There are a few Efs
in this cadenza which adds a little to the ‘blues’ feel of
this cadenza. If you are searching for some cadenzas
THE DOUBLE REED
for this concerto, you might want to check these out
as a fresh alternative to some of the other written out
cadenzas available.
Daniel Lipori serves as assistant professor of bassoon
and music history at Central Washington University.
He is editor of Georg Wenzel Ritter: Six Quartets for
Bassoon and Strings op. 1, published by A-R Editions,
Inc. (1999), and author of A Researcher’s Guide to the
Bassoon, published by the Edwin Mellen Press (2002).
REVIEW BY RONALD KLIMKO
McCall, Idaho
Frederick W. Moritz:
Two and Three Tone Exercises for Bassoon
(Revised by George C. Adams)
Allyn Publishing, Lubbock, Texas
a, bf, bn, c, and d. This is followed by “Practice Notes”
in which Adams urges slow and careful practice of
the exercises, listening carefully for intonation and
cleanliness of execution.
The final “Technical Notes” deal with detail of
flicking and special fingerings for special slurring
problems (up and down) in the exercises.
The Exercises follow. They consist of two short,
separate patterns, slurred and repeated four times
each, of intervals: first in minor seconds and minor
thirds (I a, b, and c in each octave); then in major
seconds and major thirds (IIa, b, and c); then threetoned patterns (IIIa, b, and c). Interspersed between
are supplementary exercises for each of the patterns
encompassing the intervals of the original in halfsteps (eg: “filling in” the minor third of the original I
pattern). To these, the original Moritz patterns, Adams
has added more exercises (IV thru VII) extending
them out over patterns in: perfect 4ths and perfect
5ths (IV), augmented 4ths and minor 6ths (V), major
6ths and minor 7ths (VI) and finally major 7ths and
perfect octaves.
To be sure, a steady diet of these for a full practice
session would be mind-bogglingly boring! But, like
my “scale of the day” in Allard’s scales at all intervals,
they could be excellent for developing technique and
facility taken in small doses on a daily schedule - both
in the student and the more accomplished performer.
And for that very purpose, I recommend them strongly
for your consideration.
GUEST MUSIC REVIEWS
Reprinted from the Double Reed News of the BDRS
The following reviews are reprinted with permission
from the Double Reed News of the BDRS: Issue 72,
Autumn, 2005, p. 38, and p. 49; and #75, Spring, 2006,
pp. 39-40. Ed.)
Concerto Burlesco
for bassoon and small orchestra by Paul Lewis
Pub. Goodmusic Publishing; Bassoon part with
piano reduction (£7.50)
Composed 2005: first performance by Graham
Salvage March 4, 2005.
This is a rather light-hearted piece in three movements
entitled Burlesque, Serenade and Fandango. It is
generally well written for the bassoon in relatively easy
keys using the full range up to top E, but is technically
far from straight-forward and is physically taxing definitely not for the beginner.
REVIEWS
For the most part, every active bassoonist I know has
a “routine”, a “warm-up”, or a “to begin with…” way of
getting started in a practice session. Many of these are
based on routines promoted by an influential teacher
in a student’s life. In my own case, I usually begin by
running the scales as found (with some of my own
personal modifications) in the pedagogy books of
Maurice Allard, followed by the ‘scale of the day’ - one
scale slurred in thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, sevenths
and octaves – also as taught by Allard. This is all a
holdover to the wonderful year of study I had with “le
maitre” years ago.
In the case of IDRS Honorary, the late Frederick
Moritz (1897-1993), the former principal of the Los
Angeles Philharmonic, and his student, George
Adams, conductor of the Idaho Falls Symphony, and
bassoon professor at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho, I
am sure this is a similar practice. As bassoon professor
at UCLA and USC, Moritz gave these exercises to
all his students as practice studies for the perfection
of small scale and interval patterns, and as George
Adams admits in his excellent introductory notes:
“The Exercises have been a part of my daily practicing
since I received a copy. It is my belief that bassoonists
will find them valuable in building secure, fluid
technique.”
The album begins with a comprehensive biography
of the life and career of Frederick Moritz, followed
by Adams’ “Introductory notes, in which he gives an
excellent explanation for Moritz’s insistence on the
careful use of the speaker keys being always held down
for the playing of the sensitive middle register notes
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The tunes are simple and much use is made of
chords with 7ths and 9ths and cyclic sequences. I quite
liked the slow movement melody and harmonies but
found it, along with the other two movements, rather
naïve and definitely too long. There were far too many
repetitions of very basic themes and certainly the
piano reduction version would have benefited from
some severe cutting. Maybe the orchestral version
would have more variety and interest.
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4 Epigraphe nach Escher
for heckelphone, viola and piano by Graham
Waterhouse.
Date composed: 1995; Publisher: Hofmeister
This piece, with its unusual instrumentation, was
written as a companion for the Trio by Hindemith
at the suggestion of Dr. Gunther Joppig, curator of
the Museum of Musical Instruments in the Munich
Stadtmuseum (who had had another piece for
this combination written in the 1980’s by Harald
Genzmer).
The mood or atmosphere of each of the four
movements is suggested by prints entitled “Droom,
Band von Mobius II, Ruiter and Reptilien” by the
Dutch artist Maurits Cornelius Escher, which are
shown at the beginning of each movement. Enlarged
versions of them were displayed next to the stage at
the first performance in the Munich Stadtmuseum.
On that occasion, Dr. Joppig was the heckelphonist, Barbara Sterff the violist and the pianist was the
composer. Other performances were given at the
IDRS Convention in Tempe, Arizona in 1998 and the
IDRS-Deutchland Convention in Wuerzburg in 2001.
“These pieces were written as musical reactions to the
images, and the wistful tones of the heckelphone and
viola seemed somehow to fit the other-worldly cosmos of Escher” (composer). As the heckelphone part
does not go below C it could also be played on the
bass oboe.
The first, Dream, marked adagio, is slow and
expressively written and its rather mournful theme
is shared and imitated by all three instruments. It is
thinly scored and certainly gives the impression for
a praying mantis on a tombstone. The second is an
image of ants and is marked vivace in 6/8, interspersed
with 5/8, 7/8, 2/4 and ¼ bars. Lots of staccato, scalelike passages in unison and contrary motion give a
very good impression of ants scurrying around. The
third, Horseman, is a slowish march with a trumpetlike triplet theme and again quite sparsely scored. The
final movement, Reptiles, another adagio, is a little
reminiscent of the first, with short chromatic runs,
building to a climax and eventually fading away.
My impression, without actually hearing the piece
performed is of four very descriptive and well-written
movements. They each have their own atmosphere
and seem to show off the characters of the instruments
to good effect. The parts are very approachable with
moderate difficulty. It is well presented and I can
imagine it to be satisfying to perform. I look forward
to hearing it.
John Orford
The Seasons
for clarinet, bassoon, violin and double bass by
David Baker
David Baker’s The Seasons is an intriguing work
for several reasons. Firstly, the combination of
instruments: why select (only) a bassoon and a clarinet
from the centre of the woodwinds, and the extremes of
double bass and violin from the strings? Secondly, the
subtitles: all but Autumn have some qualification, eg:
‘Winter Knows’, ‘Spring?’ Indeed why did he write a
work about the seasons at all?
So I tackled the composer, who is sub-principal
bassoon in the Orchestra of Opera North, for some
answers. He responded: “Having made a great number
of arrangements of pieces for this combination (from
Wagner to Cole Porter and in particular Piazzola), I
was amazed how well it worked and by the range of
colours (and pitch!) it offered. As regards this piece, it
was written over the period of a year, literally season
by season, and I think reflects not only the (major!)
changes in my life at the time, but also the musical
influences of the repertoire (orchestral and operatic)
at Opera North during this period.”
Spring? – note the question mark – is an
approachable ‘allegro’ (though Baker uses no
Italian terms at the heads of his movements, only
metronome marks) at crochet=120. It appears quite
tonal, beginning in one flat, later adding a second,
and finishing with a third, squarely in Ef major. Just
occasionally it escapes from common time with a few
3/8 bars. The clarinet seems to have the fastest notes to
negotiate, but the double bass is certainly not limited
to plodding around in the basement.
Summer, with the subtitle “Childrens’ games, heat
and happiness” also adopts crochet=120 to begin with,
but immediately accelerates to 150 and leaps into
compound duple time, almost as though the first few
THE DOUBLE REED
bars were a mistake. There is much more variety in
this movement reflecting, not surprisingly, the three
contrasting aspects of the subtitle.
Autumn is a light-hearted affair with some obvious
dance rhythms and a lyrical middle section. But this
also works itself up into a frenzy later and, like Spring?,
builds to a hectic climax, again with some demanding
music for the clarinet.
In the final movement, Winter Knows, it is not only
the clarinet which has to deliver some pretty nimble
passagework; this time the bassoon has a fair share of
the faster action. The movement starts off innocently
enough, but soon the time virtually doubles, a device
that Baker uses again later, enough to move everyone
closer to the edges of their seats.
David Baker expressed his aim (as in all his
writing) to produce music which is instantly accessible
to an audience. “Most people hear a work for the first
time in performance and should not have to have it
explained or to have studied it before they can ‘enjoy’
it!”
Certainly this clever work achieves that and,
but for a few notational errors (presumably), is well
presented. As part of this review, passages were played
to a ‘quality control’ listener who was asked to decide
which movements represented which seasons. She got
two out of four right. Like the weather really!
Score and parts can be obtained from the
composer: tel: 0113 258 8048 or e-mail; Adler1197@
aol.com.
David Baker has plans to write for bassoon and
strings (maybe a companion piece for the Devienne
quartets) and also a quartet for violin, viola, bassoon
and contrabassoon!
Clive Fairbairn
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Oboe
RECORDING
REVIEWS
REVIEWS BY JEANNE BELFY
Boise, Idaho
Twentieth Century Oboe Concertos
Alex Klein, oboe; Czech National Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Paul Freeman.
Cedille Records CDR 90000 079, 2004.
REVIEWS
This two-CD set features two lengthy concertos written
for Alex Klein about fifteen years ago. The Chicago
Classical Recording Foundation’s Cedille Records
proudly presents former Chicago Symphony principal
oboist Alex Klein with Chicago Sinfonia founder and
music director Paul Freeman, who also conducts the
Czech National Symphony Orchestra.
The two new oboe concertos are mammoth
works, 28 and 37 minutes long, with large, dramatic
orchestrations and epic ambitions. Alex Klein set
the minimum 30-minute running length for the
commission of Japanese-Brazilian composer Marco
Aurélio Yano and also specified that the piece have
extreme technical demands “so as to provide players
with a much needed evolution of the instrument’s
technique.” (Klein). The tragic medical circumstances
of the composer’s short life, described in detail in
Klein’s liner notes, resulted in his death, at age 27,
before the concerto was fully orchestrated and revised,
and so both his composition teacher and Klein had
substantial contributions to make prior to the work’s
first performance.
Named “In Memoriam” by the oboist, the first
movement begins ominously with angry, pounding
brass and percussion, and swirling sound effects from
the synthesizer (yes, synthesizer). The overwhelming
dynamic explodes into the solo oboe part, which
begins simply enough, but soon addresses Klein’s precompositional demands. Hyper-speed oboe patterns
in dissonant sequences come one after another, while
the relentless, accented orchestration builds ostinato
upon ostinato, section after section. The cadenza uses
brief multi-phonics with synthesizer effects, then
sustained over-blowing. The orchestral machine starts
another busy texture, and insanely fast, complicated
oboe figurations once more develop.
The orchestra has their hands full here–the
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effort that must have gone into rehearsing this! The
movement culminates in a sustained high E, nonvibrato, in the oboe, 45 seconds worth, symbolic, in
Klein’s interpretation, of the composer’s vision of his
own death.
The gentle, meandering solo opening of the second
movement soon develops into a predictable melody
with accompanying jazz-influenced pop harmony.
Titled “Seresta,” it pays homage to Brazilian musical
culture. A huge cinematic cadence about two thirds of
the way through is followed by another oboe cadenza,
this one an extended melodic passage of trills and
more chromatics. Punctuated by a sudden, ferocious
Iberian cadence, the cadenza melts into a reprise of the
relaxed but moody pop melody.
The gigantic final movement, “Frevo,” starts
simply, with a 7/8 quasi-clave pattern in pizzicato
strings. The solo oboe’s lyrical but sweetly syncopated
and increasingly complicated tune is partnered by
keyboard percussion, then taken over by heavy brass.
The playful character is interrupted by and alternates
with a weighty Aragonaise vamp. The movement also
frames a quiet, central episode with solo horn setting
up a restrained, lovely oboe solo. The return of “Frevo”
material is complicated by ever-increasing virtuosic
notey-ness. Yet another extended cadenza with both
fireworks of fingerings and extended techniques leads
to a Hollywood ending bar none.
The other Klein-inspired concerto was composed
by an Oberlin student who emigrated from Poland,
Pawel B. Sydor. Upon fishing Oberlin, Sydor continued
his studies as a graduate student at Juilliard with John
Corigliano, and Virtuti Militari won him the Juilliard
School Composer’s Competition in 1994, as well as a
premiere by Bert Lucarelli with the Juilliard Symphony
and a Charles Ives Scholarship in Composition. Sydor,
born in 1970, continues to compose concert music,
electronic music, and film scores. Virtuti Militari refers
to the highest Polish military distinction, adopted
in 1792 by the last Polish king. Its programmatic
content is painstakingly spelled out by the composer
in his notes, with the solo oboe representing the heroic
common man in the Polish struggle for freedom and
autonomy. The orchestra plays various roles, depending
on whether or not the half-step motive symbolizing
mean-spirited rulers is heard.
A single thirty-minute movement in five sections,
the sprawling oboe concerto has inner thematic
connections and a recognizably coherent style. It
moves comfortably from traditionally virtuosic if
dissonant passages to similarly virtuosic strings of
multi-phonics, delivered by the oboist with spot-on
accuracy. When it waxes nostalgic and tonally lyrical,
there is just enough originality and residual dissonance
for it to be convincing. As with Yano’s concerto, the
oboe part is deliberately over-the-top in its technical
demands, and so we have a show-off piece of extreme
length, large orchestration, and weighty subject. An
unresolved, protracted piercing high Bn from the oboe
concludes the drama – no feel-good ending here.
The CD includes Bohuslav Martinů’s modest oboe
concerto of 1955, so appropriately accompanied by
this Czech orchestra, a work that should be recorded
often. Klein elected not to make use of the published
(The Double Reed, Vol. 13, No. 1, Spring 1990)
corrections to the mistakes in the oboe part, several
of which survived into the second printing, the one
evidently used here. Especially noticeable is the low
Ef fermata at the end of the third movement’s cadenza
- correctly an En. The Ef is left over from the original
two-cadenza version, and does not transition well in
the published version, which eliminates the second
cadenza, thereby moving into a different tonal center.
The music loses effectiveness when the solo oboe
outruns the orchestra in the first movement, causing
the syncopated orchestral punctuations to miss their
mark. Alex Klein’s amazing agility and astonishingly
sweet tone also distinguish this recorded performance
from several others.
Bach: Pièces pour hautbois & Airs de
cantates
Olivier Doise, oboe; Gaële Le Roi, soprano.
Arion ARN68566, 2002.
Olivier Doise of Douai, France, teamed with soprano
Gaële Le Roi to make a most satisfying album of
alternating oboe solos and cantata movements in 2002.
He had recently won the principal oboe position in the
Paris Opera Orchestra; she is a young but well-traveled
opera singer and actress with a long-list of credits.
They are accompanied by cellist Jérôme Pernoo and
keyboard player Jérémie Rhorer on harpsichord and
organ, and the occasional orchestral assistance of two
fine violinists and a violist. The cantatas begin with
BWV 187 Es warten alles auf dich, the optimistic,
declamatory “Gott versoget, alles Leben.” Its majestic,
double-dotted French overture style is the ideal pick
for opening the collection, and the fine compatibility
of the two soprano timbres is immediately evident.
Doise performs our G minor version of BWV1030
with a light, precise style. His Marigaux oboe has a
sweet but crystal-clear tone, and his articulations are
deft, separated, and clean, with some obeisance to
THE DOUBLE REED
Widerkehr: Chamber Music with Oboe
Omar Zoboli, oboe; Felix Renggli, flute;
Alberto Guerro, bassoon; Jean-Jacques Dünki,
fortepiano.
Pan Classics 510 119, 2002.
With over fifty CDs under his belt, using oboes from the
17th century all the way to the present, Italian oboist
Omar Zoboli might come up with just about anything
at this point. In 2002 he unearthed and realized four
large works by Jacques Widerkehr, who was born in
the city of Strasbourg in northeastern France and
musically located in the Paris of the late 1700s. There
Widerkehr wrote a great deal of household music and
other chamber music, most notably “duets” for solo
winds and piano, i.e., wind sonatas. Zoboli’s recording
contains two of these, along with two trios for flute,
oboe, and bassoon. These are substantive pieces, the
sonatas, each in four movements, lasting about 22
minutes total, and the three-movement trios taking
approximately fifteen minutes each.
For this effort, Zoboli and his colleagues use
reproductions of period instruments. The flute is
a Heinrich Grenser original, the bassoon is an A.
Grenser copy, and the oboe is a Grundman copy. The
fortepiano is an 1805 Viennese copy. I will admit to
inexperience in listening to 18th-century bassoon; the
others I have much more familiarity with. I’m not sure
I’ve ever heard a sound quite like that made by Alberto
Guerro – a warm, fuzzy, furry humming tone with
little or no attack. The ensemble plays together with
flawless intonation, nonetheless, the flute and oboe
sounding relatively predictable, with distinct timbres
that separate the counterpoint well. Both flutist
Renggli and bassoonist Guerra match Omar Zoboli’s
prodigious technical control and fluent, expressive
passagework. Vibrato is minimal and balance is
exquisitely sensitive. The two trios presented are No.s
2 in C major and 3 in D minor, each with well-crafted
sonata-form first movements; gracious, slower central
movements; and concluding lighter movements, a
theme and variations in No. 2 and a fugal rondo for
No. 3. Zoboli writes compellingly of the music on
this CD in his exceptional liner notes, and I will not
discuss them in detail. The trios certainly represent a
repertoire find for me – real trio music truly meant
for this combination of instruments, well-written,
playable, and not Baroque! The liner reports their
publication by Marter Editions.
The duo sonatas open with a bang. The oboist
seems to use a brighter reed to match the edge of
the fortepiano, and the dynamic is explosive at the
REVIEWS
Baroque performance practice. He chooses to use full
continuo (with cello), optional to this work, but not
a bad idea to balance the modern oboe. Only slight
differences distinguish the repeats in the Sarabande
– a bit of terraced dynamic, an occasional ornament.
The transition to the juggernaut of third/fourth
movement is just right; the machine begins with solid
tempo and transparent counterpoint. By the time
Doise approaches the gigue, there is no doubt that
the rhythms will be illuminated by absolute clarity
of ensemble. The oboist and continuo work together
in tireless and stable interlock – this would be an
especially useful performance to recommend to a
student learning the work for the first time.
Liner annotator Giles Cantagrel had no problem
persuading me that this sonata and the Partita in A
Minor for flute alone (BWV 1013) belong in the oboists’
repertoire. Of course, just owning the old Vade Mecum
puts young oboists in the position of fooling around
with the partita. Doise isn’t fooling, though, when he
winds up and delivers the full four dance movements,
with repeats, and a few carefully chosen graces. The
Allemande is a tour de force made of one piece, with
no retakes that I can tell. The freedom of rhythm in the
Corrente, expressed through a torrent of melody and
sequences, bespeaks a joyous outpouring of technique,
and the sultry, melting Sarabande provides a platform
for Doise’s tasteful, restrained agréments. The Bourée
angloise is all one could want in terms of spirit,
articulative excitement, and down-right virtuosity.
The other cantata movements offered include
BWV 202 Weichet nur, betrübe Schatten (1 and 7),
BWV 199 Mein Herz schwimmt im Blut (12 and 13),
BWV 105 Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht (14), as well as
the third aria from the Magnificat, with oboe d’amour.
They are tastefully positioned around and among the
solo oboe works, and Doise and Le Roi complement
each other with gorgeous, liquid color. Especially
to be commended are Doise’s deference to the voice
and his ability to put focus and beauty in his sound
even when accompanying. The recording placement is
balanced and well-separated. The album is one of those
serendipitous efforts that manages to be compelling
for the specialist, but also wonderfully agreeable for
the general marketplace. I hope it is finding a broad
audience.
149
150
REVIEWS
beginning of the sonata in E minor. Throughout, the
oboe takes a primary role, presenting much of the
thematic material, and later alternating with piano
argumentatively, especially in the developments.
The movement patterns include dance movements
(minuet or scherzo), and singing slow movements,
most notably the lilting Adagio of the sonata in F
major. As pianist Dünki points out in his contribution
to the liner notes, the Finale to the sonata in F major is
filled with joyous “cheeky” appoggiaturas, somewhat
reminiscent of the final movement of Mozart’s oboe
quartet, in 6/8 time.
This recording is an excellent piece of work, a fine
documentation of the musical viability of several littleknown works in the repertoire from a time period that
could use more representation in our programs. The
oboe parts are not excessively difficult, at least on the
modern oboe, but the surprising length of the sonatas
will limit their versatility.
Oboe
MUSIC
REVIEWS
REVIEWS BY ROBERT J. KRAUSE
Canyon, Texas
REVIEWS
15 Inventionen by Johann Sebastian Bach
arranged for two oboes by Harmut Feja
Feja (ISMN M-50018-263-1) KMB #35
Harmut Feja has taken J. S. Bach’s 15 Two Part
Inventions for keyboard and arranged and edited
them for two oboes. He has used the original keys
of each of the inventions except for numbers 3, 5, 6,
12, and 14, which have been transposed to better fit
within the range of the oboe. He has also adjusted
some of the tempo markings, articulations, dynamics,
and ornaments so that they are not always reflective of
the keyboard versions. There is a preface (written in
German) which includes a chart for the execution of
the ornaments that are used.
Ranges – They vary for each invention, but the
lowest note required to play is small b and the highest
is d3.
Dynamics – There are only two inventions (Nos. 3
and 5) in which Mr. Feja has included any dynamics.
Articulations – Many times slurs have been added
to maybe help facilitate a smoother performance on
the oboe. In inventions nos. 7, 12, 13, and 15, Mr. Feja
has written a more detached version than that in the
original keyboard one.
Ornaments – Markings for mordents and inverted
mordents are not always in sync with the original
keyboard versions. There are times when the two are
reversed. Trills sometimes are added to make for more
effective cadences.
These duet transcriptions are very playable and fit
the oboe very well. I have used them with my students
for sight reading and pedagogical and technical pieces.
They would work well as recital material. (Medium
difficulty to difficult)
Felix Mendelssohn:
Romances sans paroles, Op. 30 pour
hautbois et piano (Volume 2: Romances 7-12)
transcribed for oboe and piano by David Walter.
Gerard Billaudot editeur,
14, rue de l’Echiquier – 75010, Paris, 2004.
What a wonderful choice of original piano music Mr.
Walter has chosen to transcribe for oboe and piano.
Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words are such intimate
gems in miniature form. What better introduction
to the Songs Without Words than that which the
composer, himself, wrote in a letter of 1842 to MarcAndre Souchay: “There is so much talk about music,
and yet so little is said. For my part, I believe that
words do not suffice for such a purpose, and if I found
they did suffice I would finally have nothing more
to do with music… the same words never mean the
same things to different people. Only the song can say
the same thing, can arouse the same feelings in one
person as in another, a feeling which is not expressed,
however, by the same words.”
The timbre and lyrical quality of the oboe lends
itself so well to the expressiveness that Mendelssohn
was referring to, and David Walter has expertly
adapted the shapely melodies of each song to make the
listener believe that these petite pieces were originally
conceived with the oboe in mind.
Mr. Walter has arranged Romance #7 (Op. 30,
No. 1 in Ef major) with the option that the solo part
can be played on the oboe or the English horn. Both
versions work well (the oboe version does go down to
small bf), but I am really partial to the almost human
voice sound of the English horn version. Romance #9
(Op. 30, No. 3 in E major) has been arranged with the
option that the solo part can be played on the oboe or
THE DOUBLE REED
151
oboe d’amour. Both versions sound very nicely, but the
key and range of the oboe d’amour version might be
more user friendly (G major).
David Walter (an oboist of international acclaim),
has been attempting to make up for the relatively
limited repertoire for the oboe by transcribing more
than 120 works, especially from the romantic era.
Ukrainian Music for Oboe and Piano
compiled by Myron Zakopets and
Vyacheslav Zeitz.
Snyatyn: PP. V. Lazarenko, 2004.
REVIEWS
This is a collection of 24 works of Ukrainian music
arranged for oboe and piano (21 pieces) or solo
oboe (3 pieces). The works are representative of 13
composers and 5 arrangers/editors. Both Mr. Zakopets
and Mr. Zeitz are responsible for arranging and editing
a number of the works.
Ranges – They vary for each work, but are usually
written within a very comfortable range. The lowest
note required to play is small bf and the highest is ff3.
Tonal organization – 22 of the works are
organized tonally and fall within major or minor keys.
Some contain modal inflections and/or added note
harmonies. Two of the works are based on quartal
harmonies.
Rhythm and Time Signatures – A variety of
standard rhythms appear (including syncopation and
triplets.), and the following time signatures are used:
2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 3/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, and 12/8.
Special effects – In one of the unaccompanied
pieces there is a indication that the soloist can include
multiphonics if desired. Some of the works contain
cadenza like passages, and a number of the pieces
contain grace-notes.
This collection of Ukrainian music is a wonderful
addition to the oboe repertoire. The melodies reflect
the influence of Ukrainian folk music and show a
very attractive sentimentalism. These are certainly
usable by student and professional oboists for recital
performances. This collection is most valuable and
usable, I recommend it highly. The difficulty level
ranges from medium to medium difficult. ◆
152
STOLEN OBOES AND BASSOONS
Stolen Oboes and Bassoons
This is our continuing list of known stolen oboes and bassoons. It is hoped that the listing of these
instruments, along with particulars leading to their disappearance, might be of assistance in their
eventual recovery and return to their original owners, as well as serving as a source for identifying
suspected contraband instruments. If there is some way the Society can further discourage the theft
of so vital a tool to the performing artist, further suggestions are encouraged from the readers. Please
add to (and hopefully, delete from) the list by writing to the oboe and bassoon editors. The list will be
printed in all future issues of the publications. Please include as much information as you can pertinent
to the instrument (distinguishing characteristics, special keywork, etc.) and to its theft (where, when,
etc.).
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19.
Puchner bassoon, serial number 8501 (1976), stolen from Albrecht Holder, Lindpaintner strasse 81, 7000 Stuttgart, Germany, in Copenhagen, Denmark, when the Stuttgart
Philharmonic Orchestra was on tour.
Loree oboe, serial number EM67; stolen March, 1983, in Wichita, Kansas (Witchita
State University Campus), from Susan D. Laney, 612 E. Boone St., Tahlequah, Oklahoma 74464, Tel.: (918) 456-2298; stolen while attending Wichita State University.
Heckel bassoon, serial number 11953, stolen from Nusio Kato, of the Orchestre de la
Suisse Romande, Geneva, at Carnegie Hall.
Oboe: Loree, serial number AY28. Stolen December 12, 1987 in New York City at 9th
and Broadway. Contact Ernest Meyer, 7916 Burholme Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19111.
(Tel.: 215-725-3249).
Marigaux oboe, serial number 15552, stolen February 23, 1988 in Philadelphia (Temple University campus), from Lesley Nowell, [email protected]
Lorée oboe, serial number ER 08, stolen March 2 from the Tobey-Kendall dining hall,
University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado. Contact Benham Ignacio at
10913 Bannock Street, Northglenn, CO 80234. (303) 452-7832, or at 3044 West Logan,
Chicago, IL 60647. (312) 252-2963.
Bassoon: Fox model 101, serial number 8874, stolen March 7th 1988, from the home
of Michael and Lori Garvey, 854-48th Ave., San Francisco, CA, Please contact Michael
or Lori Garvey, 542 Center Ave., Martinez, CA 94553. Tel.: (925) 370-6272.
Oboe: F Loree, serial no. DD89. If found or recovered contact Marianne Ingels, 2310
Revenwood, Norman, OK 73071. Tel.: (405) 321-1008.
Loree English horn, serial no. GL-28. Stolen in Kingston, Ontario, July 20, 1989. Contact Etienne de Medicis, 428 Dufferin, Sherbrooke, Ont. J1H 4M8 Canada. Tel.: (819)
346-2093.
Heckel bassoon, serial number 10800, stolen from Martin Hoffer, P.O. Box 111633,
Anchorage, Alaska 99511, Tel.: (907) 346-2572.
Bassoon: Fox Renard Model 220, Serial #14f993. Stolen from the York High School
band area locker rooms on Friday, February 23, 1990. If found contact Kenneth Potsic,
444 Rex, Elmhurst, IL 60126. Tel.: (708) 832-6782.
Oboe: Fox model 300, serial number 4098. Stolen in Osaka Japan on November 1,
1987. In a french style case and a Jean Cavallaro case cover. Please contact Mike Morgenstern, 10777 Bill Point Crest, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, USA. Tel.: (206) 8421155.
Oboe: Lorée, serial number FV56. Stolen August 27, 1989 in Westwood, LA near
UCLA. Contact Michele Forrest, 1725 Camino Palmero, #322, Hollywood, CA 90046.
Tel.: (213) 969-8205.
Heckelphone: Serial #3283. Stolen in Detroit, MI, July 7, 1983. Contact Frederic Dutton, 19553 Gault St., Reseda, CA 91335-3624. Tel.: (818) 344-2513.
Stolen: Oboe: Lorée: Serial IA06, an AK model. Stolen in NYC on October 2, 1991. If
found contact Robert Walters (215) 748-7354.
Püchner Bassoon, No. 759O. Stolen from the Secondary School of Music (Hritfeldska
Gymnasiet), Gothenburg, Sweden, 30th of August, 1989. When the bottom cap on
the butt-joint is removed, a mended crack can be felt (and seen) in the larger bore.
If found, please contact Rebecca Ekenberg, Nordhemsg.45 C, S-413 06, Gothenberg,
Sweden.
Oboe: F. Gillet, serial # C42. The case is from a Rigoutat oboe. English Horn: Marigaux,
serial #4697. Stolen July 22, 1991 in Foster City (San Francisco peninsula). Please contact Rich Wash-ington at (415) 493-2056 or (415) 725-3859 with any information.
Stolen: Oboe - Lorée: Serial # HQ93, Tabuteau Model. Also, Korg tuner and 15-reed
case. Stolen April 20, 1992, in Durham, NC. Contact: Bo Newsome, 122 E. Seeman St.,
Apt. A, Durham, NC 27701; Tel.: 919-688-2298.
Stolen: Wooden oboe – Lorée serial # GY 23 from NYC apartment. Reward offered.
Call 212-689-3083.
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Lorée oboe #DY27, stolen from a San Jose, California-bound Greyhound bus in
December, 1982, Purchased from Pat McFarland in June, 1980. Reward for return.
Contact SSG David L. Wheeler, PSC-457, Ft. McPher-son, GA 30330.
Loree oboe #JS96 stolen on October 2, 1992 in Tucson, Arizona. Please contact Alyssa
Tomoff, 544 Glenwood, Prescott, Arizona 86303. Telephone: 602-778-2626.
Püchner Bassoon: Student model serial #6201, stolen from Lionel Hampton School
of Music, University of Idaho, in the Spring, 1991. Reward. Contact: Richard Hahn,
Director; L.H. School of Music; University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83843. Tel: (208)
885-6231; FAX: (208) 885-8964.
Lorée oboe (serial #DG66). Stolen last winter between Dec. 15, 1991 and Jan. 14, 1992
from a locked school locker at Williamette University, Salem, OR. Any information
should go to: Robert or Joanne Wilgus, 28060 Farmhill Dr., Hayward, CA 94542, (510)
889-6176.
Rigoutat oboe, serial number 598AJ; stolen on June 8, 1993 in Prague, Czech Republic.
Please contact Pirkka Sipila, Juhaninv. 2, SF-60150 SEINAJOKI FINLAND. Tel. + 64
4121 242. Reward for return.
Laubin English Horn #1057. Stolen from Sue Goff with Loree Oboe CF 37. Contact A.
Laubin, Inc., 638 Central Ave., Peekskill, NY 10566-2007.
Rosewood Laubin Oboe #1482. Stolen from David Woolsey in New York City with
Loree Oboe BP 24 - circa 1970. Contact A. Laubin, Inc., 638 Central Ave., Peekskill,
NY 10566-2007.
Laubin Oboe #1465 and Laubin EBH #C42 – from Jessica Murrow. 212-663-9042 or A.
Laubin, Inc., 638 Central Ave., Peekskill, NY 10566-2007.
Rosewood Laubin Oboe #1405. Stolen from Josh Siegel, 914-858-8526 or A. Laubin,
Inc., 638 Central Ave., Peekskill, NY 10566-2007.
Barre Oboe #522. Stolen from Judy Rabinovitz. Contact A. Laubin, Inc., 638 Central
Ave., Peekskill, NY 10566-2007.
Laubin Oboe #1546. Stolen from Jonathan Darnell, 914-834-9354 or A. Laubin, Inc.,
638 Central Ave., Peekskill, NY 10566-2007.
Laubin Oboe #1651. Stolen from Matthew Dine – November, 1988, 914-793-9383 or
A. Laubin, Inc., 638 Central Ave., Peekskill, NY 10566-2007.
Laubin Oboe, #1494. Stolen from Alice Monego. Contact A. Laubin, Inc., 638 Central
Ave., Peekskill, NY 10566-2007.
Barre Oboe #7404. Stolen from Joan McDonald, April, 1989, 203-259-0342 or A. Laubin, Inc., 638 Central Ave., Peekskill, NY 10566-2007.
Laubin Oboe #1366. Stolen from McDuff Sheehy, April, 1990, from dorm room Brown
University, 914-763-5158 or A. Laubin, Inc., 638 Central Ave., Peekskill, NY 105662007.
Laubin English Horn #966. Stolen from University of Texas at Austin, Feb. 1991. Contact A. Laubin, Inc., 638 Central Ave., Peekskill, NY 10566-2007.
Heckel Bassoon, serial #9266, stolen in San Francisco, September, 1964, from Bob
Zimmerman. If found contact him at P.O. Box 1182, Chemalis, WA 98532.
Fox Bassoon, Model 1, Serial #12966 with case, black leather cover and Fox 2 cvx and
3 cvx bocals. Stolen from Heather N. Schneider at the University of Maryland, College
Park, MD. If found, please contact Heather N. Schneider at (410) 761-7078 or (301)
314-3079.
Lorée English Horn serial #DC 48; purchased on June 17, 1974 from Claude Reynolds,
Dallas. It was stolen from the music department office in late July, 1993, Montana State
University, Bozeman, Montana. Please contact Lorna Nelson, Music Dept., MSU, Bozeman, MT 59717. The EH was the property of MSU MUSIC #053756.
Rigoutat Oboe, French conservatoire system (with third octave). No. 433 AD. Stolen in
Paris between February 12 and 19, 1994 from Katrin Steinke, Am Hoelzle 50, D-78628
Rottwell/GERMANY. Tel. +49741/15960.
Oboe: Springer-Pfoffenhofen No. 9283. Stolen in Joensuu, Finland, from Keijo Aho.
THE DOUBLE REED
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Contact at Mäntyläntie 274 FIN-82210 Suhmura. Tel. 358-73-749227.
Heckel Bassoon, Serial #5712 w/French Key System (“World System”). Stolen in St.
Paul, Minnesota on April 10, 1994. Reward for return. Contact St. Paul Police (612)
292-3748, complaint #94-045-489) or Mary Banti at 15194 75th Ave. No., Maple
Grove, MN 55311, Tel. 612-420-9803.
Fox (RENARD) 222 serial #16187, September, 1994, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Any
information contact B. Finch, 33274 Whidden Ave., Mission, B.C. V2V 2T2 (604) 8266285.
Lorée oboe, serial number HV96, stolen in Irving, Texas, September 1994. Contact
Dan Gelber, Band Director, Lamar Junior High School, Irving, TX. Phone: (214) 9869155.
Lorée oboe, serial number HL78, stolen September 16, 1994, near NCSU campus in
Raleigh, NC. Contact Carolyn I. Shull, 8512 Southbriar Drive, Raleigh, NC 276069618. Phone: (919) 851-5471.
Lorée oboe, serial number LC45, stolen September 16, 1994, near NCSU campus in
Raleigh, NC. Contact Carolyn I. Shull, 8512 Southbriar Drive, Raleigh, NC 276069618. Phone: (919) 851-5471.
Two Fox Renard oboes, serial numbers 4194 and 5567, stolen from the University of
South Florida, Tampa, Florida, in January, 1994. They also had USF decals with numbers 160352 and 175651 respectively. If found, please contact Nancy Warfield at (813)
974-2311
Lorée oboe, serial # GJ22 - thumb plate modified to a Conservatoire System, entire
body of high intensity plastic. Stolen in Calgary, Alberta on November 23rd, 1994.
Send any information on its whereabouts to Mr. Richard H. Lea, #24-2323 Oakmoor
Drive SW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2V 4T2.
Fox Bassoon: Model 220, Serial Number 12910, stolen on Jan. 4 1995. Contact Dr.
Nicholas J. Contorno, Director of Bands and Orchestra, Marquette University, Varsity
Theatre, 1324 West Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53233. Tel. (414) 288-7476.
Bassoon: Gebruder Monnig serial #11377 (University of Delaware tag 120489) missing
from the campus of the University of Delaware since 1990.
Fossati Tiery oboe, serial #1452, in a black “Orly” case, with accessories, stolen July 6,
1995 from City Centre, Manchester, England. Please direct any information to Joseph
Nagy, 4 Kirkup St., Bay Shore, NY 11706-6900. Tel. (516) 665-5946.
Laubin oboe #1995 was stolen on Dec. 2nd, 1995 from John Wright, 4425 Tise Ave.,
Winston-Salem, NC 27105.
Bassoon: Heckel Serial Number 12782/2. Stolen from Fernando Traba, Mexican
bassoonist studying at the Juilliard School in New York. It was stolen from him in a
jewelry store on West 47th St., while he was shopping with his wife. Contact the IDRS
bassoon editor if the instrument is located.
Bassoon: Schreiber, model 5014, serial number 29014, with accessories, stolen on July
12, 1995, from the home of Marcelo Padilla. Please contact him at the following address: Casa J-5, Los Colegios, Moravia, COSTA RICA, or phone number (506) 2367246.
Oboe: Loreé JC29 AK, Model stolen from Karen Hosmer in Philadelphia. If found
contact K.H., 319 N. 34th St., Philadelphia, PA 19104.
Gordet oboe, serial #A331, stolen February 1996, in Springfield, Illinois, from locked
school locker. (Springfield Southeast High School). Approx. 30 yrs. old, wooden, third
octave key. From Allison B. Baker, 3301 Ivyton Drive, Springfield, IL 62704. (217) 7876372.
Oboe: Lorée, Serial # BC-36. Its Northern Illinois University number is 37727. Stolen
in DeKalb, Illinois, from the Northern Illinois University School of Music, April 15,
1996. Please contact Jennifer Swenson, Large Ensemble Office, Northern Illinois University School of Music, DeKalb, Illinois 60115. (815) 753-1551.
Oboe: Loree, serial number LN13. Stolen from high school locker on May 28, 1996 at
South Lakes High School, Reston, VA. Contact Don Pittenger, 12343 Coleraine Ct.,
Reston, VA 22091. (703) 860-4419.
Lorée Oboe: AK model LM26, stolen September 30, 1996 from my apartment in
Cincinnati, Ohio, together with a Korg tuner and a Seiko metronome. Contact me
at: Janna Leigh Ryon, 2247 Hidden Cove Road, Cookeville, Tennessee 38506. (615)
528-2340.
Loree Oboe: Serial number II34, stolen in June, 1993 from my home in Lucas, Texas.
Contact Jennifer Allen. (972) 727-4456.
Leblanc Wood Oboe (Serial #1317) no left F. Stolen on September 17, 1996 from the
band room at Hamilton Music Academy, 2966 South Robertson Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90034. If found, please contact music director Jeff Kaufman at (310)
559-9468.
Moosmann bassoon, serial number 91039, date of buy 05-03-91, stolen in the small
southwest German village D-66620 Kastel (Saarland), Im Aller 3, with a housebreaking, stolen from Muriel Thiel. tel. 00496873 400 or 0033387 937145.
Marigaux, Serial No. 19892, with a thumbplate key (English fingering system). Stolen
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from her hotel room in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on 26 February, 1997, while
on tour with the wind soloists of the European Chamber Orchestra. She can be reached
at (44) 171 437 0493, Fax (44) 171 437 0495, e-mail: Toby Scott <[email protected]>.
Heckel bassoon #6698. Stolen from the rooming house of Willard Elliot on March 12,
1945. If found or located contact Willard Elliot at 6731 Trail Cliff Way, Fort Worth, TX
76132. Tel.: (817) 346-9508.
Oboe of Lorée, Paris. No. EY 64. Lost in Bat-Shlomo, Israel, July 4, 1997. Has distinct
mark... worn spot on the silver of the F# key. Please contact Israel, Asaf Beéri, AyeletHashahar 12200 (no need for PO Box). Tel.: 972-06-6932184 or 972-06-6932740.
Lorée oboe #CO33 stolen in Minneapolis in November, 1996. Please contact David
Cantieni, 105 Hawks Road, Deerfield, Massachusetts, 01342.
Lorée oboe, #HQ25 stolen in Amsterdam, The Netherlands December 8, 1997. Please
contact Kathy Halvorson, Kanaalstraat 158-l, 1054 XP Amsterdam, The Netherlands,
Tel.: 31-20-689-8066, email: [email protected].
Lorée AK model oboe, #KT71 stolen in Amsterdam, The Netherlands December 8,
1997. Please contact Kathy Halvorson, Kanaalstraat 158-l, 1054 XP Amsterdam, The
Netherlands, Tel.: 31-20-689-8066, email: [email protected].
Lorée oboe #JD88 - stolen during the LA Philharmonic’s 1992 tour to Salzburg. Please
contact: David Weiss, 6226 S. Corning Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90056. Tel. (31) 3370962, fax (310) 337-7431, email: [email protected].
Laubin oboe, serial number 1981. Stolen in October 1997 in New Haven, CT. Owned
by Laura Chamberlain, 10 Frost Road, Lexington, MA 02173. (781)861-3759, messages (781)736-2245. E-mailcontact: c/o [email protected].
Laubin Oboe #1981. Stolen in New Haven, CT in October 1997. Contact Laura Chamberlain, 10 Frost Road, Lexington, MA 02173 Tel. (781) 861-3759; or contact A. Laubin, Inc., 638 Central Ave., Peekskill, NY 10566.
Oboe: Lorée, #DP82, stolen in Oklahoma City on Feb. 26, 1998, and resold soon thereafter in the Texas area. If found, contact Kim Monk at the Fenton Law Firm, 211 N.
Robinson, St. 800-N, Oklahoma City, OK, 73102. (405) 235-4671 x 3316, fax: (405)
234-5247. Email: [email protected]
Rosewood Lorée AK-reproduction serial #MA-88, stolen on June 10, 1998 (it is the
property of UT-Austin). Please contact David Garcia, 1071 Clayton Ln. #1217, Austin,
TX 78723. (512) 452-8620, or contact the UofT police department.
Stolen: Fox 601 bassoon, serial # 23502, stolen Dec. 21, 1997 in Minneapolis. Contact
Coreen Nordling, 612-925-0620 or e-mail cnordling @yahoo.com.
Heckel Bassoon #10704 stolen from Gainsville, Florida, on Nov. 3, 1998. This is a very
distinguishable instrument with extra keys and custom features. $2000 reward for its
return. Contact John Tileston at 352-338-1800 or e-mail at [email protected].
Lorée Oboe AK, serial #IW99, stolen from Lisa Geering in Chicago, Illinois in March,
1997. If found contact Lisa Geering at 920 Via Cartago, #13, Riverside, CA 92507. Tel:
909-369-3387. E-mail: [email protected]
Marigeaux Oboe, serial #9459, stolen from the Leeds University Music Building, England, on April 21, 1999. It is gold plated and gorgeous! If found, please contact Helen
Woolliscroft, 22 Hurstleigh Drive, Steate RH1 2 AA, England. Tel: 01737 763727, Email: [email protected]
Stolen: Laubin oboe, serial #1240 from Univ. of Iowa, Voxman Music Bldg., May 8-9.
Please contact Christopher Scheer/Melissa Etling. Address: Northwestern University,
Steate, IL, USA. Phone: (319) 354-1032. Email: [email protected].
Antique E-flat oboe by Triebert, Paris, c. 1850, missing January 1999 from Royal (British) Mail - U.S. Mail. Only 45.5 cm. long; missing its bell ring. Contact R.W. Abel at
814-374-4119, fax 814-374-4563, e-mail abel@csonline, net.
Lorée Oboe, Serial No. CQ78, stolen Dec. 18, 1999, at Cleveland State University,
Cleveland, OH. If found, please contact Alice Mantey, Chesterland, Ohio. (440) 7292869.
Lorée Oboe Full Conservatory, Serial No. MX27, stolen from Clear Brook High
School, January 13, 2000. Contact John Stuckey, (281)-996-2763 or email JRSTrek@
aol.com.
Lorée Oboe, Serial No. CQ78, stolen from Cleveland State University parking garage,
Dec. 18, 1999. Contact Alic Mantey, 8655 Camelot Drive, Steate, OH 45026. (440)
729-2869. email [email protected].
Lorée English Horn, Serial No. CQ22, stolen from my home in Edwardsburg, Michigan, May 15, 2000. Phone (616) 663-8230.
Bassoon: Heckel # 4878. Stolen in 1990 in transportation by a parcel service between
Munich and Stuttgart, Germany. Please contact Robert Polzer, Föhrenstrasse 48a, D83052 Bruckmühl, Bavaria, Germany. Phone; 08062/6992.
Schweizer Bassoon: student model serial number Op. 23 with a Puchner bocal CC
2, stolen from School of Music - UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 27, 2000.
Owner: School of Music-UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Rua do Passeio, 90, Steate RJ,
Brazil, Phone: 55 21 5324649, Email: [email protected]
154
85.
STOLEN OBOES AND BASSOONS
Laubin oboe #334, stolen from luggage at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport United Airlines
area on December 18, 2000. Please contact owner - Christopher Warmanen, 553
West Oakdale Avenue, #207, Chicago, Illinois 60657. Telephones: 906/875-2095 or
773/929-1968; Fax: 906/875-3193.
86. Laubin English horn #1150 missing from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. The
case may have University of Cincinnati inventory ID #279751 on it. Contact Mark
Ostoich, Professor of Oboe, CCM, at 513/556-9551 or at [email protected]
87. Loree oboe, Ferrillo model, #NP49. Stolen from the St. Arlington Church in Boston,
MA on Sunday, February 18, 2001. Please contact Misa Dikengil at 973/543-2194 or
via Email at [email protected]
88. Loree AK model oboe (with 3rd octave key). The serial number is LJ-57. This
oboe was stolen at Orem, Utah at about 11:40am on April 14, 2001. Chase Chang,
[email protected], (206) 919-3375
89. Heckel Bassoon: Serial number 14018-5, stolen: August 20, 2001 at National Superior
Music School (CNSM), Lyon, France. Contact:Audrey Luzignant 92, gusi pierre Sige,
Lyon 69006 France Tel:+66-246-3530 Fax + 049-327-3530
90. Bassoon: Puchner Serial number 6226, stolen: October 26-28 from East Carolina University Fletcher School of Music, Greenville NC, 27858. Contact: (1) 252-328-4281
91. Stolen: Bassoon:Heckel Serial number 12523,stolen: October 20, 2001 (estimate) from
the Garvey Fine Arts Center, room 319, the bassoon studio at Washburn University,1700 College Avenue, Topeka Kansas 66621-0001 Contact: (1)785-231- 1010x1511
Email:[email protected] Comments: This instrument may also still have a
Washburn University inventory sticker on it with the number 43225. Whoever stole
this instrument knew what they were looking for as nothing else was taken,and there
were two other lesser quality instruments in the studio at that time.
92. Stolen: Kreul Oboe, Serial number 44093, stolen: 28/10/01 at Stonebridge
lane, Fulbourn, nr Cambridge GB. Contact: Camilla L. F. Haggett,7 Grafton
Street,CAMBRIDGE CB1 1DS GREAT BRITAIN Tel:07771 761493 email: camilla.
[email protected]
93. Stolen: A.Laubin oboe, Serial number 1048 stolen: September, 2001. Contact: Takahiro Yamada, 47-117, Miyazakicho, Chuo-ku, Chiba Chiba 2600805 JAPAN Tel:043261-8660 Email: [email protected] Comments: granadilla body with gold plated
keys.
94. Stolen: Puchner Bassoon,Serial number 9822, stolen: August 9, 2001,while being
returned from Germany to the US in the US postal system. Contact:Christopher
D. FitzGerald, PO Box 260, Shady Cove OR, 97477. Tel: (1)541-878-2726 Email:
[email protected] Comments: By following my instructions that there was no
need for a zip code, the bassoon never reached the Puchner firm and was sent back
from Geramny. (These were instructions given by the US postal Service to me.) Both
parties cannot locate the instrument, the US postal service still says it has been delivered. It has not. No one seems to know where it is. It may have been in the customs
office in the WTC, as I was told that is a possability.
95. Stolen:Loree automatique oboe serial number HP 89, stolen out of an apartment in
Amsterdam. Contact: John Groeneveld, the Netherlands at: [email protected]
96. Portland oboe, Serial number 9934, one year old, wooden, covered hole, silver-plated,
dual system. Stolen: October, 2001, during a break-in at a pupil’s home. It was in a
BAGS case. Contact: Southampton Music Service, 5th Floor Frobisher House, Southampton Hampshire, England Tel: 023 8083 3633 Email: [email protected]
97. Stolen: Springer Pfaffenhofen Oboe, Serial number 9283, Stolen in 1993,Owner
Keijo Aho, Pajalahdentie 12 A 10, 00200 Helsinki 00200 Helsinki, Finland Tel: +3581356510 or +40-5433227 Email: [email protected] (Stolen at the city of Joensuu, Finland, about 1993 from a baggage at the Concervatory of the City Of Joensuu. No sign
of the instrument has been found since the theft. It is probable that this oboe, one of
the first ones that Hans-Peter Springer has made in this model, has been transported
to Russia or elsewhere in eastern Europe.)
98. Stolen: Fox Oboe 400,Serial number 9309,Stolen on or about November 1, 2001 Owner Charles Scurlock, 506 First Street, Langley Washington 98260 Tel: (360)221 8123
Email: [email protected] (Stolen in residential burglary at residence in Langley,
along with 2 saxophones and three clarinets.)
99. Bassoon:Puchner, Superior model (U.S. model 6000) Serial number 12899. Stolen at:
“McDonalds” in Moscow. Date Stolen: At the end of 2001. Contact:Prof. Valeri Popov,
Malaya Bronnaya 21/13-34, Moscow 103 104, Russia, Tel: (7) 095-290 6643, Email:
[email protected] Comments: This model is a top-model Puchner bassoon with
engravings “Superior” on the ferrule of the wing joint, it is equipped with mother-ofpearl rollers.
100. Stolen: Heckel Oboe: Serial # 4956 (Brand New). Stolen November, 2001 from the
private home of Edith Reiter. Notes:It was the last Oboe Heckel produced. It is a conservatory system with silverplated keywork. If found, contact Edith Reiter at: [email protected]
101. F. Loree oboe, AK model, #MS26, stolen on June 9, 2001 from a car in a parking lot in
Washington, DC at 2200 East Capital Street, S.E., Lot #8. Please contact: Emily Hay,
1230 Red Oak Lane, #202, East Lansing, MI 48823. 517/333-1505 or 443/416-8897.
102. Fox oboe, model 450, #12291, with a Cavallaro case cover. Stolen from 1531 Sherwin
Avenue, Chicago, IL. Please contact: Sean McNeely at [email protected]
103. Stolen: Huller Bassoon, Serial number 48003
104. Stolen: 1st November, 2001,from automobile in Upper Street, London, UK Contact:
Alan Anderson, 16 Whitwell Road, Norwich, NR1 4HB, UK Tel:+44 (0)1603 613604 ,
email: [email protected]
105. Laubin oboe #2003, stolen May 2, 2002 from Disa English in Barcelona, Spain.Contact
her at 011 3493 650 0170 or at A. Laubin 914-737-3778
106. Stolen: Oboe by F.Loree Serial number NL70 Date Stolen: March 25, 2002 (from under
the seat of an automobile parked in Modesto Junior College Lot A) Contact:Kathleen
Talbert, 119 N. Oak, Oakdale CA 95361 Tel: 209-847-7173Email: ktalb12411@aol.
com Comments: The instrument was marked with the Modesto Junior College’s ID at
the time of the theft.
107. Stolen: Heckel Bassoon #7410, including a pre-war cc bocal, taken along with Mark
DeMios’ van, which was stolen in Cincinnati, Ohio. The van is a 1992 Dodge Caravan,
Gold in color, with OHIO license plates: WNY989. Contact: Mark or Liz DeMio at
216-870-1016 or [email protected].
108. OBOE: Rigoutat Evolution, Serial number 194-AM Stolen on 28 September 2002 Stolen at: Villacast‚n, Segovia, (80 Kilometers Northwest of Madrid) Contact:Carlos del
Ser Guill⁄n, c/o Fidel Recio nπ4 5πC, Valladolid Valladolid 47002 Spain, Tel:00 34
983 20 44 10/ Fax:00 34 616 89 46 34 , Email: [email protected]. Comments:
In the oboe bag I had three reed boxes and accesories.
109. Oboe:Loree Serial number #LM02 Stolen on Aug.2,2002 at Boston/Somerville, MA
Contact:Sandra Gresl, 4039 9th Ave., Seattle WA 98105, Tel:206-633-0573, Email: [email protected]. Comments: Deluxe professional case, custom Cavallaro
case cover. Fresh Samantha Sticker
110. English Horn: Selmer, Serial number 2096. Stolen on Aug. 26, 2002, from the instrument room, room 214, in the upper level of Price Music Center at NC State University.
Contact:Erika Westphal, 9704 Kingsford Drive,Raleigh NC 27606-9538. Tel: 919-3625967. Email: [email protected]. Comments: Person who has an office in room 214, told
me I could put it right outside the office, since they couldn’t issue me a locker, where he
would watch it since he is there all day. He said apparently someone must have come
in to use the copier and didn’t shut the door, then that thief came in and took the EH.
I came back the next day and the EH was gone, as well as the Baritone next to it.
111. Bassoon:Puchner,Serial number 9043, Date Stolen: On october 28, 2002, Stolen at: On
october 28, 2002 I was robbered near Galoushkin street, Moscow Thieves took my bassoon, Puchner 9043, with some family documents, including my passport. There were
also several bassoon accessories. Contact:Alexander V. Popov, Moscow, Russia Email:
[email protected] or [email protected]
112. Oboe: Rigoutat,Serial number 332AJ, Date Stolen: October 24 2002, Stolen at: University of Oregon, Eugene, Comments: Instrument has gold keys, Contact: Jennica H
Smith,University of Oregon, 61199 Hamilton, Eugene Oregon,USA Tel:541-346-9233
Email:[email protected]
113. Oboe: Fox 330,Serial number 13991, Date Stolen: 11-13-2002, Stolen at: Antioch Bible
Baptist Church 800 NE 72nd St. Gladstone, MO 64118, Contact:Jillissa Meek, 7516
Lake Rd.,Kansas City, MO 64151 USA, Tel: 816-741-0579. Email: [email protected]
114. Stolen: Oboe Artley 19Q, Serial number 100079, Date Stolen: October 26, 2002, Stolen
at: Park Hill High School, Kansas City, Missouri, Contact: Julie Bredemeier,6913 NW
79th Street, Kansas City Missouri 64152, USA Tel:816-746-1348 Email: [email protected].
com
115. Stolen: oboe, Lorée, Tabuteau Conservatory, Serial number EI32, Date Stolen: March
20, 2002, Stolen at: Falls Church High School Auditorium, Falls Church VA, Contact:
Robert LeChevalier,2904 Beau Lane,Fairfax VA 22031-1303, USA Tel:703-385-0273
116. Stolen: Bassoon Moosmann - model 200A, Serial number 3664, Date Stolen: November 22, 2002, Stolen from the back of his car (concealed, car locked) at Minnekhada
Regional Park, Port Coquitlam BC Canada, Contact:Isaac Bull,1022 - 7th Avenue,
New Westminster BC V3M 2J5, Canada, Tel:(604) 220-2753 (home) / (604) 267-2832
(work) Email: [email protected], Comments: Reward for return!
117. Stolen: Laubin Oboe Serial number 883, Jan. 25, 2003, Stolen at: 1218 Como Ave.
S.E.,Minneapolis MN 55414, Contact: Lisa Skelton,3261 Zimmerman Rd., Duluth
MN 55804, Telephone: 218-525-9459, Email: [email protected]
118. Stolen: Fox Renard Bassoon 240, Serial number 30488, Date Stolen: 1-28-03, Stolen
at: Wilton High School Band Room; Wilton, CT, Contact:Cheryl A. Sickler,21 BALD
HILL ROAD,Wilton CT 06897, Tel: 203-834-2058, Email: [email protected]
119. Stolen: Loree Oboe AK,Serial number ML 64, Stolen on: December, 2002 at New
THE DOUBLE REED
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Braunfels High School Campus, New Braunfels, TX, Contact: Beth Bronk, Band Director:New Braunfels High School, 2551 Loop 337,New Braunfels TX 78130, Tel:(830)
625-6271, Email: [email protected]
Bassoon: Heckel,Serial number 9975, Stolen on 2/19/03 from Wayne State Universy.
Detroit MI., (The bassoon is a university instrument. It was taken from the directors
office area.), Contact:Jeremy Duby,43125 Carlyle Place #221,Clinton Twp. Michigan,
Tel:(586)381-3847, Email:[email protected]
Stolen: Bassoon, Fox 220(or 240),Serial number 18214, Stolen from Room 206 of
the Macalester College music building. 1600 Grand Ave. St. Paul, MN 55105, on
Feb.26,2003, Contact: Morgan Feigal-Stickles, 1466 Fairmount Ave,Saint Paul MN
55105, Tel.(651) 698-0594, Email: [email protected]
Stolen: Fox Contrabassoon, Serial number #259, on 3/30/2003, Stolen from car at
Logans Road House Restuarant 3060 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, Florida. Contact:
John Kehayas,3420 West Leona Street, Tampa, FL 33629, Tel: 813-263-7739 Email:
desmo67862aol.com
Stolen: Oboe Loree, Serial number FY28, Stolen on: March 28, 2003 from Kelly Walsh
High School, Casper, Wyoming, Contact: Erin Culver, 1912 Rustic Drive, Casper WY
82609, Tel: 307-472-0369, Email: [email protected]
Stolen: Fox Renard Oboe 330, Serial number #18647, Stolen: May 2003. Stolen from
the Baltimore County Schools (Baltimore, MD). Contact: Lt. Lanesman,Baltimore
County Police Department (410) 887-1608
Stolen:Fox Renard Oboe 330, Serial number #20121, Stolen: May 2003. Stolen from:
Baltimore County Schools. Contact: Lt. Lanesman, Baltimore County Police Department (410) 887-1308
Stolen:Fox Renard Bassoon 222,Serial number #25541, Date Stolen: May 2003. Stolen
from: Baltimore County Schools (Baltimore, MD). Contact: Lt. Lanesman, Baltimore
County Police Department (410) 887-1608
Stolen: Bassoon,Puchner Professional Model, Serial number 10097, Stolen on: 6/9/03
from apartment in NYC, Contact:Timothy Kulp, 201 E. 69 10-U,New York NY 10021,
Tel: 212-535-1702, Email:[email protected]
Stolen: Bassoons: Puchner-Cooper #8208 and Fox Renard #20056, Stolen on Aug. 7,
2003 from a private home in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, Contact: Katie Legere, Tel:
613-544-9129, Email: [email protected]
Stolen: Oboe,Fox 300,Serial number 3195, Stolen on: June 2003, at: Residence (Possibly stolen as early as January 2003) Contact: Richard Gehlbach,3321 Pepperhill Ct.,
Lexington KY 40502, Tel:859-269-6658, Email: [email protected]
Stolen: Bassoon, Puchner, Serial number unknown, Stolen on: 7-06-03,out of my car
in front of my house. Description: Bassoon has a dent in the wood on the lower part
of the boot. The key on the bell has a loose pad. There is no place to screw in a hand
crutch, it was replaced by a key guard made from a contra bassoon part. One of the
bocals is split on the curve. The thief was seen walking down Harrison. Long hair, olive
skin, 21-30 years old. Contact: Walker Kermode, 277 Harrison St., Ashland, Oregon
97520, Tel: (541) 552-0524, Email: [email protected].
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131. Stolen: English Horn, Loree, Serial number LR80, Stolen on: 4/2003, at Rice University
Band Hall, Contact: Rice University Bands, PO Box 1892, Houston TX 77251-1892,
Tel:713-348-2346, Email: [email protected]
132. Stolen:Rigoutat oboe, Serial number AM 221, Stolen on: June 13, 2003,in Gent,Belgium,
From the parking area of the St-Lucas kliniek, Contact:Stijn Heyde, Rechtstraat 304,
Lokeren 9160,Belgium, Tel: 0032(0)475 805 604, Email: [email protected]
133. Stolen: Oboe, Loree Royale, # NINH 36. Stolen from a student locker at the University
of Kentucky. Contact: Nancy Clauter, University of Kentucky Tel:859.913-3426 (cell
phone) Email: [email protected] or Megan Bitzer, Tel: 859 492.1924.
134. Stolen: Bassoon, Heckel #12804. Stolen in Santa Barbara, California, October 10, 2003,
Contact: William Wood, Tel:(323) 660 9473 Email: [email protected]
135. Stolen: 1) Lorée Royal Oboe (semi-automatic w/3rd octave) S/N MH 27; 2) Matching
plastic top-joint for above, Lorée Royal, also S/N MH 27 in a custom made hardwood
case (looks like a flute case); 3) Lorée oboe d’Amore, S/N II 66. (semi-automatic, no 3rd
octave), in case w/brown canvas (Lorée) case cover. Stolen from apartment in Montreal, Canada. Contact: Victor Houle, Tel: 514-247-6263 or 514-398-5193, or Montreal
Police at 514-280-0143 and quote file number 43-03090-016.
136. Loree oboe, #EG20. Stolen March 26, 2005 from a Super 8 hotel in Nephi, Utah. Characteristics: c.1978, grenadilla, full conservatory, no 3rd octave key. In black shearling
case. Tel. 503-668-3656
137. Stolen: 2 Period Oboes in a luggage bag: 1) Baroque oboe by Pau Orriols (Stanesby
model). Unstained box wood (light colour), in a dark red velvet cover. 2)Classical oboe
(2 keys) by Alfredo Bernardini (Grundmann and Floth). Also unstained box wood and
with an identical cover. Stolen on: February 19, 2006 Stolen from: A train at Gava (near
Barcelona), Spain. Contact: Molly Marsh: Spanish mobile number: 0034 677271442 ;
English mobile number: 0044 7713256227.
138. Stolen: Fox Bassoon (Renard) Model 240, Serial Number:35244. Stolen From: A
locker in Music Building of Georgia College and State University, Milledgeville,
Georgia. Date Stolen: February, 2006. Contact: Kara Hardy, 124 Springbrook Drive,
Cornelia,Georgia,USA. Phone:479-575-4177 or 706-499-0343.
E-mail: [email protected], or: [email protected]
Comments:This is a unique Renard 240 with the following modifications: 1. rollers on:
Bf/Fs/Af (on butt joint), low C/D ( on long joint),Cs/whisper key (on wing joint) 2.
low C extension on long joint, 3. French whisper key (little finger, wing joint), 4. High
A bridge on wing joint, 5. balance hangar.
139. Stolen: Bassoon, Schreiber Prestige Model, Serial # 34415, stolen around June 18th in
the Valencia area of Spain. Contact: Kim Laskowski at [email protected].
140. Stolen: Bassoon, Soulsby, Serial # 21, stolen from a café in central London, England,
May 2, 2006. (In a Wiseman case. The instrument has a leg rest fitting.) Contact: Hugh
Rosenbaum at [email protected].
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Contributing Members
The Society thanks those who have given additional financial support by becoming
contributors. Their additional support is vital to the accomplishment of our goals.
BENEFACTOR
Carlos E. Coelho Woodwinds
Ecraig3 Graphic Design - Edward Craig
Carla DeForest
Larry Festa
Jones Double Reed Products
Richard E. Killmer
Buffet Crampon USA - Francois Kloc
McFarland Double Reed Shop
Richard Meek
Alexander L. Miller
Frank A. Morelli, Jr.
Musik Josef - Yukio Nakamura
Lowry Riggins
Christopher Weait
PATRON
American Bassoon Company, Inc
Lewis Hugh Cooper
Michael A. Ellert
K.A. Fenner
Forrests Music- John Goebel
Fox Products Corporation
Kathy Henkel
Norma R. Hooks
T. W. Howarth & Co.
Charles B. King III
Alain De Gourdon - Lorée
Yoshiyuki Nakanishi
Edmund Nielsen Woodwinds, Inc.
Michio Sugihara Pipers Magazine Tokyo
James M. Poe
Seth M. Powsner
Lawrence M. Probes, M.D.
James C. Prodan
Nancy Huang President RDG Woodwinds, Inc.
Philippe Rigoutat & Fils
Harry G. Searing
Sharon’s Oboe Shoppe
John J. Wisniewski
William E. Wright, M.D.
DONOR
Accurate Manufactured Prod .Mark S. Franko
Alex Goldberg Accurate Double Reeds
Alexander & Helen Ackley
Ann M. Adams
Lisa M. Alexander
Pierre Cotelle Arpeges Diffusion
Mark Eubanks Arundo Research Company
William P. Baker
Sue Schrier Bancroft
Robert Barris
Bass Bags Anthony Morgan
Jeanne Marie Belfy
Charles Bell
David J. Bell
Owen Berendes
Mark Berger
James T. Berkenstock
B. Thomas Blodgett
Jeffrey Blumenfeld
Regina Bollinger
Boston Records Chris Rapier
Edward T. Bowe, M.D.
Fratelli Bulgheroni SNC
Dr. Howard J. Buss Brixton Publications
Paul Buttemer Reed Products
Ferald Buell Capps
Gene C. Carter
Cascade Oboe Reeds
Nancy Jamieson Cash
Charles Double Reed Company
Peter Christ
Anthony Christlieb Christlieb Products
Mark Chudnow Woodwinds
Dale Clark
Paul Covey Oboes
John Craig
Trevor Cramer - TrevCo Music
Tong Cui - Innoledy
Custom Music Company Fred Marrich
Michael Davenport
The Davie Cane Company Philip Shapiro
Jerryl Davis
William J. Dawson, M.D.
Heiko Dechert
John J. Dee
Michael H. Dicker
Raymond H. Dusté
B & D Publications - David E. Dutton
Jan Eberle
Theodore J. Eckberg, M.D.
Herbert W. Fawcett, D.D.S.
Michael W. Fay
Marc D. Fink
Fossati L’Atelier Du Hautbois
Wayne B. Gaver
Gem WW Products - Gary Moody
Robert G. Gemmell
Julie Ann Giacobassi
Anne Gilby
Lauren Green Gombolay
Meg Cassell Good Tone Guild Double Reed
Don T. Granger
Peter Handsworth
Wilhelm Heckel GmbH
Thomas C. Heinze
Udo Heng - Reeds ‘n ‘ Stuff
Martha Pineno Hess
Leonard W. Hindell
Thomas M. Hiniker
Sally Jo Hinkle-Teegarden
North Texas Oboe Reeds and Cane
Lisa W. Sayre Hoboe Music
Ann Hodge - Hodge Products, Inc.
Carolyn M. Hove
Yoshiyuki Ishikawa, DMA
Fraser and Nadina Jackson
Japan Double Reed Inc.
Jeanné Inc.
Ke-xun Ge
Jim Kiel
Peter Klatt
Jay C. Klemme
Harold W. Kohn
Charles J. Koster
Markianos Koutroulis
Edwin V. Lacy
Kim Laskowski
Stephan Leitzinger
Stephane Levesque
Susan M. Lundberg
Michael Lundsten
Donald V. Mac Court
Stephen Margolis, M.D.
SML Strasser - Marigaux SA
Bruce McCall
Beverly McChesney
Prof. James R. McKay
Carles Medir Huerta- Medir S.L.
Midwest Musical Imports
Roger O. Miller
Anne W. Miller
John W. Miller, Jr.
The Miller Marketing Co., Inc.
James A. Moore, III
Bernd Moosmann, Ltd.
Robert E. Morgan
James H. Moseley
James W. Mullins, Jr.
US Army Music Program
Precision Music Products Ltd.
Pascal Neuranter - Glotin
New England Sheet Music Service
Paul Nordby
Georg Noren
Margaret Noble Oboe Works
Eric P. Ohlsson
Mark S. Ostoich
David M. Panicek, M.D.
Fratelli Patricola
Jenifer H. Patterson
Steve Paulson
THE DOUBLE REED
Janet Polk
J. Püchner Spezial Holzblasinstrumentbau
Gregory Quick
Jean L. Smith, Pres QUODLIBET INC.
Robert P. Raker, M.D.
Carl Rath
John Richardson
Daniel Rigotti
RKM Double Reeds
Roger Roe
Dan Ross
Bruce M. Salad
Thomas L. Sefcovic
Leo H. Settler, Jr.
Richard D. Simon
Gregory J. Smith
Scott W. Snyder, M.D.
Robert and Bailey Sorton
Michael T. Spevak, Ph.D.
Stellar Oboe Products
Gordon Stenger
Virginia K. Stitt
Hitomi Sugawara
Sandra Svoboda
Rykle van der Heide
Harry A. Vas Dias
Charles O. Veazey
Allan Vogel
Gail Warnaar Double Reeds
Lyndon Watts
David Weber- Weber Reeds
Arthur Weisberg
Karl-Friedrich Wentzel
Alan J. Werner, Jr.
Westwind Precision Machining
Richard O. White
William Wielgus
Jan Henrik Eyvind Wiese
Guntram Wolf
Womble/Williams Double Reeds
Dorothy Wood
Richard C. Woodhams
William S. Woodward
The Woodwind and The Brasswind
Yamaha Corporation of America
Ye Yu
David Zar
Yilu Zhou
Wilma Zonn
SUSTAINING
Susan Aaron
Rodney F. Ackmann
Ann Caldwell Adair
James E. Addison
Carol Padgham Albrecht
Meyrick Alexander
Robert F. Allen
Brenda L. Alony
Barbara J. Anderson
Richard Aronson
Arundo Reeds and Cane
Keith C. Atkinson
Ernest Baker
Alexander Bakker
Frédéric Baron
Paul H. Barrett
Lindsey M. Bartlett
John H. Baxley
Scott J. Bell
Michael A. Benoit
John E. Bentley
Lantz and Karen Berets
Michel Bettez
Donald Beyer
E. Edwin Bloedow
Donna Bogan
Tom Bostelmann
Mindy Braithwaite
James and Kimberly Brody
Peter Brower
Dr. Andrew F. D. Brown
Wesley A. Brown
Gonzalo Brusco
William F. Buchman
Dr. Truman C. Bullard
Marsha C. Burkett
Michael J. Burns
James Butterfield
Donald W. Byo
Michael K. Byrne
Sandro Caldini
Janet F. Carpenter
Brenda L. Casciani
René Castro
John Tim Chance
Dr. Joseph C. Ciechalski
Nancy Clauter
Timothy Clinch
Fredric T. Cohen
Stephen Colburn
Jack Cole
Roger Cole
Cedric Coleman
Julia C. Combs
Donna Conaty-Cooley
David P. Coombs
Silvia Fanny Coricelli
John H. Corina
David Cowdy
Timothy H. Cronin
David Cushman
Jerry A. Dagg
Cecil F. Dam
Kermit Daniel
Glen R. Danielson
Lewis J. Dann
Robert Danziger
William D. Davis
Troy Davis
Juan A. de Gomar
David A. DeBolt
Renee Anthony Dee
Gilbert Dejean
Doris A. DeLoach
Sharlotte A. DeVere & Mark Dalrymple
José A. Diaz
Steven A. Dibner
Matt Dine
Michael A. DiPietro, M.D.
Jonathan Dlouhy
157
Lyle Dockendorff
Elaine Douvas
Barbara Jackson Duke
Dan J. Duncan
Daryl W. Durran
Harold Stephen Emert
Pamela S. Epple
Manuel Pérez Estellés
Frances Estes
Terry B. Ewell
Nancy Greene Farnetani
Julie A. Feves
Lewis T. Fitch
MaryAnne & Harvey Fleet
Solomon M. Foster
Elizabeth Foushee
Dr. Nancy Fowler
Anita Fox
James M. Franklin
Jens Frederiksen
Dean A. Frick
Jonathan Friedman
Masahiko Furukawa, MD
Adrienne C. Gallagher
Trina Baker Gallup
Lawrence A. Gardner
Bernard Garfield
Dr. Edward L. Gaudet, D.D.S.
Geralyn A. Giovannetti
Alain Girard
Irving W. Glazer
Nancy E. Goeres
Harold M. Goldner
Doris and Albert Goltzer
Jennifer Gookin Cavanaugh
Kazuhiro Goto
Gene Marie Green
Ann E. Greenawalt
Julie A. Gregorian
Peter Grenier
H. Gene Griswold
Hafsteinn Gudmundsson
Arnie Gunderson
James M. Hall
David S. Hanner
Per Hannevold
Lisa Harvey-Reed
Donald E. Hassler
John R. Heard
Theodore C. Heger
Janie Hicks
Sandra G. Hirby-Moore
Felicia Holley
Charles G. Huebner
Robert G. Humiston
Steven and Jennet Ingle
Arnold Irchai
Junji Ishibashi
Peter Aaron Janick
James Jeter
Ronald L. Johnson
Stacie Johnston
Richard A. Kandetzki
Charles L. Kaufmann, Jr.
Wayne Kawakami
Mary C. Kemen
158
Leo Kenen
Burton Kester
Andrew Jonathan King
Bruce P. King
Nancy Ambrose King
Stanley E. King
Ronald James Klimko
Edward A. Knob
David B. Knorr
Phillip A. M. Kolker
Lisa A. Kozenko
Lawrence D. Kramer, M.D.
Robert Kraus, M.D.
Cecile Lagarenne
Miriam Lahey
André Lardrot
David P. LeRoy
Robert P. Lewis
Martin S. Lipnick, DDS
Vincente Llimerá Dus
Robert Lohr
Richard W. Lottridge
José Lozano
Jeffrey G. Lyman
Mary Maarbjerg
Jan Irma Maria de Maeyer
Alice H. Magos
Dennis Mancl
Robert Manzo
Tilden Marbit
Donald C. Mattison
Sheri L. Mattson
Michael A. Maxwell
Wendy K. Mazer
Susan Lawrence McCardell
Evelyn McCarty
D. Keith McClelland
Susan McCollum
Charles McCracken
Bret McCurdy
Donald J. McGeen
Dr. Janis L. McKay
Eugen Meier
Kristy L. Meretta
Dennis P. Michel
W. Stuart Mitchell, Jr
Gene E. Montooth
Paige R. Morgan
Kay Morris
Candi Morris
Dorothy E. Mosher
L. Bud Mould
Franklin Pieter Mulder
Bojin Nedialkov
Rev. Greg W. Neteler
Amelia Russo-Neustadt, MD, PhD
Bo Nathan Newsome
Jan Joris Nieuwenhuis
Daina L. Nishimoto
R. Kathryn Nix
Coreen L. Nordling
Rebecca J. Noreen
Earl C. North
Patricia Grignet Nott
David P. Oakley
Janelle Oberbillig
Jason Owen Onks
Barbara R. Herr Orland
Gustavo E. Oroza
Mats Östman
Havner H. Parish, M.D.
William L. Peebles
Homer C. Pence
Tedrow L. Perkins
Gail Perstein
Steven Pettey
Lesley Petty
Christopher Philpotts
Dmitry Plotnikov
James Poteat
Darryl E. Quay
Paul Rafanelli
Richard Rath
James F. Reiter
Scott E. Reynolds
Shawn R. Reynolds
Andrea J. Ridilla
George T. Riordan
James E. Roberson, Jr.
Christian P. Roberts
Wilfred A. Roberts
Howard Rockwin
John Rojas
Mark L. Romatz
D. Hugh Rosenbaum
Steven J. Rovelstad
Edwin Rowand
Harrison E. Rowe
Richard Irwin Rubinstein
Nancy Rumbel
William T. Safford
Shu Satoh
Dean H. Sayles
Theresa A. Scaffidi
Richard H. Scheel
Grover Schiltz
Elaine Schlatter
George S. Schlazer
Peter J. Schoenbach
Tracey Scholtemeyer
Clare Scholtz
David Schreiner
Martin Schuring
William J. Scribner
Kimberly W. Seifert
Laura Jaeger Seiffert
Sasaki Seiki
Kristen Severson
Vincent Sexton
Mark Sforzini
Susan L. Shaw
Alan Shlachter
Joyce Sidorfsky
Keith Sklower
Kathryn R. Sleeper
Toren Smith
Rheta R. Smith
Roger C. Soren
Douglas E. Spaniol
Jennifer Kelley Speck
Thomas J. Stacy
Frank S. Stalzer
Sylvia Starkman
Robert J. Stephenson
Bob Stevens & Son
Eugene E. Stickley
Jim R. Stockigt
Valerie Sulzinski
Keith W. Sweger
Timothy R. Tarantino
David E. Taylor
Jane Taylor
Fernando Traba
Richard C. Trank
Barry Traylor
Robert M. Turner
Charles G. Ullery
John J. Urban
Steve Vacchi
Gary Van Cott
Eric Van der Geer
Thomas VanKanegan
Robert Wagner
Lisa Waite
Stephen J. Walt
Wolfgang R. Wawersik
Laura Weaver
Doug Webster
Abraham M. Weiss
David E. Weiss
Steve Welgoss
Arnold Wexler, MD
Elizabeth Lyon Wheeler
Charles C. Wicker
Lori Wike
Kerry M. Willingham
Karol Wolicki
Saul L. Woythaler
Malcolm John Wright
Bryan Young
Peter Zeimet
David Zimet
MS Bernadette Zirkuli
Marilyn J. Zupnik
THE DOUBLE REED
159
Lost Sheep
Members are classified as “LOST” when first class mail is returned as undeliverable. Your assistance in
locating these members will be appreciated. If you live close to one of these members please consult
the phone book and call them. After a year or so, lost members are placed in the archives.
GRAHAM ARNOLD
437 North Belmont Place #260
Provo, UT 84606
MARIO EDGARDO DESCALZI, MD
62 Grosvenor Road
Rochester, NY 14610
JOHNNA JONES-STAFFORD
430 Francis Avenue
Florence, AL 35630
HEATHER ARNOLD
HHC 2BDE CMR 464
APO AE, 09226
DANI DUNN
2201 Cardinal Drive
San Diego, CA 92123
ALEXIS ANNE IWANIK JOYCE
850 North Burlington Street
Arlington, VA 22203
MICHAEL ARTHUR
785 Eighth Avenue Suite 4
New York, NY 10036
SUSAN DYER DIAS
1240 Mayette Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125-4130
DAWN KILMER
950 South kanner Highway #125
Stuart, FL 34994
ANNA CLAIRE BALLARD-AYOUB
8 Charles Plaza #1605
Baltimore, MD 21201
NICOLE EGANA
606 Saint Paul Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
ELIZABETH E. KING
3115 South Orchard Avenue #212
Los Angeles, CA 90007
AMARI BARASH
1090A 6th Avenue
Kamloops, BC V2C 3V4
CANADA
SUHO HA
Looren Strasse 74
Zurich, 8053
SWITZERLAND
YUSUKE KIRITA
1314 East Atwater Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47401
MICHAEL BEERY
4000 M - 137
Interlochen, MI 49643
MATT HABAN
PO Box 06223
Columbus, OH 43206-0223
BRIAN BOWMAN
403 Wilkins Avenue
Jonesboro, AR 72401-5074
REBECCA HALUSKA
524 Sunset Road
Culpepper, VA 22701
RACHEL BROWN
600 North 15th Street
Selleck Quadrangle 7225
Lincoln, NE 68508
KARA HARDY
1050 West Dickson
Gibson Hall #127
Fayetteville, AR 72701
SAMUEL CHILDERS
407 North Ingalls Rm. B-12
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
NEIL HEYMINK
PO Box 662
Bribie Island, Queensland 4507
AUSTRALIA
CHRISTOPHER COLEMAN
1700 Williams Street Apt D-32
Valdosta, GA 31602
CASSANDRA CROWELL
1806 West Eastman
Boise, ID 83702
JOSEPH DAIGLE
43486 Michelli Lane
Hammond, LA 70403-6339
JONATHAN DAVIS
1133 10th Street #107
Santa Monica, CA 90403
RENEE DEBOER
88 Grove Street
Rochester, NY 14605
JON FREDIK HJEMLI
Dornacherstrasse 323
Basel, CH-4053
SWITZERLAND
GEORGE HOLDCROFT
527 West Miffl in Street #1
Madison, WI 53703-2613
HIROFUMI HONDA
2-5-9-410 Ninomiya
Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0051
JAPAN
JOSAFAT JAIME
2200 Montgomery Park Boulevard #902
Conroe, TX 77304
CAMERON KIRKPATRICK
309 Huntington Avenue Apt 5C
Boston, MA 02115
ELISABETH KISSEL
18 Quai Pierre Scize
Lyon, 69009
FRANCE
STEPHANIE KOHER
250 Windsor Drive
Fayetteville, GA 30215
MARISSA LEFEVRE
2715 Red Barn Road
Crystal Lake, IL 60012
JENNIFER LEJA
36th Army Band Building 51001
Fort Huachuca, AZ 85613-0000
KAREN LICHNOVSKY
340 Ellis Avenue Apt #34
Iowa City, IA 52246-3719
BRADLEY LINBOOM
1342 South Finley Road Apt 1N
Lombard, IL 60148-4321
GYÖRGY LAKATOS
MAFAT HUNG.BSN.
Logodi u. 49 IV/2
Budapest, 1012
HUNGARY
BRUCE MILLS
4535 Hawkhurst Drive
Plano, TX 75024
160
ZACHARY MILLWOOD
3060 Marshall Ave Apt #113
Cincinnati, OH 45219-1333
MITCHELL MORRISON
1251 Browning Avenue #3
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
ELIZABETH M. PAINE
832 Baldwin Ave Apt #2
Norfolk, VA 23517-1776
BILL PARRISH
5 Oakland Terrace
Maplewood, NJ 07040
LOST SHEEP
JUSTIN J. SCREEN
PO Box 574
Hornsby, NSW 1630
AUSTRALIA
GWENDAL VILLELOUP
18 Rue Petramale
Avignon, 84000
FRANCE
DAVID M. SHAFFER
14306 E 51st St
Yuma, AZ 85367-8282
KAYCEE WARE
4700 NW 70th St
Oklahoma City, OK 73132
KIMBERLY M. SURBER
10238 Hatton Court
Sun Valley, CA 91352-3603
PÅL ANDERS WIEN
Harlad Hårfagres Gate 10D Leil
810
0363 Oslo
NORWAY
FRANK SWANN
6020 Washington Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232
DAVID PETERSEN
Alte Gartnerei 9
D-04651 Bad Lausick Sachsen
GERMANY
HEATHER SYLVESTER
60 Coral Sea Way #20
Satellite Beach, FL 32937
MARAT RAHMATULLAEV
5490 Braesvalley Drive #80
Houston, TX 77096
JOHN VELOZ
25347 Via Oriol
Valencia, CA 91355
ELIZABETH WILTSHIRE
8 Homer Place, Uperr Riccarton
Christchurch, 8004
NEW ZEALAND
KATRINKA YOUNG-RIGGS
3716 Warwick Boulevard #5
Kansas City, MO 64111-1750
MICHELE ZEBROWITZ
4749 Towering Oak Drive #4
Memphis, TN 38117

01 TOC_29_3.indd - International Double Reed Society

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