Hans Pizka <[email protected]> wrote: you quoted me wrong regarding the VPO & women. This was & is not a matter of sound and by no way any theory, it was (& is still today to some degree) the sometimes very rough mostly male society.
Hmmm -- Humans avoid encounters in which they are afraid to compete. The VPO has a reputation as a rough, self-ruling society, but were the members of this exclusively male society just afraid that a woman tough enough to win a VPO audition might be a whole lot rougher than they? ;-) As many young ladies blame men with their high quality of their playing, things have changed, situation has changed. What was valid a generation or two ago, cannot have validity today. ... What was a male domain before, is open to everyone qualified today: Hans -- I'm am gladdened to read the above!! It is as it should be. There is no switching of parts in the Trio II of the Brandenburg but just six notes (well 12 notes including the repeats). Why do you see the second part more difficult than the first. Explain, please. My teacher long ago expressed this opinion. (I think) his thinking was that if one has the high range, and is confident about it, then there is nothing exceptional about the 1o. But the 2o has to play those several measures of 16th notes (just like the 1o does) in arpeggio, unlike the 1o stepwise part, and therefore it is a little more athletic. Furthermore, the 2o must exactly match the articulation of the 1o. The entrance on a2 M65 is difficult. Do you think the high c3 entrance on the open small bell F-horn would be easier kept in tune (the partials, special 16th tend to come extremely sharp using the open horn; it even remains quite sharp on the bigger hunting horn - I have a very nice one in F, used for the Serenade). "Easier" is an adjective best used only on one extreme by players who cannot otherwise manage to play a part, and on the other extreme, by those who will have their contract canceled if they miss more than a single note in 17 years. For the rest of us, the quality of the _usual_ result matters as much or more. (See the sound clip cited below.) And, dear friend, "nailing" a piece like the baroque Brandenburg is wrong absolutely. I think we have a simple problem with translation of this idiom. In (American) English slang, to "nail" something means to do a difficult task extremely well and securely. It doesn't imply forceful execution. For example, if I said "You nailed the opening of Bruckner's 7th" it would mean you did it as you intended, without flaw, and without any audible sense of insecurity. It would not at all imply that you played it forte or with severe attacks. It means a confident, completely successful execution. Please see meaning 7 here: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nail Well, it can be done on period instruments or the copies, but for what a prize ???? In conjunction with this thread I listened to the several Brandenburg 1 sound clips at hornexcerpts.org, but then also listened to some others. Please listen to the Hanover Band original instrument performance excerpt 5, the infamous variation 4 from the finale of the Hornsignal. http://hornexcerpts.org/excerpt_pages/haydnS31/haydnS31_5.html I don't know who was the principal, but he (and his section) "nailed" it in a way that might not be possible on a modern double or triple. The slurs and other phrasings of his interpretation are not present in Haydn's score, but the conception is beautiful. Unencumbered by the need to control his left hand, the player could do wondrous things with his breath and chops. I think it is the most beautifully-conceived performance of this passage I have ever heard. (But I could criticize the natural horn playing somewhat: His performance of the hand-muted notes tend to sound stopped. In my limited experience natural horn playing (never done it in public) it is quite possible, and better, to half stop most notes into pitch with only a slight muffling of timbre, rather than going full stopped with that severe timbre change. Deciding this would require careful study of the differences of technique and hardware between 1721 and the 1780's. But regardless, the beautiful conception of this particular performance overrides my churlish waldhornigkeit.) If you teach at an university & your income is secured by that, no problem. You will have enough time to prepare yourself for this rather rare experiment, but not in the hard working orchestra, where you play Schoenberg or Shostakovich the one day, Mozart or Mendelssohn the next - and nobody will ask you how. And if conductors at certain high level orchestras ask for such kind of performance (Brandenburg on period instr.), they have to regulate financial compensation first. Nothing is for free except ambition. Players accepting such a task, have to decline many other "gigs" during that time & lose income. If the orchestra pays a generous extra honorarium, well, it might work. Every good horn player at home with the F-horn could do it. I feel the following anecdote is somehow relevant. The conversation below has usually been attributed to George Bernard Shaw, but has also been attributed to Winston Churchill. The alleged exchange with a beautiful actress occurred at a party: GBS: Madam, would you sleep with me for a million pounds? Actress: My goodness, well, I’d certainly think about it. GBS: Would you sleep with me for a pound? Actress: Certainly not! What kind of woman do you think I am?! GBS: Madam, we’ve already established that. Now we are haggling about the price. Hans, by the way, I must thank you for your Wienerschnitzel advice a few months ago. I have a funny store to tell you some time. _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
