Mozart, Brahms and Bartók

This past weekend the Columbus Symphony presented the Mozart Overture to Le Nozze di Figaro , K. 492, the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 and the Bartók Concerto for Orchestra with guests Peter Serkin, pianist and Stefan Sanderling, conductor.  The Columbus Dispatch published a concert review which included a bassoon mention.  The entire concert is streaming on InstantEncore.

Each piece on this program presents numerous bassoon-related challenges. I hardly know where to begin, which is how I felt when faced with the preparation for this program.  But there's no doubt about it, Mozart's Overture to Le Nozze di Figaro is the most commonly asked bassoon audition excerpt!  Why?  It requires perfection, agility, style, double-tonguing, blending, soloistic skill, ability to follow the conductor when playing with strings only, and extreme dynamic control, for starters.  

Most bassoonists have practiced this piece endlessly, and the best advice I have for performing it with orchestra is to forget about watching the part- just keep your eyes on the conductor!  It is critical for the bassoons to stay with the conductor's beat.  I can imagine that if I were a conductor, I'd really want to maintain eye contact with the principal bassoonist throughout this piece.

Smooth, even 8th notes are best achieved with slow, relaxed practice.  Certain reeds play this piece more smoothly than others, although I have no explanation for the reason why that is true!  (I noticed the same reed phenomenon regarding the fast 16th notes of the 3rd movement of the Ravel Piano Concerto.) Strong breath support helps maintain an even tone quality throughout.  Any fingering glitches which present themselves can be ironed out by isolating the problematic notes into short, repeated exercises.

I recall once hearing a bassoonist remark that his bassoon had "a really great Figaro."  I knew exactly what he meant, because the ease (or lack thereof!) of playing this piece does vary greatly from bassoon to bassoon, just as it varies from reed to reed.  It may not be a bad idea to oil the keys before performing this piece, thereby minimizing the possibility of being distracted by key noise.  My bassoon, being new, has very quiet and smoothly operating keys, which I appreciate greatly.

During the week before we rehearsed and performed this program, I thought about how I might prepare my embouchure for the notoriously taxing Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1.  The slow movement presents an endurance challenge for both bassoons, especially the 1st bassoon:

In order to build up my embouchure to be extra strong for this piece, I carried a rejected reed around with me constantly, and I kept it in my mouth with a normal bassoon embouchure probably for several hours each day.  Of course I was also practicing, rehearsing and performing on those days, so the reed-only routine was done in addition to normal playing.  The result was a very, very strong embouchure which never showed signs of tiring, and I intend to use this technique extensively from now on.

While practicing onstage before the concert, I wanted to check the intonation of the lengthy exposed passages in this movement.   I decided to try a trick often used by our principal clarinetist, David Thomas: practicing with earplugs inserted in both ears.  It really worked!  Even with all the chaos going on around me, I was able to hear the pitch of each note with crystal clarity.  Thanks, David!

The Bartók Concerto for Orchestra is chock full of challenges.  The 2 bassoons were asked to play the well-known duo in a rather subdued fashion:

At 165 where the 3rd bassoon joins the 1st and 2nd bassoons, Maestro Sanderling requested that the 3rd bassoon dominate like an angry mother-in-law, while the 1st and 2nd bassoon were to represent calm, docile newlyweds.

For me, one of the trickiest passages in the piece appears in the bassoon solo at the end of the 4th movement:

There are so many possible fingering combinations for these notes!  I ended up settling on standard fingerings on each note except for F#, for which I eliminated the upper auxiliary (aka Eflat) key, so that my fingering was 2nd finger left hand + 1,2 and 4 in the right hand.  The reason for that departure from normal fingering (I normally use the Eflat key) is because it increased the likelihood that the F# would speak.  Again, each bassoon is different.  I nearly used the "French" fingering (2nd finger right hand + 1, 2 and Bflat key in the right hand) but decided against it because the tone color did not match the surrounding notes.  This is one of those passages which I practiced with a drone (B) on the electronic keyboard.

The 5th movement contains another awkward solo passage at measure 171 Un poco piu mosso:

On my bassoon, several different fingerings for Eflat 2 are possible, and it took a lot of experimenting to find the best.  I used a short fingering for the  Eflat in measure 172 (left hand 1, 3 and upper auxiliary) but for the Eflats in 174, I used a full fingering (left hand 1 and 3, right hand 1 and Bflat key).  Smoothness is the goal for this passage, despite the very awkward fingerings.  Slow, relaxed practice is undoubtedly the best way to achieve smoothness.

The reed I used for this program had one noticeable flaw: it tended to sag on C# 2 in loud dynamics.  That characteristic would have ruined the following passage in bar 369:

I discovered a new fingering which I've never used before to solve that problem: I added the right thumb F# key to the standard C#2 fingering.  It took a while to get used to the strange fingering, but it worked.  The first bassoon should be very strong in the above passages, and it's important to be able to trust the pitch of each note.

All week I rehearsed on the reed I was intending to use for the performances.  But on the day of the first concert, a cold front changed my reeds, ruining my concert reed, so I spent the pre-concert hours making new reeds.  I played the concert on a reed which was 2 hours old.

As a rule, I prefer new reeds due to their flexibility and sparkling sound, but still, I do prefer to have the opportunity to test a concert reed in rehearsal.  (Some bassoonists prefer old reeds in general because they are more stable.)  Fortunately, the reed I used turned out to be a good choice, but I was on pins and needles during the concert.  I thought of the words of the late great bassoon teacher Norman Herzberg, who taught me to make reeds.  He said that a good new reed is one which "holds its trimmings," in other words, the reed is stable, even during its infancy, changing only in response to its maker's adjustments.  He would have approved of the reed I used, I'm sure, since it did hold its trimming throughout the concerts.  Whew!!!

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New England Tryptich

Bassoonists may recognize the above excerpt.  This notorious bassoon part is from William Schuman's New England Tryptich, movement III- Chester.  We're playing it on tomorrow's Young People's Concert (YPC), for which students from the Columbus City Schools are bussed to the downtown Ohio Theatre.

For some reason, musicians often expect to be less challenged for concerts such as Pops and YPCs.  That expectation obviously is unwarranted.  There are few (if any) works in the orchestral repertoire more difficult for bassoon, technically speaking, than New England Tryptich.  While it may seem impossible to perfectly execute this particular bassoon part, there's no doubt that we can take steps to improve our odds of coming out of it relatively unscathed.

All of the 16th notes pictured above are exposed.  The repeated figure at measure 40 is one that I spent a lot of time on.  As a rule, I try to use full standard fingerings, so my left thumb automatically insists upon depressing the whisper key for the G3s in that figure.  Fortunately, the whisper key is not really mandatory here, and my first challenge is trying to talk my thumb out of using that whisper key!  The passage is much more likely to be successfully executed if the left thumb remains up near the high D and C keys.  I use the high D key to play C4 (some bassoonists use the high C key), and of course I use the high C key for B4.  I have found that it is the A3 which causes the biggest problem, with the left thumb having to move to and from the A and C# keys together.  To practice this, I isolate the 4 notes, with added emphasis (length) on the A3 in the attempt to train the left thumb to navigate reliably from the high C key to the high A and C# keys required for A3.:











I practice this repeated figure all slurred, at whatever tempo I'm able to play it accurately, and once it seems to be mastered at that tempo, I increase the tempo slightly, and so on until (hopefully) I'm in the vicinity of 160.

The passage at measure 60 involving A3, B4, C#4 and D4 is so outrageously difficult at 160 to the quarter note that fake fingerings offer our only hope!  For the interval B4 to C#4 I keep the B fingering intact and raise the 1st and 2nd fingers of the left hand and the 1st and 2nd fingers of the right hand all at once.  The fake C# comes out too flat, so the embouchure has to be used to try to squeeze up the pitch.  The High C# trill works well with trilling the 1st fingers of both hands simultaneously.

In addition to careful preparation, a good dose of luck is most helpful!  I'm hoping to have a good day tomorrow......


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Beethoven, Leshnoff and Tchaikovsky Symphony no. 6

This past weekend the Columbus Symphony performed the Beethoven Overture to Leonore No. 2, the Jonathan Leshnoff Double Concerto for Violin and Viola, and Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6.  The Columbus Dispatch published this review of the concert.

The Leonore Overture No. 2 differs considerably from the better known Leonore Overture No. 3 and features many exposed bassoon parts.  One to be aware of is the following, which must be double tongued due to the tempo:

The 4 measures preceding the presto are exposed, and the eighth note passages beginning on the 16th measure of the presto are tutti.

Composer Jonathan Leshnoff was in Columbus for the rehearsals and performances of his Double Concerto for Violin and Viola (2007) featuring our concertmaster, Chas Wetherbee and violist Roberto Diaz.  The two soloists were a perfect match, and the composer was clearly pleased.  Chas is a sought-after soloist who never fails to endear his audience, and Roberto Diaz won everyone over with his incredible Amati viola- what an awesome sound!

The Leshnoff featured some tricky tonguing passages for the first bassoon, such as this one in the second movement:.

While it may be possible to single tongue at this tempo of 130 to the quarter, double tonguing projects much better.  It's critical to be exactly with the conductor's baton, because there's not enough rhythmic background going on nearby in the orchestra to latch onto aurally.  It's necessary to count like mad while watching the baton.  If the bassoonist listens to the soloists and goes with them, he or she will end up being behind because of the distance.

I began preparing for Tchaikowsky Symphony no. 6 last week, even though last week was also a big bassoon solo week (Firebird).   I started searching for the reed I'd use for the opening of the symphony, and I took the reeds which seemed like viable candidates to the hall to test them there.

In the past, I've always used old reeds for the opening solo.  I expected to do the same this time, but much to my surprise, i ended up using a new reed.  Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I'm playing on a new 15,000 series Heckel- I suppose it's possible that new bassoons favor new reeds.

The winning reed had the quality which was my top priority: reliable response on low E.  This reed was so reliable that it shocked me each time we started the symphony in rehearsals and concerts!

To prepare the solo, I used my electronic keyboard to play a drone on the low E and B with which the string basses begin the movement.  That way, I become totally accustomed to playing that low E in tune.

One of the challenges of this solo for me is dealing with the A#2 in bar 4:

It is difficult to produce a controlled vibrato on that A#- it tends to be too wild or unstable.  I spent considerable time trying to tame the vibrato on that note, using my iPhone's voice memo app to record my progress. I actually noticed considerable improvement in the stability of the A#2's vibrato.  I think that bassoons, especially new ones, can be trained.

During the actual solo, I began the A# with no vibrato, then started the crescendo and increasingly added vibrato leading to the tonic B2.

The bore of the new Heckels is larger than that of the older bassoons.  Because of that, my bassoon requires more air in the low range and I have to breathe accordingly.  As long as the breaths are quick and efficient, I do not think they interfere with the melodic line.

I have never had to play these famous 4 notes in bar 160 of the 1st movement:

In most orchestras, those notes are played by a bass clarinetist who is onstage just to play those 4 notes from the bassoon past.  That way, the principal clarinetist is able to play as soto voce as he or she wishes during the solo preceding these 4 notes, and after the clarinet solo ends, the line can continue down to low D with the same dynamics and tone quality.  It is not reasonable to expect a bassoon to finish that ethereal clarinet solo!

In my opinion, the 4th movement bassoon unisons are really good audition material for any bassoon position:

In the past we've used 4 bassoons for Tchaikowsky Symphony no. 6, and the above passages are one of the reasons for that.  This time, we used 2 bassoons.  The F#3s at the beginning of the movement are in unison with the flutes.  I always listen to the flutes and defer to them.  As a rule, I defer to the instrument which is the loudest when it's unison.  The bassoons are never the loudest, so I do a lot of deferring.  (If octaves are involved instead of unisons, that's different, because the lowest octave should usually be stronger than the other octaves.)  Later in that passage the clarinets join in, and the bassoons are mere coloring at that point.  Then the clarinets drop out, leaving the bassoons and flutes to finish in pianissimo.

Beginning in bar 21, though, the bassoons are alone, in unison with each other.  Dynamics are critical to this passage, and of course, dynamics are challenging for bassoonists to exaggerate.  And intonation and ensemble must match!  The reason I consider the above passage to be great for auditions is because it is a great test of intonation, dynamic contrast, matching tone qualities from note to note, and melodic line.

Here is the audio stream of the Columbus Symphony's concert performed last Saturday.


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The Firebird

The Firebird ballet is based on Russian folk tales involving a magical glowing bird (the firebird), which is both a blessing and a curse to its captor. The Firebird, premiered 100 years ago in Paris, is historically significant not only as Stravinsky's breakthrough piece with both the public and the critics, but also as the beginning of the collaboration between Stravinsky and Diaghilev (founder of the famous Ballet Russes).  After The Firebird premiered, there were immediate talks of a sequel, leading to the composition of Petrushka and later The Rite of Spring.

For years there has been disagreement among bassoonists regarding a particular note in the famous bassoon solo of the Berceuse, or Lullaby, of the Firebird Suite.  As far as I am concerned, the debate is resolved by this video of Stravinsky conducting the Berceuse.  Although I was taught to play D natural, this time I played D flat in the famous spot:

I think it's safe to assume that the bassoonist in Stravinsky's video is playing the note choice (D flat) which was approved of by the composer himself.  Our conductor this week, Joana Carneiro, did not flinch when I played D flat, and I'm sure that she was listening closely.

Of all of the bassoon solos in the orchestral literature, I have played this one the most frequently.  We've played it on pops concerts, summer concerts, runouts, and school programs as well as classical subscriptions.  One would think that such familiarity would have rendered the solo easy by now, right?  Wrong!!

First of all, it's daunting to be given the responsibility for rendering any solo, never mind one of the most famous gems in the orchestral literature.  This particular solo happens to start on and be centered around what I consider the most unstable note on the bassoon: Bflat 3.  Any tension on the part of the bassoonist will result in a sharp Bflat.  Try too hard to compensate, and the player easily ends up with a flat Bflat!  F3, another important note in the solo, tends to sound weaker than the surrounding notes, which is the opposite of what the solo calls for.

When I prepare this solo, I always think of the words of my teacher K. David Van Hoesen.  He used to speak of moving the fingers as if molding clay for a lyrical solo.  Indeed, finger motion is integral to this smooth, calm, lugubrious lullaby.

To deal with my top priority of playing the solo in tune, I practice against a Bflat drone.  It's important to be sure that the temperature of one's practice space is close to the temperature of the stage.  That's a challenge for me because our stage is often too hot, which of course raises the pitch of the bassoon..  And because of that, I really can't make any final reed decisions at home.  Only onstage can I be sure of a reed's pitch level.

Sound is also critical.  I don't even consider reeds which lack the sound I'm looking for, so the only reeds I test for pitch are the ones which have already passed the sound test.  Yes, I go through a lot of reeds!  I reject reeds which sound harsh, thin, buzzy, bright or raucous.  I prefer reeds which produce a strong and appealing sound throughout the range.

We performed the 1945 version of the Firebird Suite.   This was my first encounter with this version, and it included some interesting bassoon parts, especially in the Pas de Deux::

If you'd like to hear the Columbus Symphony's performance from last weekend which included the 1945 Firebird, it can be accessed here on InstantEncore.


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The French "basson"

The French basson remains a fascination of mine.  A reader of this blog, Brice Mallier who is a French bassoon enthusiast sent me a link to his French basson tribute page

Mr. Mallier also sent this link to Maurice Allard's youtube channel.  Allard is undoubtedly the most famous French bassoonist of all time.

And finally, here's a link featuring the incredible playing of Gilbert Audin in the Poulenc Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon.

Gilbert Audin is bassoon soloist at the Orchestre du Théâtre National de l’Opéra de Paris , and teaches in the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris.  He is known as an ambassador of the French bassoon and is sought after all over the world for master classes.

Audin studied in Nîmes, then at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in the class of the great Maurice Allard.  At age 19 he won the international competitions of Geneva and Munich and at 24, the first prize of the international competition of Geneva, and two years later, the first prize of the international competition of Toulon.

His discs include J. Haydn (London trio with J.P. Rampal), concertos of Jean Françaix and Marcel Landowski (Sony, RCA), Rossini's quartets, concertos and symphonies of W.A. Mozart and all chamber music of Francis Poulenc (RCA Red Seal).

Gilbert Audin plays the Buffet Crampon Prestige basson.  He is bassoon consultant/tester for Buffet Crampon and is contributing to the development of the instrument.

I am told that the French basson is actually more difficult to play than the German system bassoon (which is hard to believe because they sound so fluid) and that the French instrument doesn't project as well.  A few years ago I heard French bassoons live at an International Double Reed Society conference.  I don't remember anything about the projection capabilities- I only recall that I was enchanted by the sound, flexibility and lyrical capabilities of "le basson français."

Mozart Piano Concerto no. 23 and Bruckner 4

This past weekend the Columbus Symphony performed Beethoven Prometheus Overture, Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major and Bruckner Symphony No. 4 under the baton of Christopher Seaman
with piano soloist Yeol Eum Son.  The Columbus Dispatch published a rave review  and the concert is streaming online here:     Mozart and Bruckner - InstantEncore.

Mozart's 27 Piano Concertos are definitely among his greatest achievements.  Mozart's later piano concertos feature wind writing so extensive and brilliant that some critics have dubbed them concertos for winds with piano obligato!  I think it's safe to say that bassoonists always welcome the opportunity to perform the Mozart Piano Concertos, with No. 23 in A Major being among our favorites.  I am ever amazed at Mozart's ability to use the bassoon to its greatest lyrical potential, even more so when I think of the primitive bassoon of Mozart's time.

In movement one of the concerto, the 1st bassoon plays the melody with the 1st violins.  As always in such a situation, I always try to take the lead rather than wait to hear the violins, to avoid lagging behind.

I use vibrato on passages like this, since the violinists do.  The idea is to always match the instruments you're playing with.  At times during this concerto, the bassoon plays with clarinets and horns, which means vibrato would be out of place.

The bassoon begins a long lyrical passage in measure 13 in the slow movement after the clarinet.  I start the B3 with no vibrato to match the clarinet, and then gradually add vibrato so that the rather mournful phrase can be heard over the orchestra:

In bars 46 and 47, the 1st bassoon and 1st flute play two descending 16th note triplet scales in octaves.  The note lengths are usually on the shorter side, with a decrescendo which still allows the lower notes to be heard.  To me, these two passages sound like laughing.  (It's not hard to imagine a character like Mozart inserting a couple of laughs into this somber movement!)

In bars 80 through 83 of the slow movement, the 1st bassoon imitates the piano in 16th note arpeggios.  The pianist plays the 16ths first; all the bassoonist has to do is match the articulation (and pitch, of course):

 I played this concerto for the first time during my college years.  At the time, the tongued eighth notes (in cut time) in the 3rd movement bassoon parts seemed like a really big deal.  That was before I learned to double tongue.  Now it's not that big a deal, although listeners are often impressed.  These days I have a choice- I can play it either single or double tongued, but I usually prefer double tonguing so that I'm able to move ahead if necessary.  To me, single tonguing sometimes sounds as though it's bogging down the tempo.  When double tonguing, though, I keep my eye on the conductor to avoid the occasional temptation to take off like a bat out of you-know-where!  The most facile playing on earth is of no value unless it's in time with the rest of the ensemble.

Unlike Mozart, Bruckner had little use for the bassoon.  I'd say that Bruckner's 4th Symphony has more exposed bassoon than any of his other symphonies, though.  The following solo in the 1st movement must be played with very clear triplet rhythms, moving ahead to prevent dragging:

At one point during one of the rehearsals when Maestro Seaman was insisting on rhythmic accuracy from the orchestra, he quipped, "Bruckner is dead, but I'm his representative!"

Rhythmic accuracy is again called for, along with smoothness, in the exposed passages after 500 later in the movement:

The 1st bassoon has the bass lines in the following exposed wind chords of the slow movement:

I tried to listen carefully to hear where each pitch should lie in each chord, according to where my colleagues placed their pitches.

The main bassoon solo of the symphony occurs in the 4th movement.  It's a series of three-note phrases within a lengthy crescendo:

In this passage, the bassoon almost takes on the importance of a brass instrument.  At a time like this, I'm glad that I have a bassoon which can really project when called upon.

Shortly thereafter appears the last bassoon solo of the symphony:

It's only one measure long, but nonetheless I spent a lot of time practicing for smoothness, especially on the slur down to C2.  Just because a solo is short and simple doesn't mean it's easy!

We Are the Music-Makers

A colleague from the Columbus Symphony emailed me this poem.  At a time when orchestras throughout the country are experiencing great financial difficulties, we musicians may benefit from this reminder from poet Arthur William Edgar O'Shaunghnessy :

We Are the Music-Makers

We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams. World-losers and world-forsakers, Upon whom the pale moon gleams; Yet we are the movers and shakers, Of the world forever, it seems. With wonderful deathless ditties We build up the world's great cities, And out of a fabulous story We fashion an empire's glory: One man with a dream, at pleasure, Shall go forth and conquer a crown; And three with a new song's measure Can trample an empire down. We, in the ages lying In the buried past of the earth, Built Nineveh with our sighing, And Babel itself with our mirth; And o'erthrew them with prophesying To the old of the new world's worth; For each age is a dream that is dying, Or one that is coming to birth. Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy