John EricsonEver notice that there are certain performances that stick out in your memory? This weekend I was involved with performances and a recording of two serenades, the Dvorak Serenade and also the Mozart C minor Serenade with the Mill Avenue Chamber Players. These brought back memories of a couple pivotal performances of these specific works.
I have performed both of these works a number of times on all parts and actually in both cases have performed them before and after the performances described below. But these do stand out for me.
In terms of fans of the horn, probably the more impressive of the serenade horn sections was for the Dvorak Serenade, which I performed and recorded with Indiana University faculty members back in 1990. I played second horn sitting between professors Myron Bloom and Michael Hatfield. It was an honor to perform with these legends of horn playing and teaching in really a fantastic ensemble of IU faculty and teaching assistants (which I was for the horn studio at that time as well as being a Doctoral student). This was actually recorded for commercial release, but did not ultimately go to press so far as I know. We did perform the first movement on public TV as a promotion for the Bloomington Camerata orchestra.
While there are several stories that could be told on this one, the one I would share is that Mr. Bloom (they will always be Mr. Bloom and Mr. Hatfield to me) played on three different horns over the course of the recording sessions; an Elkhart Conn 8D, an Eastlake 8D, and an Alexander 103! He sounded great on all three; I found it no problem to match any of them. He sounded like Myron Bloom on all of them.
The other serenade was the Mozart which was performed in the summer 1986 with a group of members of the Rochester Philharmonic at a concert at an historic home on the Finger Lakes. Some details are hazy but I was the only “extra” player in the group and it was a great group. The first horn was David Angus, then and now Third Horn in the Philharmonic, and the concert had been organized by Michael Webster, who was at the time Principal Clarinet of the RPO but currently is on the faculty at Rice. That summer I played most of the summer concerts of the RPO on second horn, in between the tenure of Eli Epstein and David Griffin; it was just after I finished my MM at Eastman.
The main, notable story on this one was from the last movement. Right toward the end there is a hold before the work modulates to the major key for the coda. At that point in the music, on the concert, the principal oboe added in the oboe cadenza from the first movement of Beethoven 5! It actually works well musically at that point and if you have an oboe player up for it I recommend giving it a try. Certainly it gives the audience a bit more to hang onto there, some added entertainment value for sure.
In terms of the current performance with the Mill Avenue Chamber Players the group sounds great and for me it is a special one as I am playing third horn in a section with two strong former students, Rose French and Gustavo Camacho. They both sound great and it is extremely easy to match them. Probably has something to do with having taught them five years of horn lessons through MM and DMA study?
The Dvorak Serenade is being recorded for broadcast. As they note over in their website, “The MACP will be joined by conductor Grant Linsell to perform the Serenade for Winds and Strings in D minor by Antonin Dvorak for a live recording at the newly-renovated KBAQ station.” As of the time of this post the recording will be this afternoon. Be looking for a short update after recording.
UPDATE: The recording went great. It was in the largest TV studio I have ever been in, in front of a live audience. Congratulations to all involved.