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Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 17:06:45 -0700
From: Grant Green <gdgreen@contrabass.com>
Subject: CD Review
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.comHere's a CD that's been mentioned a few times before - I just finally got one :-)
"Hoffnung's Music Festivals" (1989 EMI Records, CMS 7 63302 2)
contains the recorded excerpts from the 1956 Hoffnung Music Festival
Concert, the 1958 Hoffnung Interplanetary Music Festival (just a week
before I was born), and the 1961 Hoffnung Astronautical Music
Festival. Anyone who enjoys PDQ Bach will doubtless enjoy these as well.Of particular note to contrabass fans (apart from the fact that
Gerard Hoffnung was a tuba player) is the work "Variations on 'Annie
Laurie'" by Gordon Jacob, which was written on a dare. According to
the liner notes, "Gordon Jacob was such an authority on
instrumentation that it was decided to challenge him - dare him even
- to write a piece for what must surely be the most curious and
intractably unwieldy combination of instruments ever assembled: two
piccolos, a heckelphone, two contrabass clarinets, two
contrabassoons, serpent, contrabass serpent, a monster tuba seven
foot high, harmonium and hurdy-gurdy. Needless to say, Dr. Jacob
rose marvelously and wittily to the challenge and he got, one might
say, to the bottom of each instrument's capabilities and
culpabilities." The monster tuba is pictured at the bottom of
http://www.musicweb.force9.co.uk/music/hoffnung/biog6.htm -
definitely worth a look.Definitely worth a listen :-)
You can order the CD online at
http://www.musicweb.force9.co.uk/hoffnung/hoffsale.htmEnjoy!
Grant
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant Green gdgreen@contrabass.com
http://www.contrabass.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------------------------------------------------From: Francis Firth <Francis.Firth@uce.ac.uk>
Subject: Octocontrabassoons
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 10:08:21 +0100
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.comColin Harris asked about octocontrabassoons.
Sorry, but there has never been such an instrument. The so-called
subknotrafaggot made by Czerveny was a metal contrabassoon descending to BBb
in the subcontrabass register and this has caused many misunderstandings.
The lowest pitch to which I am aware that double reed instruments descend is
AAb - the lowest note of the Bb contrabass sarrusophone although I have seen
a photograph of at least 1 contrabassoon descending to low Ab which was to
give more volume to the sound, I think. I was shown this by Ms Cookhorn,
contrabassoon player of the CBSO at a doublereed day organised by the
British Double Reed society about 3 years ago or so.Francis Firth
Francis.Firth@uce.ac.uk
---------------------------------------------------------From: Francis Firth <Francis.Firth@uce.ac.uk>
Subject: Compositions using Octocontrabass and Octocontraalto Clarinets
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 10:26:45 +0100
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.comThe compositions (apart from the music for Mission Impossible) are all by
the Norwegian clarinettist and contrabass & piccolo clarinet specialist,
Terje Lerstad.
I wrote to him concerning these compositions and he had had an opportunity
to play both instruments at Leblanc, Paris when he visited it in 1972.
here is what he writes "The sound was fantastic going down to a Bb under the
lowest Bb of the piano on an acoustic instrument".
So, he had played the instrument.and, although the compositions are
theoretical in that they are unlikely ever to be performed using these
instruments, he knew the sound he was writing for.
Some time later (I don't have a year for this) Peter Koval visited Leblanc
in Paris and said that the Octocontrabass was not in playable condition.
Incidentally the octocontrabass was made in 1938 so it is not surprising
that it is now in bad condition.
The octocontraalto was, according to Leon Leblanc with whom I have
corresponded, built from the 1960s although only 3 were ever made.
Both instruments descended to their written low C sounding EEb and BBBbrespectively.
Francis Firth
Francis.Firth@uce.ac.uk---------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 14:03:47 +0200
From: Hans Mons <Hans@hansmons.com>
Subject: Baroque contrabassoon picture
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.comFor those interested in large instruments, the web site of Peter de Koningh
now contains a picture where he holds his baroque contrabassoon. An
impressive instrument. The picture can be found at
http://ourworld.cs.com/pdekoningh/contra.htmHans Mons
---------------------------------------------------------
From: <Colin.HARRIS@dfee.gov.uk>
Subject: RE: Baroque contrabassoon picture
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 13:07:36 +0100
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.combut I get:
Server busy
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
The server is too busy to serve your request at the moment. Please try again
later.
And it's not my end!!-----Original Message-----
From: Hans Mons [mailto:Hans@hansmons.com]
Sent: 14 October 1999 13:04
To: ContraBass List; Dulcian List
Subject: Baroque contrabassoon picture
CONTRABASS@contrabass.com
=========================
*For those interested in large instruments, the web site of Peter de Koningh
now contains a picture where he holds his baroque contrabassoon. An
impressive instrument. The picture can be found at
http://ourworld.cs.com/pdekoningh/contra.htmHans Mons
----------------------
end contrabass list
---------------------------------------------------------From: <Colin.HARRIS@dfee.gov.uk>
Subject: Extended register on a Bass/Contra Clarinet.
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 13:43:16 +0100
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.comWhere do you get the digits from to play from low E to C on an
extended-register clarinet?
---------------------------------------------------------Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 08:36:33 -0600 (MDT)
From: Shouryu Nohe <jnohe@nmsu.edu>
Subject: Re: Contrabass Sarrusophone in concert!
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.com
On Tue, 12 Oct 1999, Grant Green wrote:> Tonight (7:30 PM), the San Jose State University Symphonic Band is
> performing in the SJSU concert hall, and I with them. Among the
> works is the "Children's March (Over the Hills and Far Away)" by
> Percy Grainger, which includes an actual contrabass sarrusophone part.I was not aware of this. I knew of the CB clarinet part, though.
> the band. (It all fits together anyway, fortunately) It includes a
> solo (if we can convince the tubas to stop playing all the cues) forA CB sarrusaphone makes an excellent 'magic want' to ahem...lightly 'tap'
annoying brass personell on the head with, you know. ^_^> Also on the program is "Colonial Song" by Grainger, which apparently
> also calls for sarrusophone. At least, the tubas have sarrusophone
> cued in their parts: for lack of a part, I'm playing contrabass
> clarinet and reading off the bass clarinet part.This is another fantastic work - I had no clue that there was sarr. part
for it. When last I played it, they couldn't decide which part to hand
me. However, since our CBClar was in the shop, I ended up play eefer.
That's a tough one to play eefer on.> The rest of the program is: "Wachet Auf" (J.S. Bach); Overture to
> Candide (Bernstein);Another excellent piece.
"Prelude in the Dorian Mode" (deCabezone, arr.
> Grainger - this one has a decent contrabass clarinet part); "American
> Salute" (Morton Gould); "Symphony 20, Three Journeys to a Holy
> Mountain" (Hovahaness); "March Op. 99" (Prokofiev);Yay!
"Toccata from
> Bachianas Brassilieras No. 2" (Villa Lobos); "The New Colonial March"
> (R.B. Hall);That one was my high school fight song. Of course, just the trio. But
for the final concert, we always played the entire thing, and I like it as
a march. Trick is when you play the trio the last time, the best way to
keep it from getting boring is to kick the tempo into high gear, and do a
continual accellerando so that by the end, you're in one, at about 132
bpm. ^_^and "The Royal Welch Fusaliers" (Sousa).
>
> Come and enjoy!I wish I could - the progamming is excellent!
J. Shouryu Nohe
http://web.nmsu.edu/~jnohe
Professor of SCSM102, New Mexico State Univ.
"If I wanted a 'job,' I'd have gone music ED, thank you very much!"---------------------------------------------------------
From: Francis Firth <Francis.Firth@uce.ac.uk>
Subject: Contrabass Panpipes!
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 17:15:08 +0100
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.comHas anyone on the list visited Joerin Murk's webpage at http://www.dajoeri.com
There you will find some subbass and subcontrabass panpipes besides more
run-of-the-mill contrabasses.
An interesting site.Francis Firth
Francis.Firth@uce.ac.uk
---------------------------------------------------------Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 11:39:13 -0700
From: Grant Green <gdgreen@contrabass.com>
Subject: Re: Extended register on a Bass/Contra Clarinet.
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.com>Where do you get the digits from to play from low E to C on an
>extended-register clarinet?It is a little-known fact that nearly all successful players of
low-register clarinets have several extra fingers. We normally keep
them folded into the palm of the hand (when not playing), and hardly
anyone notices....
No, actually, on a low C instrument the low C and C# keys are
generally located for the right thumb. The low D key can be
positioned for either the right thumb or the left little finger (L4).
The Selmer bass clarinets I played in high school had a row of three
keys for the RT, for low D, C#, and C. The Leblanc contrabass has an
L4 low D, with RT keys for C# and C.Grant
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant Green gdgreen@contrabass.com
http://www.contrabass.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------------------------------------------------Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 11:45:17 -0700
From: Grant Green <gdgreen@contrabass.com>
Subject: Re: Contrabass Sarrusophone in concert!
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.com>> Tonight (7:30 PM), the San Jose State University Symphonic Band is
>> performing in the SJSU concert hall, and I with them. Among the
>> works is the "Children's March (Over the Hills and Far Away)" by
>> Percy Grainger, which includes an actual contrabass sarrusophone part.
>
>I was not aware of this. I knew of the CB clarinet part, though.Turns out that there are several arrangements of the work. The
original arrangement is scored for bass sax and contrabass
sarrusophone, and includes a four-part male choir in two spots. My
folder had both the sax and the sarrus parts, as well as a BBb
contrabass clarinet part from a different arrangement (by Frank
Erickson). The Erickson arrangement (which is what the rest of the
band played from) doesn't include the choir, the sarrusophone, or
apparently the bass sax. The SJSU band director is apparently the
curator for Grainger's unpublished works, so he has access to a
number of arrangements not generally seen or heard...>> the band. (It all fits together anyway, fortunately) It includes a
>> solo (if we can convince the tubas to stop playing all the cues) for
>
>A CB sarrusaphone makes an excellent 'magic wand' to ahem...lightly 'tap'
>annoying brass personell on the head with, you know. ^_^Unfortunately, I was seated in the center of the band, between the
alto and bass clarinets, too far to reach the tubas even with a
contrabass sarrusophone. Also, it appears that their arrangement
doesn't have sarrusophone cues - the sarrusophone parts were just
given to the tubas by Erickson. Ah, well...Grant
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant Green gdgreen@contrabass.com
http://www.contrabass.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------------------------------------------------Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 12:05:56 -0700
From: Grant Green <gdgreen@contrabass.com>
Subject: Contralto clarinet for sale
Reply-To: contrabass@contrabass.comI just received the following message from the guy who bought the
"Quantrabass" clarinet on ebay... Anyone interested?
*************************Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 18:18:54 -0700 (PDT)
From: Phillip Chance <pchance@u.washington.edu>Greetings,
Please let me know if any of you might be interested in the "Selmer
Quantrabass clarinet" that a Mr. Dmitras of Witchita, Kansas posted on
ebay in August. I assumed from his posting that the horn was a BBb
contrabass.It took me almost 30 days to realize that the horn was not a BBb
contrabass (it is an EEb contra alto) and the seller could not be brought
to justice. I did not elect to post negative feed back as I knew the
seller would cling furiously to the idea that his misrepresentation was
acceptable as I did not immediately recognize his transgression.I purchased the horn and have no need for it as I as still seeking a
Selmer BBb contrabass. Additionally, at the time I bought the putative
"Quantrabass" I bought an EEb Selmer contra alto which I will keep. BTW,
it too was misrepresented as being in good shape and needing few repairs
(I just spent $360 getting it into good shape). I am having a hard time
understanding why both of these sellers had such good feedback profiles?
Also, the bore on the Vito is larger than the Selmer and its mouthpiece is
not interchangeable with the Selmer, another reason that upon receiving
both horns I assumed that the Vito was a contrabass.The horn which was sold to me as a "Quantrabass" is actually a Vito (by
Leblanc as you probably know) EEb contra alto clarinet. It is in VERY
good condition and looks almost new (at least this part of the seller's ad
was correct). I have played it in a local clarinet choir and it makes a
lot of noise! I did notice that in a subsequent auction, a Vito BBb
contrabass (which was what I thought I was bidding on earlier) went for
$1,700 and it apparently had a pinned crack. Maybe I wasn't screwed so
badly after all at the $1,185 plus shipping that I paid for it.I plan to post the horn in the Seattle paper sometime in early November.
I will ask $1200 (and will take $1,000). In the event that any of you
still have an interest in this item, please contact me.With best regards,
Phillip Chance
Seattle, WA
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant Green gdgreen@contrabass.com
http://www.contrabass.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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