GOODE IS GREATE

Friday night, at the 14,608th concert of the New York Philharmonic (Sir Colin Davis conducting), I heard Richard Goode perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58. It was one of the most impressive classical piano performances I've heard, mainly due to Goode's delicate and precise touch. His runs sounded like harp strumming; his trills were uncannily crisp and even. No doubt his piano had something to do with this; it seemed to be a superb specimen, very well-tuned.

Typically, the most prized seats for a piano concert are those that afford a view of the keyboard, so audience members can watch the hands on the keyboard. I often get such seats, but at this concert I sat in the first tier, in the first box on the side of the stage by the cellos and basses (and brass). So I could see Goode's face but not his hands, while I heard sound that came from the curve in the case where vocal soloists often stand. I think I'll be more open-minded about sitting in similar locations at future piano concerts.

Also on the program was Beethoven's "Leonore" Overture No. 2, Op. 72a, featuring (for me) the use of an alto trombone, which is considerably smaller than the more common tenor and bass trombones. I looked it up here.

The modern alto trombone is pitched a perfect fourth higher than the tenor trombone. It has very limited use, compared with the tenor and bass trombone, but it is used in the orchestra, where many composers, particularly Beethoven and his contemporaries, created the first trombone parts to be played on the alto trombone. The alto trombone also has a role in the Moravian trombone choir (where its traditional pitch is F more often than E-flat) and in the modern trombone choir. In addition, there is a large solo repertoire for alto trombone. To help alto trombone players cope with the solo literature (and cover both alto and tenor trombone parts without having to carry a second instrument), some makers offer an alto trombone with a valve section in which pressing the valve lowers the pitch a perfect fourth.

The alto trombone mouthpiece shank is the same as that of the tenor trombone. Players who double on alto and tenor trombones (which is virtually 100% of all alto trombone players) often choose alto and tenor trombone mouthpieces with matching rims but differing cups and backbores.

Rounding out the program was Ralph Vaughan Williams's Symphony No. 4 in F minor. Vaughan Williams is closely identified with popular, conventionally harmonized orchestral works inspired by British folk music, but this symphony caused a stir with its convulsive, discordant, more "modernistic" bombast. By coincidence, I had just seen Atonement on DVD, so I was in a position to contemplate the unease expressed in this Vaughan Williams work, which premiered in the early 1930s, with the circumstances that move the characters of Atonement out of their almost Edenic state during the oncoming years.

ALSO If I heard the Atonement commentary correctly, director Joe Wright (self-mockingly) calls himself a "cunt" as the credits roll! I was intrigued by Atonement's use of the word, with its D. H. Lawrence (and even Henry Miller) overtones.

Here is a YouTuber trying out an alto trombone. You can click on Source to read comments about intonation issues.



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MUSICIANS ON TOUR

Last week I was very affected by the TV broadcast of the New York Philharmonic's concert in North Korea. Give it a try if you haven't already. I'm not a big fan of classical music on television, but there was something about the coverage I saw that seemed just right. Beyond that, the telecast alternated concert footage with glimpses into the highly regimented life in North Korea that reminded me of how starkly different ways of life can be, and just how stifling certain systems can be to nonconformists.

Most of the musical selections were fairly ordinary for this type of concert. Amid the national anthems and works by Bernstein, Bizet, Dvorak, and Gershwin (plus the Korean folk song "Arirang"), the most curious choice was the opener, the Act III Prelude from Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin. It's a glorious piece of music, but it's composed by a notoriously nasty man whose work is closely identified with Nazism. I guess one could rationalize the choice as illustrating how the beauty of music can transcend its social and political context, but I can't help but wonder what might have been better choices. I mean, conductor Lorin Maazel's Lohengrin is one of his claims to fame, but was an overture to Beethoven's Fidelio even considered, or would the possible anti-tyrant message have been too problematic? How about some Copland (Rodeo, Fanfare for the Common Man, Appalachian Spring) or Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite? Or how about "Jupiter" from Holst's The Planets?

Anyway, as I watched the broadcast I recalled my own experiences visiting the People's Republic of China as a trombonist with conductor Martin Dreiwitz and the Long Island Youth Orchestra in 1980. This didn't get quite the same attention as the New York Philharmonic's debut in North Korea, but it was still a pretty big breakthrough, as China was only in the very early stages of opening itself up. Our programs included Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, Gershwin's An American in Paris (with tuba solo by Paul Siskind), the Chinese Butterfly Lovers Concerto (featuring Eugene Carr as cello soloist), selections from Bizet's Carmen (with soloist Ellen Rabiner, whom I recently saw in an excellent Manon Lescaut at the Metropolitan Opera), and Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever, which inspired Chinese audiences to try their very best to clap along in time.

I still remember how impressed I was at the power of a Sousa march to rouse audiences wherever we performed. When we were in China, we also participated in little "musical exchanges" where we got to hear Chinese musicians show off their stuff. What I remember best were the demonstrations of the versatile erhu, or Chinese fiddle, which New Yorkers probably hear most frequently today on subway platforms. Impressive!



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Another recent experience that triggered memories of my orchestra tours was seeing The Band's Visit (top right). The movie, about an Egyptian band lost in a small Israeli town, is modestly charming, but its images of musicians abroad, trying to get their bearings while mixing with locals, really struck a chord with me, especially because I made my own passage from Egypt to Israel with the youth orchestra in 1984.

I notice that the upcoming Long Island Youth Orchestra tour includes South Korea as well as Birobidjan on its itinerary.