As my first year in office rushes into the second (and hopefully final year) I contemplate my "navel orange" here in Sarasota and reflect on the state of the art. There is no doubt that players have achieved a technical excellence and proficiency far in excess of the past. Whether this has been joined by a greater understanding of music is subject for discussion. Certainly better instruments are being built by manufacturers and the supremacy of one or two makers is no longer true. Concepts are readily available but for the listening and a general level of good sound is universal. The many candidates we heard in Toulon testified to that.
As yet I find more to learn. On the national Tanglewood auditions I learned a great deal about our young applicants and that there was a printed error in Till Eulenspiegel (which Gunther Schuller pointed out). And when Robert Shaw came to the Finale of Beethoven's Ninth my students brought to my attention that the famous bassoon solo was a duet with the second bassoon. Norman Del Mar's book confirmed that. So you see, there is always more to learn. Let's do it as an organization.
Kevin Wood: Kuretes Dance for oboe, 2 English horns and bassoon. (Highgate Press 7.0268, distributed by Galaxy Music Corp.) This is a short but colorful work for a rather improbable group of instruments. The style is modern but eclectic, and the technical demands are again somewhat intermediate in scope with only an occasional hemiola syncopation in 6/8 time to deter from its straightforward style. A footnote describes the Kuretes as dancer-warrior-craftsmen of Greek mythology who taught the Cretans architectural and metal-working skills and who stilled the cries of Zeus on Mount Ida by beating together their spears and shields. While recommending this work as a nice pleasant interlude for performance I fear it falls quite a bit short of the above listed accomplishments of its namesake!
Ronald Klimko