It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of new bassoonists with major symphony orchestras in the United States and England. David Carroll is joining the New York Philharmonic as Associate Principal; Nancy Beiro will be the new Principal of the Pittsburgh Symphony, replacing the retiring Leonard Sharrow; and Gareth Newman, who played so beautifully at the IDRS Conference last August, will join the BBC Concert Orchestra in London as Principal after May of this year. Congratulations to these fine players in their new positions.
Thanks to Phil Gottling (whose excellent bassoon record review also appears in this issue) it is possible to answer the question raised by John Ruze in the fall issue (page 38) concerning the printing error in the bassoon part to Strauss' Til Eulenspiegel. It is in the last measure of the well known sold passage where the tenor clef is omitted:
Rather than soaring on up to high C, as the violas do, the last note is played as a bass clef F. In checking a few scores it is often incorrectly printed there too. Possibly the error first occurred because the music often changes lines at that point. Many conductors miss it and/or have gotten used to hearing it incorrectly played. So now you can surprise everyone and play it correctly at your next audition!
IDRS President Noah Knepper has appointed William Waterhouse to serve as chairperson for the Nominations Committee for Honorary Membership to IDRS for the Graz Conference. Mr. Waterhouse is now accepting nominations from the membership of the Society. He will be at his home address until May 1, 1984: 86 Cromwell Avenue, London N6 5HO, England. After that date nominations may be sent until August 1 st to: c/o Victorian College of the Arts, 234 St. Kilda Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia.
Bassoonist David Rachor, whose arrangement of the Schumann Romances for bassoon and piano was reviewed in a recent issue, has a new transcription out of the Telemann Sonata in D minor (formerly the viola da gamba Sonata in E minor) for Bassoon and Continuo. He also has a new address: 1154 Meadow Road, Cookeville, Tennessee 38501, where he is now a music faculty member at Tennessee Technological University. Both the Schumann and Telemann works may be ordered from him for $5.95, plus $1.25 for postage. He is also a member of the Holz Concert at TTU, which is a chamber ensemble for oboe, bassoon, percussion, and piano. Besides performing existing literature for their instrumentation, the ensemble hopes to commission composers for future compositions. Composers possibly interested in writing for the ensemble are encouraged to contact David at the above address. David is finishing his doctoral degree from Indiana University where his thesis is on bassoon tone hole dimensions, so we can expect some valuable information in this area to be available in the near future.
Leipzig bassoonists, Günther Angerhöfer and Werner Seltmann have finally finished their six-volume Fagottschule with the publication of Volume VI, The Contrabassoon, in February. Gunther is also compiling a catalog of works by Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758) and would welcome information on unpublished or out-of-print works by that composer (title, instrumentation, publisher or composition date if available, etc.). Readers can correspond directly with him at: Kleiststrasse 57, 7022 Leipzig, D.D.R.
Bassoonist David DeBolt, new Kent State University faculty member and former Kansas City Philharmonic principal, continues an active concert career. He recently performed Vivaldi Concerti F. VIII No. 3 and No. 11 with the Kent Sinfonia and with the Chamber Society Orchestra of Philadelphia. The Philadelphia appearance also included performing the Capel Bond Concerto No. 6 and recording the three concertos for CRS records. In February he presented the world premiere of Albert Vinci's Concerto (1982) for bassoon, strings and piano with the Kent New Music Ensemble. Recent Kent chamber music performances also include the Poulenc Trio with oboist Warren DeFren, Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasilieras No. 6, the Beethoven Trio in G Major with flutist Raymond DeMattia, and a three-state tour with the Kent Wind Quintet.
Charles Holdeman continues to be the one professional bassoonist in North America who plays primarily on the French- system bassoon in his busy performance schedule--in his own words, "... about 80% Buffet and 20% Heckel. " He recently had the experience of playing the Tchaikovsky Sixth Symphony and the Beethoven Leonore Overture No. 3 on both instruments with two different orchestras! A recent concert by Chuck's Buffet Trio, with clarinetist Stuart Best and pianist James Kidd, received a very favorable review in the Richmond (Virginia) News Leader by music critic Francis Church:
Both the clarinet and bassoon possessed a clear, articulate and focused sound. This was especially true of the bassoon--smaller and lighter than the conventional models we are used to hearing in symphony orchestras. At times, in fact, this bassoon had a sound similar to the saxophone.
Holdeman himself was a musician of unusual quality and sensitivity. He possessed delicate control of his solo passages, especially in the Ibert selections. The high notes were especially gratifying.
And speaking of bassoonists success stories, American bassoonist Clelia Goldings is in her second season as principal bassoon with the Orchestre National de Lille in France. She is also a member of the Quintette a Vent de Lille. Both activities have kept her very busy. She recently performed the Mozart Concerto five times last February with the orchestra, besides her usual principal bassoon duties. Moreover, her Quintette, which was awarded the Premier Grand Prix at the Concours International de Musique de Chambre de Paris in 1983, has been very active, with recent radio broadcasts for Frequence Nord and France-Musique, an appearance on Japanese National Television, and the filming of five programs for Charles Imbert's series "Prélude à la Nuit" in France. This summer the Quintette will tour Jugoslavia.
Clelia's European career began when, after study in America with Arthur Weisberg and Harold Goltzer, she received a Fulbright Scholarship to study with at the Mozarteum in Salzburg in 1980-81. She has also studied with Milan Turkovic in Vienna and André Sennedat in Paris. She is a graduate of L'Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris (1978), Yale University (B.A. Summa cum laude, 1979) and the Juilliard School (M.M., 1980). All this from a 25 year old young lady! Bravo Clelia! Bonne chance with your bright music future.
A bassoon symposium featuring John Miller, recording artist and principal bassoonist of the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, and Louis Skinner, renowned maker of bassoon reeds, will be held August 12- 18 at Towson State University, (located north of Baltimore, Maryland. )
The symposium will include master classes in the fundamentals of bassoon playing, solo repertoire, and orchestral excerpts as well as lecture-demonstrations in the art of reed making. Bassoon recitals by guest artists and participants are also scheduled.
Registration fee for the symposium is $35 per day or $150 for the entire week-long session. College credit and campus housing are also available.
For additional information, contact H. Gene Griswold, music department, Towson State University, Towson, MD 21204.
Past President of IDRS, Sol Schoenbach, was recently chosen as recipient of the Samuel Rosenbaum Award by the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. The award is given for outstanding contributions to the community school movement. Samuel Rosenbaum, who was a prominent Philadelphia lawyer and a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra, was very instrumental in establishing the Music Performance Trust Fund on a national level, which continues to support live music performances from recording royalties proceeds. Sol Schoenbach has had a distinguished career in music and community activities, including executive directorship of the Settlement Music School for 24 years. He holds honorary doctorates from both the Curtis Institute of Music and Temple University. Besides this award he has previously received the State of Israel City of Peace Award, the Philadelphia Orchestra's Hartman Kuhn Award for helping in organizing the pension fund for the members of the orchestra, the Music Award of the Philadelphia Arts Festival, the Technion Society, the Netzky Award from the B'nai B'rith Vocational Services for service to youth, the Philadelphia Young Audiences Award for Outstanding Service in Arts Education to Youth, and the Celebrations and Fulfillment Award from the American Foundation for the Science of Creative Intelligence. Combine all this with a life devoted to artistic bassoon playing and creative teaching and you have a very full and complete personage indeed! Congratulations, Sol. The IDRS is honored by your association with us.
As a reminder to the young bassoonists interested in the Munich Competition (September 4 to 21, 1984) the entry deadline is July 1st. Forms and instructions may be obtained by writing to: Internationales Musikwettbewerb, Bayerischer Rundfunk, D-8000 München 2, West Germany. The age limit is 17 to 30, or persons born in the years between 1954 and 1967. The jury for the bassoon competition will be Kurt Redel, Germany, Chairman; Maurice Allard, France; Pierre Colombo, Switzerland; Gabor Janota, Hungary; Karl Kolbinger, Germany; Sol Schoenbach, USA; Klaus Thunemann, Germany; Milan Turkovic, Austria; and William Waterhouse, Great Britain. The literature consists of eight prepared works, with the Hummel and Mozart concerti to be performed from memory. Entry is 50 DM, and the prizes are 12,000 DM for the first, 9000 DM for second, and 7000 DM for third prize. Free lodging and continental breakfast will be given to all competitors and those who pass on to the second round will also be given lunch and supper free. Good luck to all aspirants.
As a footnote to the previous issue of the Double Reed which was dedicated to him, Hans Moennig related the story of how J. Walter Guetter came to be Principal Bassoonist in the Philadelphia Orchestra.
It all began when Moennig's granduncle, Adolph Guetter, left Markneukirchen to study with Julius Weissenborn in Leipzig, and upon graduation was recommended by his teacher to the newly-organized Boston Symphony Orchestra as solo bassoon. While touring with the BSO in Philadelphia, many German colleagues living there spoke of their need for a string specialist to repair and maintain their instruments. Adolph was able to persuade his brother, Julius, to emigrate from Germany to America and settle in Philadelphia. (Julius' wife was a Moennig.) Their son, Julius Walter, soon took up the cello and returned to Markneukirchen to study. But when J. Walter heard his uncle Adolph, who by now was solo bassoon in the Royal Opera in Berlin, perform the Mozart Concerto one Easter, he immediately dropped the cello and went off to Berlin to study with Adolph. From there J. Walter's successes on the bassoon led him first to the Chicago Symphony and finally to the Philadelphia Orchestra, a triumphant return to the home of his parents. It was to this environment that Hans Moennig, himself, emigrated not long after that.And finally in closing we present you with the Tampa Town Trio. Their picture makes them appear more like "hired guns" than the sensitive musicians they most probably are! But we know better.
