I am too behind on my music and other things to legitimately post (but evidently not too busy to troll around on other blogs), but I had to comment on this idea of amplifying bassoons.
Short summary: guy, who is normally more of a rocker dude goes and hears Beethoven's Ninth, which, at the risk of sounding clichéd, was and is still probably one of the greatest, most groundbreaking things written at the time. Guy doesn't like it. At all. Wife doesn't like it either.
Guy speculates on why he didn't like it:
1. Beethoven underestimated himself. He was deaf, so he couldn't have known that the Ninth really would've been fine with less instrumentation. (aside: people who have an IQ that is not as high as Beethoven--which probably includes 99.99 percent of the human population, and certainly the aforementioned guy who didn't like the Beethoven's Ninth--should not ever say that Beethoven "underestimated" anything. I'm sure Beethoven knew full well what the orchestration he called for sounded like.)
2. The current venues are too "big" to frame Beethoven.
Guy offers several brilliant solutions, one of which is to mic up the bassoons, because they weren't loud enough.
I don't have time (or more accurately, patience) to read this more carefully or read this guy's other pieces to figure out whether he's kidding, but let's give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he is kidding. Let's also ignore the fact that the sentiments "the bassoons weren't loud enough" and "Beethoven was deaf, so he unwittingly used too many instruments in the Ninth Symphony" somehow don't logically fit together.
If I were a doctor prescribing antidotes for such attitudes, I would tell this guy to go listen to a live performance of the Berlioz Te Deum or Requiem. The former calls for 12 harps and only four bassoons, but the latter calls for 8 bassoons, 12 horns (French), 16 timpani, 18 violas, and 18 double basses. (It calls for other instruments too, but fifty violins is much easier to find, than say, 18 violists.) In fact, in the original score, Berlioz says that on truly grand occasions, "if space permits, the chorus may be doubled or tripled and the orchestra proportionally increased." (from my CD notes)
Although I have performed both pieces, I don't think I have ever seen a full orchestration of either of these pieces, much less a doubling or tripling as "space permits". I mean golly. Can you imagine 24 bassoons and 36 horns, etc. etc.? It makes me wonder whether Berlioz was a bit of a megalomaniac. But I'm digressing.
I'm sure if the unwowed-by-Beethoven's-Ninth guy listened to some Berlioz, he would find that the bassoons do not, in fact, need any amplification.
Read here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Beethoven, in fact, knew exactly what he was doing with orchestration. When he was already profoundly deaf, it's been documented that he attended concerts constantly, sitting in a high-up position so he could see the instrumentalists and how they interacted with each other. There are also observations by his contemporaries about how he would come to their rehearsals and figure out just by looking what needed to be done to the ensemble, etc. I don't think that guy really understands what kind of composer he's dealing with here.
There are places in the 9th where some conductors have doubled the bassoons ... it's not at all uncommon. Some conductors, in fact, opt to double the woodwinds (two on each part) although, of course, only one plays the part when it is a solo or the dynamic calls for only one. (The 9th is also grueling for the woodwinds, so even without doubling a principal often requests an assistant to cover some of the part.)
Just a little FYI!
But amping any orchestra players ... ugh! Horrible idea. Never!
Heh. I agree. I find it amusing/horrifying when people try to doctor up or second guess composers like Bach, Beethoven, etc. If he can compose something like the Eroica (and heck, 6 more symphonies) while he was nearly deaf, then as you say, I'm sure he damn well knew what he was doing.
And as for doubling of the bassons in the Ninth (now I'm replying to Patty's comment), thanks for the FYI! My (formerly) oboe-playing friend was in a tizzy when I mentioned the amping bassoon idea. She used to have to sit in front of them!
Post a Comment