{"id":1039,"date":"2017-04-04T11:01:07","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T05:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kettledrummer.com\/?p=1039"},"modified":"2017-04-04T11:19:04","modified_gmt":"2017-04-04T05:19:04","slug":"my-musical-career-part-thirty-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kettledrummer.com\/?p=1039","title":{"rendered":"My Musical Career | Part Thirty Five"},"content":{"rendered":"
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My Musical Career|Part Thirty-Five<\/h1>\n

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The Year 1988 \u2013 Part One<\/strong><\/p>\n

As mentioned in my previous post, Part Thirty-Four, 1987 was a seminal year in my personal musical development and that of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and its then-chief conductor, Mariss Jansons. What with the increase in touring, the change of recording labels and a higher international profile, all of us were embarked on a new chapter in all of our histories. Just think of it\u2026touring Italy, Spain, appearing at the Festival Maritime d\u2019ete in Rouen for the first time, and touting the USA for the first time in fourteen years was a huge step for all of us in the orchestra. Then there was the recording \u2013 going from one or two recordings a year to three to four \u2013 a necessity in building up a repertory that would be marketed \u2013 was another big thing.
\nThen, of course, was there was the switch from plastic to calf heads which opened a new world for me in terms of getting a warmer, rounder sound.
\nWhen I think back on it all, and turn the page to the year 1988, it turns out that 1988 was almost as eventful.\u00a0 There were three recordings for EMI that year \u2013 Prokofiev\u2019s Romeo and Juliet Suites 1 & 2 in January; Mussorgsky\u2019s Pictures and an Exhibition, Night on Bald Mountain and Prelude to Khovanschina in August; and Dvorak\u2019s New World Symphony and Smetana\u2019s The Moldau (Vltava) from \u201cMa Vlast\u201d in November. Then there was the touring \u2013 a quick trip to London for a series of concerts, including one at the Barbican, our second visit to the Festival Maritime in Rouen in June, and the orchestra\u2019s (and mine) first ever visit to Japan \u2013 a two week tour in November.
\nIn addition, the year 1988 saw the completion of the purchase of a set of Light Metropolitan B timpani with the delivery of a 31 inch pedal-tuned drum in the spring. We started out with the middle pair in the late summer of 1985, added a 31 inch Continental Chain in the early fall of 1986, and a 24 inch Met B in the spring of 1987. By that time, we decided on ordering the 31 inch as well, and took delivery of that instrument in May 1988, just in time for our third trip to Rouen.
\n\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our Metros<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let me take a moment to digress for a second, and pay tribute to Marshall Light and the American Drum Manufacturing Company. Though nearly three decades have passed since we completed our order, I remember dealing with Marshall over the phone and in correspondence concerning these instruments, and I remember well his professionalism, his concern that we be satisfied with his work, and the instruments themselves \u2013 which were well-made and proved most satisfactory. Switch ahead nearly thirty years to 2015 \u2013 the announcement that the firm was forced to close down due to a decision (if I am getting this correctly) of the landlord to use the facilities for less salacious activities was a devastating blow to the American musical instrument business. Now, other than Mr. Guthrie, and Arnie Lang, all hand-crafted timpani are of European manufacture. This is sad, particularly as the Lights really put out quality instruments. Dan Hinger thought well enough of them to use them for years in Philadelphia and of course, there was Cloyd Duff, who used them for years and in some ways started a craze for the brand.\u00a0 We never had any major issues with the instruments \u2013 the tone was clean and pure. Marshall Light and his family can be proud of the tradition they upheld for all those years. They will be missed.
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\"Metropolitan<\/a>

Metropolitan B timpano<\/p><\/div>The Metro Bs that we had\u00a0 were ordered with semi-flat bowls \u2013 twenty-four gauge copper and we had the insert ring heads on them. I\u2019ve tried both types of heads on them, and the insert ring Remo proved superior. The top three drums sand\u00a0 true and clear, and the bowls were graduated in size. The 31 inch was extremely deep \u2013 when I put calf on them, I had a heck of time getting the hygrometer through the center hole at the bottom \u2013 there was so little room between that and the tuning mechanism \u2013 maybe about three inches at best. It was a tight squeeze, I can tell you.
\nThey proved themselves to be excellent touring drums, as they were light and relatively easy to move, and at the same time were of high quality in terms of performance. We were very satisfied with them and used them on many occasions, in performance at the Konserthuset, and on tour.<\/p>\n

Having such a good second set enabled us to \u201cbaby\u201d the Hinger drums just a bit and keep them for performances at home, without being moved from pillar to post on tour for a time, although when Mariss started to program such large orchestral showpieces such as \u201cLe Sacre du Printemps\u201d, Mahler\u2019s First Symphony, the Hingers often went as a second set.<\/p>\n

UK 1988 \u2013 \u201cThe timpani didn\u2019t fit in the airplane!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I mentioned earlier, we undertook three tours during this particular year. The first involved a short five concert trip to the UK, which included concerts in Leeds, Northampton, Cardiff, Swansea and in London. The main work on this short tour was Mahler\u2019s First Symphony, and we took our Light Metros with us, and the plan was to rent a second set for my assistant, Trygve Wefring. Plans are great, but are subject to the whims of fate. I must say that for 99 percent of my time with the orchestra, the tours and instrument handling were superbly executed, thanks to our stage manager Atle Opem, our librarian Susan Westwood, and others. Unfortunately, on this trip, the transportation for the instruments \u2013 at least the timpani \u2013 was less than stellar. For some reason, only two of the timpani made it to the UK on our flight. The other two could not fit on the plane and had to wait a day for transport. My reactions was \u201cWhat?????????? \u201c Needless to say, I was less than pleased\u2013 how could this have happened?\u00a0 I give credit to Atle and the administration, who were able to \u00a0quickly rent viable instruments in time to do the first two concerts \u2013 in Cardiff and Swansea, and to makes sure the other two drums arrived in time for the rest of the tour \u2013 especially the concert at the Barbican Centre. I found out about this fiasco just before we boarded the plane, and you can imagine my mood as we flew to the U.K. I must have been a trial to my colleagues that day, as I am not the easiest person in the world to get along with when things go wrong, although I have long since accepted the fact that \u201cstuff\u201d happens.<\/p>\n

This was such not a long tour \u2013 five concerts in\u00a0 six days, if memory serves me correctly \u2013 that I don\u2019t remember much of it \u2013 other than the fact that our two largest drums had to stay behind in Norway an extra day – and the fact that it was quickly resolved. For the concerts in Swansea and Cardiff, I think we rented some Premier timpani \u2013 which were, thankfully, well maintained and clear in pitch. For the concert in Leeds, London and Northampton, the Light timpani were reunited. This was my second concert in Leeds \u2013 the first was in November 1984, during our first UK tour. It was held, as usual at the Town Hall. The Town Hall had a barrel-vaulted ceiling which gave it an almost cathedral-like acoustic \u2013 without the problems of playing in a cathedral. The hall was one of those 19th<\/sup> century venues with a large pipe organ dominating the rear of the stage \u2013 just in back of the choral\/public seating behind the orchestra. I love these old halls. They have usually fantastic acoustics, and Leeds was no exception. The organ sported some very large 32 foot pipes \u2013 painted white with floral and gold leaf decorations. It\u2019s too bad that we did not program a work that included the organ this time around. It would have been nice to hear the organ. (NB!

\"Andrew<\/a>

Andrew and The Organ Pipes<\/p><\/div>As I was to learn later, even when we did program a work that included organ, we used an electronic organ, as the pitch of the OPO was different from the British or American orchestras. We tuned to A 442 \u2013 whereas the USA and UK tuned to 440, and the organs would have been too low for our pitch.) \u00a0I was glad that we had our own drums back, although it was a good lesson of leaning to adjust to strange instruments on the fly. At the Barbican, Mahler One was the main bill of fare for the concert, and it went very well and was well received by the public as well as the critics. (NB!! The acoustics at the Barbican, while very good, were much drier than the Leeds Town Hall.)
\nThat is about all I remember from that tour. I think the reason is that I was focused on two things: making sure that my performance was up to standard and secondly, making sure that we were reunited with our own instruments. Happily, it all turned out well.<\/p>\n

Rouen 1988<\/strong><\/p>\n

In June, we made the last of our three visits to the Festival Maritime d\u2019ete in Rouen. Our first visit was in June 1986, followed by a second in June 1987. Each visit was a four day affair \u2013 travel day \u2013 two concerts \u2013 travel back. I know that I enjoyed each of our visits \u2013 even though we had back-to-back concerts, there was always enough time to walk about town and see the sights \u2013 the Vieux Marche\u00a0 – and Rouen\u2019s two great churches \u2013 the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Rouen, and the Abbey St. Ouen. Each of these was an architectural treat, and I particularly enjoyed looking at the organ case of the great Cavaille-Coll organ in St. Ouen. I visited these buildings on each trip and never got tired of walking through them. On this last trip, I actually had a chance to go into one of the minor churches,

\"looking<\/a>

Abbey St. Ouen – looking towards the Grand Orgue<\/p><\/div>and heard, for the first time in my life, a real live Cavaille-Coll organ. I don\u2019t remember the name of the recitalist or the venue, but I remember that it was a large Gothic-style church, and the organ was built by Aristide Cavaille-Coll. I had never heard such pungent reed stops \u2013 it is a whole different sound than what I was used to.
\nSad to say, I cannot remember a thing about the two concerts we played on this last visit. I know they were good, and that we were as well received as on the other two \u2013 so much so that we received an invitation to come back for a special concert in 1990. I know that the orchestra members enjoyed Rouen as much as I did, and wished that it could be an annual event.<\/p>\n

Recordings 1988 \u2013 and a new principal percussionist (almost)<\/strong><\/p>\n

1988 saw the second year of the orchestra\u2019s new recording contract with EMI. We had finished our obligations to Chandos in June of 1987, (in addition to doing a one-off recording of music from Grieg\u2019s \u201cPeer Gynt\u201d under Esa-Pekka Salonen), and were now recording solely for EMI. In another post, I mentioned our recording of Suites 1 and 2 from the ballet \u201cRomeo and Juliet.\u201d It went very well, and it was the first recording in which I used a calfskin heads \u2013 on the big Light 31 inch chain drum and the two middle Hingers. \u00a0We at this time technically did not have a principal percussionist due to several factors: Per Erik had stepped down into the section at the end of the 1986-87 season, and it was expected that Per Mels\u00e6ter would step up as principal with the beginning of the 1987-88 season. With Per\u2019s unexpected death in early August, that didn\u2019t happen, and while Per Erik played much of the work normally assigned to the principal, my assistant Trygve Wefring functioned as acting principal, although he and Per Erik worked closely and things ran smoothly.
\nHowever, the situation needed to be resolved, and auditions were held in the spring of 1988. There were several interesting players in the mix, and it came down to two finalists \u2013 Matts Nilsson from Sweden, and Christian Berg, who was then principal percussionist with the Trondheim Symphony. Both were excellent players and played great auditions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Matts Nilsson impressed us very much at the time, so he was given the job, subject to the usual probationary period. Christian was the runner-up, and having played with us before, was a familiar figure, and we\u2019d keep him in mind if circumstances changed. Matts joined the orchestra in time for our second EMI recording of the year \u2013 a compilation of the works of Modeste Mussorgsky \u2013 \u201cPictures at an Exhibition\u201d \u2013 in the Ravel orchestration; \u201cNight on Bald Mountain\u201d \u2013 in the Rimsky-Korsakov orchestration \u2013 and the Prelude to \u201cKhovanschina\u201d. His was also the first recording in which I used calfskin on all four timpani, and I had equipped the Hinger timpani with calfskin. The sound was a dramatic improvement from the plastic heads that we had been using, and needless to say I and my colleagues were pleased with the result. I\u2019ll talk more about the technical particulars in another post, but suffice to say that the sessions went very well, and I was particularly pleased with the recording of \u201cNight on Bald Mountain.\u201d
\nOur third recording of the year took place just before our Japan tour, and was devoted to the music of Dvorak and Smetana \u2013 Dvorak\u2019s \u201cNew World Symphony\u201d and \u201cVlatava\u201d \u2013\u00a0 Moldau \u2013 of Bedrich Smetana. Again, the musical and technical particulars will be discussed in a later post. Again, this was a good recording \u2013 and both works went \u201cinto the can\u201d smoothly and without incident. Getting back to the subject of the\u00a0 hiring of the principal percussionist, as things turned out, we were far from finished with the process, which I will discuss in my next post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Musical Career|Part Thirty-Five The Year 1988 \u2013 Part One As mentioned in my previous post, Part Thirty-Four, 1987 was a seminal year in my personal musical development and that of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and its then-chief conductor, Mariss Jansons. What with the increase in touring, the change of recording labels and a higher … <\/p>\n

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