The wicked witch is dead in Mahler 7th
Why MahlerA masterclass from Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Timpani Don Liuzzi:
Did you know that Mahler’s Seventh Symphony features one of the most challenging timpani parts in the classical repertory? Principal Timpani Don Liuzzi broke it down for us before the performances. Witness Don in his element this weekend! Tickets: https://t.co/tw6ADFjtg3 pic.twitter.com/Lf3wcjGS1T
— The Philadelphia Orchestra (@philorch) April 8, 2024
Keeping the viola players honest….
How would you know what that is?
“It’s a lotta fun” – that man enjoys his work!
That guy is the greatest!!!
As was Philly Joe.
Not to be attempted after a few double vodkas
“Harlen”? It’s Arlen, Harold Arlen.
I don’t think there is anyone in orchestras who have more fun than the timpanists. They always look like they’re having a blast!
Except for Rainer Seegers.
It is a fun gig, except in rehearsal, when you’ve counted 78 measures, are ready to play your part and the conductor goes back to square one, and you have to count it all over again. Unless you know the piece well enough that you can hear when to enter.
I guess Timpani players and Double bass players have to keep a spare instrument at home in order to practice. How many other players schlep their instruments home after a concert rather than keep them locked up in the concert hall?
I see the musicians of my local top 15 orchestra leaving Symphony Hall after a concert and they are all carrying an instrument. Pssst: they practice, too.
Bassist usually cart their instruments or have a service to cart them to the gig and back. Timpanists have set at home or in a studio that they rent.
Reminds me of the “Oh, Du Fröhliche” plagiarism in the final movement of Mahler’s 2nd.
“Christ ist erschienen, uns zu versühnen.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq81rXbee3o
Those of us whose symphonic work was/is confined to (mostly) melody instruments (violin, and now and then viola in my case) tend to be unaware and thus potentially unsympathetic to the many things a tympani player must think about (and not least, actually be able to do!) for the preparation for and performance of a major piece such as Mahler 7. This opens the window a bit. And it also put me in mind of the famous (or at least, attributed) quote by Brahms: “I used to think Richard Strauss was the Chief of the Insurrectionists, but now I see it’s Mahler.”
If Don had more time I’m sure he would have talked about the timpani’s role in the third movement.
Until the invention of mylar heads, the most difficult part was keeping the drums in tune. Any change in temperature changed the tuning.
I hope you noticed that Don was playing these excerpts on natural Calfskin heads, not mylar!
Fabulous!
Amazing agility at his adanced age.
Let’s not forget another tid-bit that was also stolen from Mahler’s melodic cave, and made a fortune for those involved working in the mouse industry.
“Alan Menken’s song “Be Our Guest” from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast sounds familiar to a theme from the first movement of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3”.
Here is a comparitive video:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-e&q=be+my+guest+mahler#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:e18e8264,vid:ianiq1274EA,st:0
Not to mention the setting of the words “Beauty and the Beast” coming from the Pathétique sonata (the last movement coda in particular).
The LSO’s Kurt Hans Goedicke was a very suave former principal. (You can see him talking Star Wars at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABHokxGFPRc.)
I enjoy all the instruments like timpanis and also flutes and bassoons, they are all good and sound good when they play. My favorite is the English french horn cause it sounds so good.
Don,
This is how the opening of the Rondo is done:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCwSbAjp_dw
Ray Curfs is the best timpanist on the planet. He was Abbado’s timpanist of choice.