Eric -- how
the heck do you know all this stuff??? You SCARE me!
I don't mean to be scary, but in
all fairness, I once seriously considered a career in musicology. Since I was a
kid, music history has always fascinated me. I have an enormous CD collection
and I have read all of the liner notes with each CD. I have the complete 180 CD
set of the Phillips Complete Mozart Edition from 1991. I have actually listened
to each CD in the set. I also have the Deutsche Grammophon Complete Beethoven
Edition. I am working on the Teldec Complete Bach Edition, but decided to save
for a house instead, so completion of this set will have to wait awhile. Bach, Mozart,
Beethoven, Bruckner and Mahler are my absolute favorites as composers go, so I've
read quite a bit about their lives and the histories of their compositions. When
I was in college, a few years back, I wrote some lengthy papers for a couple of
the music appreciation classes that I took between all of the chemistry
classes. The subjects were on Beethoven and also the history of the symphony. Additionally
I did an amateur job re-editing the catalog of Mozart's works for an
independent study credit. This catalog has gotten quite out of date and as it
is presently quite difficult to use some of the works actually have three KV
numbers. My music professor used my catalog for his work. Believe it or not I
did all of this and still managed to have an outside life.
Okay, I have those other composers' Glass Harmonica
pieces. The sound of the GH is so lovely and haunting that I always play the
whole CDs, so I'm familiar with all these pieces.
In the most respectful vein that I can muster, I
disagree -- the Mozart is by far the best. Gimmick or not, sick and broke or
not, I think he authentically loved the sound that came from this astonishing
instrument. None of the other pieces are compositionally distinctive or
talented, IMHO.
I am glad you enjoy the Mozart GH works.
I like them too, perhaps I wasn't clear in my meaning, I simply find
other Mozart more compelling than these works. I also don't hold the
other composers on the CD to a "Mozart" standard. So perhaps I am
not judging them all by the same criteria. I expect more from Mozart than the
other composers. Everyone has different tastes, for example I love the music of
Mahler and identify strongly with Mahler the man, but Glenn Gould had quite a
different opinion of him. On the one hand he wrote that Mahler was a monster
because he felt that Mahler was too ambitious in his pursuit of the
directorship of the Vienna State Opera. In the essay / article I am thinking
about, Gould quotes Mahler as wishing that the current occupant of the position
would die so he could have the job for himself. One day I shall have to find
time to get some context for that quote, but that's another matter. It's
also interesting that Gould would choose to conduct Mahler when given the opportunity.
But Gould like so many of us was full of contradictions......
Is this the CD you're referring to? This is a real
treat, everybody get it:
Music for Glass Harmonica
Bruno Hoffmann, Glass Harmonica
Vox Unique VU 9008
Yep, that's the CD and I got it
about a year ago from Amazon.com for about 5 bucks. A real steal IMHO.
Where can I get the recording for the mechanical
organ??? I'd love to hear that! Your description convinces me I can't live without
it for much longer.
My recording is part of the Complete
Mozart Edition by Phillips. IIRC it is performed by Daniel Chorzempa by hand on
a church organ somewhere. I don't know if this recording is available separately.
Since the piece was conceived for a mechanical organ Mozart didn't worry
too much about the limitations of the human body and as I understand it this
work, as written, is unplayable on a conventional organ. My guess, although the
liner notes don't say for sure, is that the work was "adjusted"
to make it playable on a conventional organ or they did a little bit of
overdubbing to get in all of the parts. Sort of like Glenn Gould did in his
transcription of the prelude to "Die Meistersinger". I also seem to
remember a recording done by a pair of duo pianists on the Deutsche Grammophon
label. However, I can't recall who the performers are. Beethoven also
wrote for the mechanical clock / organ, but IMHO they are not in the same
league as the Mozart works. I would check the internet at Tower, Amazon (both
in Europe and the US) and HMV Japan. Someone somewhere
must have recorded this work for a stand alone album.
Do any of the original mechanical organs or clocks still
exist in Europe (or Japan)?
I suspect that these are about as rare
as the glass harmonica itself, although I have no information to support that
statement. It is mere conjecture on my part.
Was I right about the lead toxicity problem with the
GH? About five years ago, Linda Ronstadt, of all people, stumbled on the GH,
was entranced by it, found one of the few remaining thrill-seeking soloists,
and recorded a Hispanic-flavored CD with GH tracks. I've never heard it, just
read an interview with her about her passion for it.
I've never heard this story. So I
can't comment.
Eric, whenever you post, you make me feel like I live
in a trailer off Route 221, I have empty Budweiser cans on the floor, and my
socks have holes in them and don't match.
I would never want you to feel like
that. I've been studying music since I encountered Glenn Gould on the
phonograph at age 4. It has been my singular earthly passion. I discovered,
somewhere in high school that I had no desire to become a professional
musician, actually for much the same reasons as Glenn Gould. Besides when I really
knew that I would never be as good a pianist as Glenn Gould, I tried my hand at
conducting, which I really loved, and still do, unfortunately the only job I
would have really wanted as a conductor was taken at the time by Herbert von
Karajan, and after he died, I was already a chemist. Such is life. By the way your
comment isn't too far from the truth, most of my family are West Virginia residents and you have described
one of my Uncle's residences and lifestyle perfectly, except that he
lives off of route 1. I thought
this remark was clever and I am not offended in anyway, but you aren't
too far from the truth in this case.
Best Regards,
Eric Cline
Sr. R & D Chemist
Graphic Arts Synthesis Group
Reichhold, Inc.
Global Coating and Performance Resins
Phone Toll Free: 1-800-448-3482 ext.8116
e-mail: eric.cline@reichhold.com
http://www.reichhold.com
(Click here to go to the Reichhold home page)
-----Original Message-----
From: Elmer Elevator
[mailto:bobmer.javanet@RCN.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 11:44 AM
To: F_MINOR@EMAIL.RUTGERS.EDU
Subject: the Glass Harmonica!
Eric -- how
the heck do you know all this stuff??? You SCARE me!
Okay, I have those other composers' Glass Harmonica
pieces. The sound of the GH is so lovely and haunting that I always play the
whole CDs, so I'm familiar with all these pieces.
In the most respectful vein that I can muster, I
disagree -- the Mozart is by far the best. Gimmick or not, sick and broke or
not, I think he authentically loved the sound that came from this astonishing
instrument. None of the other pieces are compositionally distinctive or
talented, IMHO.
Is this the CD you're referring to? This is a real
treat, everybody get it:
Music for Glass Harmonica
Bruno Hoffmann, Glass Harmonica
Adagio and Rondo in C minor, K. 617 for GH, Flute,
Oboe, Viola and Cello
Adagio in C major, K. 617a for GH
Johann Friedrich Reichardt
Rondo in B-flat major for GH, String Quartet and
Double Bass
Quintet in C minor for GH and String Quartet
Johann Abraham Peter Schulz
Quartet in C major for GH, Flute, Viola and Cello
Where can I get the recording for the mechanical
organ??? I'd love to hear that! Your description convinces me I can't live
without it for much longer. Do any of the original mechanical organs or clocks
still exist in Europe (or Japan)?
Was I right about the lead toxicity problem with the
GH? About five years ago, Linda Ronstadt, of all people, stumbled on the GH,
was entranced by it, found one of the few remaining thrill-seeking soloists,
and recorded a Hispanic-flavored CD with GH tracks. I've never heard it, just
read an interview with her about her passion for it.
My Philadelphia cousins tell me that there's a GH on
display at the Big Museum (Franklin Institute?), and that it
actually gets played once in a blue moon. I think this would be a good
instrument to teach to young punk and thrash-grunge musicians, they would
appreciate its Living on the Edge / Flirtation with Death and Madness
qualities.
The GH's principal is familiar to anyone who ever ran
a wet thumb around the rim of a crystal glass with water in it; and of course
changing the volume of water changes (to precision) the pitch of the ensuing
tone. At a fancy hotel bar mitzvah reception, me and a dozen other 13-year-old
boys once put on a spontaneous thumb-and-crystal concert, until the Maitre d'
came over and threatened to kill us with his bare hands. The notes from
wet-finger crystal are incredibly penetrating (pleasantly, if you're Mozart)
and far-travelling. The GH itself consists of a pedal-rotated main horizontal
cylinder of crystal glass blown with cylindrical bulges at right angles to the
main cylinder, which produce the precise notes of the scale when wet fingers
are touched to the rims.
Eric, whenever you post, you make me feel like I live
in a trailer off Route 221, I have empty Budweiser cans on the floor, and my
socks have holes in them and don't match.
Mozart only
wrote three pieces at the end of his career for the glass harmonica. They are
an Adagio and Rondo for glass harmonica, cello, flute and violin (I don't
remember the KV number off hand, but it is in the 600's) and he wrote a solo
work Adagio for glass harmonica KV.618. Both works were written for a blind
girl who was quite skilled at the glass harmonica. Mozart was not in the best
of financial condition in the last year of his life (1791), and he took
commissions for all sorts of odd projects to make a few extra Florins. One of
the more interesting sets of works in this period is the three pieces he wrote
for Mechanical Organ (or mechanical clock). He wrote these pieces for an
exhibit of wax figures set in a mausoleum. These three pieces have a funeral
character, although the adagio and fugue is really an example of Mozart showing
his expertise in counterpoint. I consider this work to be a masterpiece. It is
in fact one of my favorite Mozart works.
I
am afraid; I have a different opinion of the pieces for glass harmonica. I
don't consider them among his best, although the solo adagio KV.618 is quite
pretty. I have CD of glass harmonica music by other much less known composers
of Mozart's time and I find that I like these better than Mozart's works in
this genre.
Regards,