Happy Birthday, Frédéric Chopin

In one month today, it will be Chopin's 200th birthday and we at Symphony Pro Musica are celebrating the anniversary in our upcoming concert.  The first half of the program includes the Grand Polonaise and 2nd Piano Concerto with Yelena Beriyeva as soloist.  The second half will be devoted to Anton Bruckner's 4th (Romantic) symphony.

Additionally, we will be performing the Chopin pieces in Jordan Hall on Sunday evening for the Chopin Bicentennial Salute.  Playing in Jordan Hall is always a treat.  I've been privileged to play in some wonderful concert halls in Europe and Jordan Hall ranks with those.  I'm still hoping to play in Symphony Hall one day, reputedly one of the two best halls, acoustically speaking, in the world.

The difference playing in a well-designed hall and a poorly designed one is profound, especially for us woodwind principals (bassoon in my case).  It's a very special feeling to be able to hear every instrument individually (and one's self) with such great clarity.  A solo passage marked piano must be played at least forte in a typical high school auditorium in order to be heard over the general din.  This of course destroys the composer's intention and makes the player concentrate more on volume and consequently less on expression.  In a setting like Jordan Hall, however, we can actually play as marked – as the composer wished – and still be easily heard around the auditorium.

The Chopin concerto is a case in point.  During the exquisite second movement, the bassoon has a lovely passage playing along with the piano and, naturally, it's marked piano.  I'm looking forward to being able to play it without undue straining.

While I'm on the subject, there are bassoon-friendly composers (I should perhaps call these fagottophiles) and then there are those who don't make the most of the bassoon, undoubtedly the most versatile and important instrument in the orchestra.  Well, you would expect me to say that, wouldn't you.  But it's still true!  Here are some composers I would give an A for bassoon writing in an orchestral context: Mozart and Beethoven (A+), Ravel, Stravinksy, Mahler, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Resphigi, Copland, Bach.  I never expected to find myself putting Chopin in with the other As, but I really think he deserves it.  These composers get a B+: Puccini (maybe an A-), Verdi, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, R. Strauss, Donizetti, Bizet, Brahms, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Haydn, Janacek, Dvorak.  I'm sure there are some I've forgotten.  Of course Vivaldi gets a special vote of thanks for his forty bassoon concerti!

Way down the list, probably getting no better than a C, is Anton Bruckner.  Indeed, it's fortunate that I'm not, as I usually do, writing the program notes for this concert.  I would probably be hard pressed to say anything really good about the fourth symphony.  Here, I'll come right out with it.  Bruckner was still learning his craft at the time he wrote this symphony at age 50.  I can almost hear his former (by many years) professors saying "Hmm, melody A-, counterpoint C+, harmony B+, orchestration B, development of themes (and avoidance of repetition): C, etc."

The quality of the music is very far from that of another composer he is often compared to, viz. Gustav Mahler.  In fact, the only thing in common between them is they were both, technically at least, Austrian and both loved large orchestras and long symphonies.

On the other hand, by the time he wrote his ninth symphony, I think he really had got composition down.  Still rather repetitive but this time the repetitions really add to the experience and help the music build on itself.  He and I do share one thing in common, however: love of good beer!

To end with our original subject, Chopin, I am going to have to take a much closer look (or listen) to his music.  The second piano concerto, which he wrote at the ripe old age of 20, far exceeds my expectations.  it turns out that his first piano concerto includes even more bassoon work.  He also lived a very interesting if rather short life (he died in 1849), particularly his relationship with the French author and feminist known as George Sand.