Buffet Bassoon in England by Gareth Newman
Arthur Miller quote by Alejandro Aizenberg
Tributes to Sherman Walt by Michael J.Burns, Rabbi Benjamin Rudavsky, Gilbert Kalish, Laurence Lesser, David Carroll, Ralph Bomberg, Seiji Ozawa, Barbara Walt Gustin, Daniel Gustin, Sherman Walt.
Various items from Jesse Read
Early bassoon pitch by Michael Dollendorf
Philisophies for the Use of the Young Bassoonist by Jesse Read

Dear Ron,

Happy New Year! Thought I'd drop you a line with some news that I think ought to make the I.D.R.S. Magazine about moves afoot in England to keep alive the Buffet!

On 10th December 1989 the Philharmonic Orchestra played the following programme at the Royal Festival Hall in London under John Eliot Gardiner.

Ode a ]a Munique Chabrier
Scheherzade Ravel
La Mer Debussy
Gloria Poulenc

The whole section

Meyrick Alexander Buffet bassoon
Michael Cole Buffet bassoon
Michael Boyle Buffet bassoon
Nicholas Reader Buffet contra!

They had been discussing for a while the possibility of playing French music on the appropriate instruments and, some months before this, had earmarked the concert as one to aim for.

The concert went well, with a supportive encouragement from Gardiner and no complaints from the rest of the wind section! They went on to record a programme with the Australian conductor Geoffrey Simon, including the Debussy Nocturnes, La Mer, Petite Suite, and Children's Corner Music.

William Greenlees, the English bassoonist who retired in such style at the 1989 I.D.R.S. conference was, I believe, the last full-time Buffet player in the country. Meyrich Alexander was in the same orchestra for several years, and has long been a devotee of fine Buffet-playing.

They deserve all praise for pursuing their interest as far as a debut with a major symphony orchestra in one of London's premier venues, not to speak of a recording. Meyrick's comment to me was that it felt like going on stage completely naked!

I thought that this was a most newsworthy event, so pass it on to you to use in whichever way you see fit in the magazine.

Best wishes,

Gareth Newman, London

P.S. The new Soulsby is blowing in well-seems like a good pair of bassoons to have in the stable!

P.P.S. Julie Price, who played so well at I.D.R.S.'89 is the new principal bassoon at Covent Garden, moving from the BBC Scottish Symphony. Covent Garden has two principals, the other being Melbon Mackie.

[in later correspondence Gareth writes that the next project is to do the Berlioz Requiem in Paris next September with eight British French bassoon players! Gareth confesses that he himself is getting a Buffet. Bravo to our English brethren for helping to keep the French bassoon alive! ED]

Dear Ron:

This is an excerpt from Arthur Miller's play "The Creation of the World and Other Business" (I am pretty sure that's the title of the piece). I think is has not been published yet in any I.D.R.S. publication, but I think it is worth being known by all the fellow bassoonists.

( ... Light playing on them [Adam and Eve] as instruments are heard playing a lugubrious tune. They dejectedly leave paradise. A sad bassoon solo emerges, played by Raphael. God, hands behind his back, turns to Raphael, Chemuel and Azrael who enter together).

GOD That is the most depressing instru

ment I have ever heard.

RAPHAEL (The bassoonist, protesting) But you

invented it, Lord.

GOD I can't imagine how I could have thought of such a thing.

CHEMUEL It was just after Eve ate the apple. You were very down. And you said, "I think I will invent the bassoon." GOD Well, put it away, Raphael.

I hope you enjoyed it, and you will find some opportunity to have it published.

Some other time, I promise, I will write about my experience as a Third World bassoonist, here in the Midwest of Brazil. There are many, many incredible stories!

Best wishes and great reeds.

Alejandro Aizenberg
Rua 211 No. 305 S. Coimbra
Goiania-Goias 75120
Brazil

Dear Sir,

I would like to add a contribution to your tribute to Sherman Walt. I feel very fortunate to have studied with Mr. Walt during his last year as principal bassoon of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I found him to be not only an excellent teacher and player but also a wonderful person. He was always inspirational, encouraging, supportive and generous (he would insist on paying the subway fare when I had lessons at his home and would then give an extra long lesson). Mr. Walt was a true musician and a true gentleman. He will be sorely missed.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Burns

(On November 12,1989, a memorial service was held for Sherman Walt, the BSO's recently retired principal bassoonist, who died in a tragic accident in October. The following statements are excerpted from recollections offered at that service in celebration of Sherman Walt's life.)

". . . he was a deeply spiritual person, he loved life and people, and his entire life was motivated by a search for perfection and beauty ... He channeled his passion-all of the humanizing instincts in him-into music: the divine sound that he created in his personal search for artistic perfection."

-Rabbi Benjamin Rudavsky

It is left for us to reflect upon and learn from a life that was rich beyond measure in the things that count the most-the love and respect of those whose lives he touched with his great artistry and compassionate humanity ... [And there was] the magic that defined a Sherman Walt performance: a sound rich and bold, a sense of timing, phrasing, and nuance that took one's breath away; and always, with his glorious music-making, a bit of a smile in the music."

-Gilbert Kalish

Pianist

"...he also knew that the continuity of teaching was a part of his life and of every musician's life. ... He touched the lives of [his] students in a very special way..."

-Laurence Lesser President,

New England Conservatory of Music

"We used to come home from those Fridayafternoon concerts and couldn't wait to put our bassoons together and try to play like what we had just heard him do ... He always got more out of us than we ever knew was there. I will always think of the many generations of Sherman Walt's students not as a vast army, but rather as a worldwide flower garden he brought to bloom. We have all been touched by the beauty he brought to the world."

-David Carroll

Associate Principal Bassoon,

New York Philharmonic

"Sherm's enthusiasm and curiosity for new adventures was legendary. He was always ready to take a side-trip either before, during, or after one of our tours, whether it was to a small Japanese inn north of Sapporo built over a beautiful mountain

waterfall; a skiing trip in the mountains of Switzerland or Aspen, Colorado; a motorcycle ride up to the woods of Maine or just a walk in the beautiful Berkshires. He had such remarkable energy that he left many of us shaking our heads in amazement."

-Ralph Gomberg

Former Principal Oboe,

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Sherman was like a singer-he wanted to

sing... [his tone was] warm, and beautiful, and

haunting... like a voice, a mysterious voice...

What Sherman was, is in our orchestra, and will

stay in Boston Symphony Hall, Tanglewood, Hong

Kong, Japan ... Wherever we go, he will be there."

-Seiji Ozawa

"Dad's passionate need for personal freedom was coupled with his almost unbelievable ability and desire for self-growth ... He tried so hard to be a great musician, an honest, giving teacher, an honorable human being, and a good person. He did not realize it, but he did succeed in all of those things."

-Barbara Walt Gustin

"Sherman was a man who inspired others by the force of his personhood and by his artistry... His ideal, he said, was to have the instrument be an extension of his own voice and heart. And instead of playing on it, he preferred to sing into it. In my mind's ear, I believe I will always be able to hear that voice singing."

-Daniel Gustin

BSO Assistant Managing Director and Manager of Tanglewood

"You know, there are only two things I know in this life that truly confound death... One is new life. And the only other reply I know-the only other thing-is music."

-Sherman Walt

Dear Ron,

Best wishes after some years!! I hope that this finds you well, enjoying the season, and looking forward to a great New Year.

I have sent along a few contributions to the I.D.R.S. publications, please use what you can.

I send a photo of the bassoon section of last year's performance of the Banchetto Musicale Orchestra of Boston of Haydn's The Creation The second photo (see next page) shows a now development in the evolution of the modern bassoon: The DYSLM* bassoon, invented by Yours Truly, used for the first time at the Whistler International Mozart Festival in Whistler, British Columbia, August 1989.

I am in my second year here at the University of Delaware, play in the Del'Arte Quintet in Residence, and still active as a baroque bassoonist.

I toured Europe last spring with Tafelmusik, the Baroque Orchestra of Canada and perform often with Philharmonia of San Francisco. I will do master classes and a recital at Indiana U in January 1990, and will perform for the 10th season at the Carmel Bach Festival in July. A new solo album of mine, "French Baroque Miniatures" will be released in spring 1990 on ETCETERA Records.

I am doing quite a few classes here and there for players on early bassoons.

Last, but not least, I'd like to put in a plug for Phil Levin, who has developed a fine reproduction of the Eichentopf bassoon, an excellent continuo instrument, good price, well-in-tune, etc. It's highly recommended.

Regards, Jesse Read * Did You Say Louder, Maestro?

Dear Ron,

Could you please be so good, and let me have the address of Charlie Koster whose letter you reprinted on page 42 in the fall '89 issue of The Double Reed? I did measure and test play a lot of early bassoons, and, since I work as a "test-pilot" for a few baroque-bassoon builders, I might be able to come up with some idea of a read/bocal set-up, to determine the instrument's pitch. Unfortunately it ill be not before this fall, that I go to East Germany to see the original. And I don't know if I may play it.

In general, Bill Waterhouse just guessed when he suggested, "Its pitch is approximately 390 Hz." It's as good a guess as any. I rarely came across an 18th century bassoon that could not be played up to 10 Hz. above or below what was considered its pitch. And with those few "stable" instruments, you get real problems since stable mostly means inflexible. Today most players think in 440-415-392 pitch categories, not knowing that the so-called baroquepitch 415 is not older than 30 years, when 2 harpsichord builders introduced the transposing keyboard. There is a strong evidence that most early 18th century bassoons are much lower than 440, but I found as many on 408 or 421 as on every other pitch around there. 415 is a good compromise, since one has to agree on something in a mostly free-lance music scene. But if you get to build a strong stable ensemble, you can do it differently. A good example is Harnoncourt's Concentus Musicus. They are playing on 421 since 35 years, just because Jurg Schaetfleins oboe was happy there.

I'm sending you a photo of my instrument. You can hear the instrument on the new recording of the St. John Passion by Bach with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and on a recording of Handels "Susanna" with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra which is not on the market yet.

A friend titled the photo "Michael and Ginger."

All the best,

Michael Dollendorf
Bonn, West Germany and San Francisco, California

In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting the reed one wants and the other is getting it.

Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attractiveness of others.

Those who see any difference between Buffet and Heckel have neither.

A really well-made profiler is the only link between Art and Nature.

Reeds die when they are proved to be true. Science is the record of dead reeds.

Nothing that actually occurs in Weber is of the smallest importance.

Dullness is the coming-of-age of seriousness.

In all unimportant matters, style-not sincereity-is the essential.

The great golden rule of art as well as of life, wrote William Blake, is that the more distinct, sharp, and defined the boundary line, the more perfect is the work of art; and the less keen and sharp, the greater the evidence of weak limitation, plagiarism, and bungling. 'Great inventors in all ages knew this-Michael Angelo and Albert Durer are known by this and this alone'; and another time he wrote, with all the simple directness of nineteenthcentury prose, 'to generalize is to be an idiot.' And this love of definite conception, this clearness of vision, this artistic sense of limit, is the characteristic of all great work and poetry.

The only way to atone for being occasionally a little sharp is by being always absolutely loud.

Any preoccupation with ideas of what is right or wrong in reed-making shows an arrested intellectual development.

A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.

In examining the foolish, ask questions that the conductor cannot answer.

The value of an idea has nothing whatsoever to do with the sincereity of the man who expresses it.

Contra-bassoon is the last refuge of the failure.

If one tells the truth, one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out.

Flatness is the root of all ugliness.

The old believe everything; the middle-aged suspect everything; the oboists know everything.

The condition of perfection is idleness; the aim of perfection is youth.

There is something tragic about the enormous number of young men there are in England at the present moment who start life with perfect profiles and end by adopting some useful gouge.

To love ones playing is the beginning of a life-long romance.

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative, especially in reed-making.

You must not find symbols in everything you see, It makes life impossible.

There is always something ridiculous about the emotions of conductors whom one has ceased to love.

I am not in favour of long rehearsals. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before concerts which, I think, is never advisable.

Why does not science, instead of troubling itself about sunspots, which nobody ever saw, or, if they did, ought not to speak about; why does not science busy itself with drainage and sanitary engineering? Why does it not clean the streets and free the rivers from pollutions?

Formerly we used to canonize our heroes. The modern method is to vulgarize them. Cheap editions of Milde may be delightful, but cheap editions of Pivonka are absolutely detestable.

One should either be a work of art or wear a work of art, or get an Ab/Bb trill key.

Pleasure is the only thing one should live for. Nothing ages like happiness.

Only the shallow know scales in 4ths.

Auditions are a waste of money.

There is a fatality about all good reeds. They are invariably made too soon.

One should always be a little sharp.

We spend our days, each one of us, in looking for the secret of life. Well, the secret of life is in art.

"Give me books, fruit, French wine and fine weather and a little music out of doors, played by somebody I do not know." -John Keats (1795-1821)

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