What is your Favorite Whistle?

serpent · Post by **serpent** » Sun Nov 10, 2002 11:42 am

I know, I know, it's weird, and I prolly shouldn't be saying this, but, my fave whistle is, predictably, my wonderful new Elfsong Copper Tone!

Cheers,
Bill Whedon

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Sun Nov 10, 2002 12:10 pm

On 2002-11-10 12:18, Zubivka wrote:
Never paid due attention to Shosta's use of woodwinds. Is there a specific opus or part you'd advice for this discovery, or one you just prefer ?

I haven't actually played that much of his work, but of what I have played, the Ninth has lots of juicy bassoon parts, including a massive solo which makes up half of the fourth movement. (Edit: I should point out that this is a piece which is much much more fun to play than it is to hear. It's probably my least favorite Shosta for casual listening.) The band version of his Festive Overture is also a blast to play.

Of the stuff I've just listened to, the Tenth has an extended bassoon/contra-bassoon duet, and the allegro to Piano Concerto #2 (think Fantasia 2000) opens with a really nice bassoon lick. And everything I've heard of his is just generally cool.

Of course, Beethoven's Ninth has one of the best bassoon parts ever, right when the vocal starts the "Ode to Joy". Hope I get to play it one day.

[ This Message was edited by: colomon on 2002-11-10 13:11 ]

kevin m. · Post by **kevin m.** » Sun Nov 10, 2002 12:31 pm

In no particular order of preference;my old Generation'red top d',Bernard Overton 'g',Colin Goldie 'f'(these last two are my latest acquisitions),Clarke original 'd' and YES a DIXON!-even though i now have my Goldie,i still wouldn't give up my Dixon low 'f' as it's got such a great 'warm' tone to it.Also, lately the Doolin 'd' i got for free from 'Shanna quay'is getting quite a bashing-i enjoy it's 'traditional' sound.

ScottStewart · Post by **ScottStewart** » Sun Nov 10, 2002 1:12 pm

I have a Howard low C that I really like, it really growls. But my current faves are an Eyer G and a Hoover CPVC C. Plus a couple other Hoovers I keep reaching for, a low D SCR, and a rather unique brass D.

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Sun Nov 10, 2002 1:57 pm

My favorite's my green Silkstone D.

I have more expensive whistles and more fancy ones, but when I just want to play, the green warrior is the one that my hands automatically reach for.

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Sun Nov 10, 2002 4:28 pm

On 2002-11-10 13:10, colomon wrote (talking of Shostakovich):
I haven't actually played that much of his work, but of what I have played, the Ninth has lots of juicy bassoon parts, including a massive solo which makes up half of the fourth movement. (Edit: I should point out that this is a piece which is much much more fun to play than it is to hear. It's probably my least favorite Shosta for casual listening.) The band version of his Festive Overture is also a blast to play.

Didn't have the Overture, but knew I had at one recording of the 9th, so I rushed to relisten to it. Well it's bundled on same CD as the 5th I bought it for (Bernstein, NY Philarm., 1959 for Shosta 5-1965 for the 9th.) Old Leonard DID have a feeling for Russian music, even if it got faddy (at least in Europe) to put him down in the recent years.

I never listened really to that 4th movement largo ; it's an old (one mike ?) recording, one Sony Music didn't even bother remastering it when making money on Berny's death. So this largo which should be heard as a short bassoon concerto is totally muffled. All you hear is the brass when it blasts in. This also tells the limitation of standard CD... I wish I had the original vinyl. Will look for a more recent recording or engraving. I love Kondrashin's rendition of the 8th. Heavy stuff, OK, but is any of Shosta's easy-listening ? Anyway, the more I go, the more I like 20th century music...

Now your post was dead-on about the whole piece -- bravissimo!
1) The only named instrumentist in the whole record (5th + 9th) is Manuel Zegler, bassoon, precisely because of the 4th movement in the 9th. Too bad the recording is technically zilch.
2) Shosta is quoted to have said of his 9th : "Musicians will take great pleasure playing it, while critics will revel shooting it down."

It's a lovely piece, the 1st movement alone is a masterpiece, if only for the piccolo parts. The best (to me) is it starts in E-flat, so I can try and learn some of the motives in the Allegro.

In short, thank you so much for opening my sluggish ears !!!

PS: Did you hear this fantastic album "O'Stravaganza" mixing Vivaldi and O'Carolan, an Italian Renaissance chamber + choirs and Irish trad complete with Uillean ? They were a hit, live in Lorient Celtic festival 2002. It's better than world-music, it's cross-centuries music.

_________________
BbZH

[ This Message was edited by: Zubivka on 2002-11-10 17:31 ]

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Sun Nov 10, 2002 4:58 pm

On 2002-11-10 12:35, wizzy wrote:
[If you realy want a big one,Zoob what about a Contra bass flute?:lol:
wizz

I surrender : when talkin' LOW pipes, nothing competes with your double-Lafranconi acoustics.

Or maybe a double-Elipson ?

"Careful, Pavlo, you're here spreading worse than WhOA -- ExhOAst kraze."

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Sun Nov 10, 2002 4:59 pm

You're welcome.

I'm sure I heard his quote on his piece before, but it really reflects my personal experience of it -- I have the same recording you do, and until I actually played the piece (a decade after buying the CD) it never registered with me as anything other than the annoying piece which came after the 5th. I never even realized there was a bassoon solo in the 4th movement until I watched the guy sitting next to me play it.

Even playing second bassoon is a real rush, lots of little tricky passages that force you to be on your toes at all times, and they're usually important to the piece, so you never get the feeling you're just going through the motions.

(We may have different releases of the Bernstein recording -- on mine, the bassoon solo is pretty clear, though the volume difference between it and the brass makes it hard to hear. (It'a that way when you play it, too, one of my bassoon-playing friends suggested earplugs for that movement.) And I don't see credit for the bassoon player anywhere in the packaging. I think mine is older -- I'm fairly certain it pre-dates his death.)

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Sun Nov 10, 2002 5:46 pm

On 2002-11-10 17:59, colomon wrote:
You're welcome.

Foxy-Reed,
you made my week-end!

Thanks for the insider's views on Philarmoniae. You cracked me up with your "never even realized there was a bassoon solo in the 4th movement", or the image of you blowing a what ? reel ? during the orchestra's rest. B.t.w., do some pick up on the tune ?

We laymen (lay-persons? yuck!) need more such testimony; it's hard to guess how these whole symphonic gigs can be fun at times. It looks so sullen when everyone finally dresses up in penguin clothes it freaks many bystanders out. Frenchman Frédéric Lodeon does a great job on French public radio for this, by desacrilizing the whole stuff, dropping the insiders' nickname for such or such symphony, and generally putting some humour in descriptions of what we call here "la musique savante" (scholar music ?).

Oh, b.t.w. when you go to a session, do you casually name your Renard an "Irish horn" ?

tuaz · Post by **tuaz** » Mon Nov 11, 2002 12:03 am

On 2002-11-10 10:36, nickt wrote:
...Interestingly, despite all the raves, no-ones mentioned Dixon; sounds like they're great whistles as add-ons, but not when it comes to favourites.

Actually, for church and non-Irish trad stuff, my Dixon normal tunable D is my favourite whistle. I just got a bit tired of repeating my quite considerable number of old posts about how I liked Dixons.

For trad, I like my Gen red top D. I only use my brass slide Dixon D for non-trad stuff that I feel needs a very clear pure tone.

I have diff favourites for each key (some keys I only have 1 whistle because I'm so satisfied with them I don't bother looking for another):

E - Shaw (yes, it's very good and doesn't need lots of air. So don't assume all Shaws are bad)
Eb - Gen blue-top
D - see this post
C# - um, since I hardly need this key, I made one from PVC. I'd hardly call it a favourite, but it's my only one in this key
C - Dixon tunable, Gen C blue-top for Irish trad
B - experimental Hoover CPVC tunable that Mack gave me(slim, looks like a white Dixon, sweet pure tone); I actually like it more than the actual whistle (wider, louder, furry tone) I commissioned Mack to make

Bb - Dixon tunable
A - Dixon tunable
low G - Dixon tunable
low F - Overton tunable
low D - Overton tunable

Enough Dixon references for you, nickt?

[edited to include C# and B whistles, clarification of type of Gen]

[ This Message was edited by: tuaz on 2002-11-11 01:11 ]

[ This Message was edited by: tuaz on 2002-11-11 01:16 ]

Ridseard · Post by **Ridseard** » Mon Nov 11, 2002 1:22 am

On 2002-11-11 01:03, tuaz wrote:
<snip>
For trad, I like my Gen red top D.
<snip>

Glad somebody besides me likes the Gen D for trad. Mine's a green top, but it's basically the same mouthpiece.

Jens_Hoppe · Post by **Jens_Hoppe** » Mon Nov 11, 2002 3:35 am

- Sindt D 
- Kerry Pro low F

Oh, that's two whistles...

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Mon Nov 11, 2002 7:43 pm

On 2002-11-10 18:46, Zubivka wrote:
[....] the image of you blowing a what ? reel ? during the orchestra's rest. B.t.w., do some pick up on the tune ?

Reels mostly, sometimes jigs. I like playing tunes that go below the range of a whistle, just because I can. Lately it seems like I've been working on a lot of them on whistle, like Martin Wynne's #1 or Brendan Tonra's, and it's lots of fun to be able to play them the way a fiddle player would. (Sort of!)

Nobody else has ever picked up a tune I was playing. In my (admittedly limited) orchestra experience, people do not seem to have a knack for picking things up by ear. Certainly I never could until I started playing whistle. And even if someone knew the tune, I'd probably be playing it a fifth down from what they're used to (bassoon is pitched like a G whistle).

We laymen (lay-persons? yuck!) need more such testimony; it's hard to guess how these whole symphonic gigs can be fun at times. It looks so sullen when everyone finally dresses up in penguin clothes it freaks many bystanders out. Frenchman Frédéric Lodeon does a great job on French public radio for this, by desacrilizing the whole stuff, dropping the insiders' nickname for such or such symphony, and generally putting some humour in descriptions of what we call here "la musique savante" (scholar music ?).

I often marvel that people who are so lively in person have found a format for presenting themselves which is so boring. The wacky world of bassoon quartets and PDQ Bach is a lot closer to the real personality of classical musicians, or at least of bassoon players.

Oh, b.t.w. when you go to a session, do you casually name your Renard an "Irish horn" ?

I've never actually played my bassoon at a session -- the whole pitched down a fifth thing. (Though it has recently occurred to me that I know some tunes in D and G, and those I could play on bassoon using the D fingerings and get the G that other people play the tune in.) I did suggest once that my fiddle-playing buddy should get out his viola and play tunes with me....

whatzitt · Post by **whatzitt** » Mon Nov 11, 2002 8:31 pm

I like my Burke Session Brass high D. It has a beautiful sound & is easy to play.

skywatcher · Post by **skywatcher** » Mon Nov 11, 2002 11:47 pm

My favorite now is my Blue Overton low D: but my green Overton low F hasn't arrived yet...........................