Owain, is it in all the versions of the _Firebird_? Especially, is it
in the 1918 suite that is the most often played? The old Kalmus set of
parts to the 1918 suite was full of errors. There is a new, Kalmus set,
edited by Clark McAlister that is much better.
I agree that this could be an astonishing affect, but if the first
violinists do not get their E strings tuned well for the rest of the
work, the effect could be equally astonishing.
On the other topic - Many composers do not exceed fff. Tchaik is, of
course infamous for abusing fs and ps the most.
RBH
Owain Sutton wrote:
[1} I suspect that violinists do not detune for the
_Firebird_ passage ...
No, it's routinely ignored: it's an instruction to tune the E string
down to D for the harmonic glissandos in the introduction, and is
instead generally played an octave lower, matching the second violins.
Which is a shame, because we're missing out on an astonishing effect
Stravinsky created. Many players have never even wondered what those
funny French words mean - I asked a player with the orchestra of the
Royal Opera House (i.e. the Royal Ballet!), and she'd never thought
about it. This problem is compounded, if I recall correctly, by a
discrepancy between score and parts as to whether things are to be
transposed up one or two octaves. Note also that it's the first thing
the 1st violins play, so the tuning down could be done while tuning the
orchestra, with only the tuning back up again to be done during the
performance.
(Incidentally, was it on this mailing list some time ago that somebody
said Stravinsky never went above fff in dynamic markings? I noticed not
long ago that the end of the Firebird has four Fs in the 1st violin
part.)
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