I know Roland since 1956. I knew his father Hans Berger also well. Roland Berger is still in very good shape, a very impressive tall & friendly person. He joined the State Opera Orchestra in Vienna 1956, acted as first horn, but became principal 1962 after Freibergs early death. I met Roland just last October. I think, Roland retired from playing first horn after he became horn professor at the Vienna Music University (Hochschule fuer Musik und darstellende Kunst), but continued as third horn for some years. Anyway, he played in the section (2nd wagner tuba in Bb), when I played Anton Bruckners no.7 symphony for Herbert von Karajan´s last concert. But I had played first wagner tuba for the first rehearsal. Imagine all four wagner tuba players from the same teacher Freiberg: Pizka, Berger, Horvath & Tomboeck sen. Friedrich Pfeiffer became ill & I took over the first chair.
The recording crew had some problems with the equipment, Roland had two or three (Austrian) glasses of beer & took a nap in one of the rooms in the Sophiensaal (scrapped now). Then they got the machine repaired, Long Call was their last agenda of the day - and Roland did it on the spot. He never played it in a public performance, but HIS Long Call remained exemplaric. Whn they had finished the recording, the crew had prepared a real shock for Roland. They had recorded the Long Call weeks earlier in Israel, Pierre del Vescovo playing it with his usual strong French vibrato. When the crew now replayed that recording for Roland as his own, he was really shocked. Big laughter followed, when they told him the truth. That´s the story. ########################################################### Am 15.05.2011 um 01:13 schrieb SH: > Great info Hans. I'm going to go and listen to all of these later. How well > did you know Roland Berger? My teacher told me that the long call that we > hear on the Solti recordings was the 1st take and they did a second take just > in case. He also told me that Berger was across the street at the pub before > he was called to record it late at night. Any truth to this urban legend? > > Hans Pizka <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Well, at first it is "Tannhaeuser" not "Tanhauser". >> >> What do you mean with "pretty amazing" ? Is it the very finale of the act >> one with the stage horns ? >> I guess so. The last scene is quite long, 42 full score pages total, and it >> begins when the Count (Landgraf) finds Tannhaeuser praying in the forest & >> asks: "Wer ist der dort in bruenstigem Gebete ?" >> ("Who is the man there in ardent prayer ?"). >> >> Preceding to that is the famous hunting scene with the different horn >> signals coming from different >> places. Two different groups of 3-voiced horn choirs in F, (they used >> 2-valved horns when there was the Munich first performance, Franz Strauss >> playing viola that time because of illness for 18-months), answered by >> single horns in C (hunting masters), and third group of four horns in E-flat >> answers them finally before the single horn in C (hunting master !!) gives >> the final command signal. >> >> At the very end of act one, the hunting master gives a very strong different >> signal on a horn in F, to which all four groups of three horns answer with >> a very loud three voiced triplet signal of 12c measures, to which the full >> orchestra joins in the last measure to play the last sequence of 15 measures >> until the break. The curtain closes with the last chord of the stage horns & >> the entrance of the orchestra. >> >> This is a quite real old hunting scene. >> >> Other favorite moments in Wagner operas: >> >> Beginning of third act of "Goetterdaemmerung" with the unison (1,3,5,7th >> horns in the orchestra) Siegfried signal, answered by the solo stage horn, >> followed by the other stage horns & the Stierhorn signal to end in another >> middle short version of the Siegfried call. Then, yes, then comes an often >> heard disaster spot with the daybreak, rhythmically & from the range quite >> tricky. >> >> The "hoi-ho, hoi-ho, Waffen, starke Waffen" - call by Hagen in the 2nd act >> of Goetterdaemmerung, some of the most demanding playing for all 8 horns. >> Anyway, the first quartet should be filled with "fresh troups", while the >> other first quartet celebrates a deserved break after two hours strong >> playing in the first act. But they act as stage horns at the end of the 2nd >> act (Hochzeitsruf - call to marriage). >> >> Also, the stage call in the last scene of act one in Goetterdaemmerung, when >> Bruennhilde sings "Zur Felsenspitze waelzt sich der feurige Schwall." ("to >> the tip of the rock rolls the fiery wave ..") then the single solo horn on >> stage enters with the introduction to the call & performs the shorter call >> slower than usual but with a maximum of force, sounding above the full >> orchestra. The sounds back pressure is that much, that one has to wait two >> moments until walking of the stage (the call is played right on the edge of >> the scene, just being covered by the frame of the stage). When we did that >> last time, there was a lightning just at the very point entering the real >> Siegfried signal. This moment illustrates the very moment, Siegfried is >> "taking" Bruennhilde. >> >> Next: Funeral March & Trauermusik from third act of Goetterdaemmerung, with >> the famous beginning of the Wagner Tuba quartet. >> >> next: beginning of Rheingold with the 8 horns in E-flat >> and the very finale of the same opera: March of the gods entering Valhalla. >> >> next: Walkuere: very beginning, then 2nd scene with the Hunding motif, Ride >> of Valyries >> >> next: Tristan & Isolde, Prelude, Hunting scene >> >> next: Parsifal as a whole & special the Klingsor appearance at the beginning >> of act two & ther fine chorals at act three. >> >> more, more, more >> >> But Wagner, even genius, is not all. We also have Richard Strauss with e.g. >> Frau ohne Schatten with the >> important hits of the Wagner Tuba quartet, or Elektra with the great Orest >> motif again played by the Wagner Tuba quartet. >> >> Think about the transition from act two to act three of Puccinis Turandot. >> >> Just a few favorite moments. >> >> ########################################################### >> Am 14.05.2011 um 09:13 schrieb Horn List: >> >>> The last scene of act one is pretty amazing. Anyone have a few favorite >>> moments in other wagner operas? >>> >>> Sent from my iPod >>> _______________________________________________ >>> post: [email protected] >>> unsubscribe or set options at >>> https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/hpizka%40me.com >> >> _______________________________________________ >> post: [email protected] >> unsubscribe or set options at >> https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/schmidhorninst%40gmail.com > _______________________________________________ > post: [email protected] > unsubscribe or set options at > https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/hpizka%40me.com _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
