I remember reading somewhere that D, Brain used to have his section in the Philharmonia sit in 'normal' fashion (2-4th, l-r), but that he would sit on the far right, next to fourth horn. Is there any truth to this?
hans <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Has anyone of you ever watched the New Year Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic ? I doubt it. Otherwise you would know that they still sit in this classical way. Why do they ? It is easier for the first to adapt himself to the section. But it has advantage & disadvantage as has the opposite, now internationally used sitting order left (1st) to right (4rth). Advantage: the section does less notice your mistakes in the tutti. You are not blowing into the 2nd horns body. Easier blending from 1st horns view. Placement on the podium must be somewhere on the right side, so the first horn can side next to 1st clarinet or 1st bassoon. Better contact with the woods. Disadvantage: As a first you hear the section better, which is not much fun in many cases. 2nd horn & others blare right into your ears. In the case of your mistake you have to look to your left instead of the usual right, to hide your mistake by blaming your neihbour. There is a story from Freibergs time in Vienna, illustrating the bad place for the 2nd horn Otto Nitsch: Freiberg telling Nitsch (on his left): "Not so loud, please !", while Leopold Kainz on 3rd further to the left yelled to Nitsch at his right: " "More, I cannot hear you !" All depends on the piece & the arrangement on stage or in the pit. Well, in the pit there are not many variations. Sitting left will provide more opportunity to have a look to the stage, when sitting the Viennese way, but the 1st is engaged with playing more than others. This applies to regular sitting, where the horns are on the far left from the conductor. For the Italian setting (all winds to the right), it is much better with international sitting, as the 1st will sit further away from stage verse the audience, having an excellent view to the stage, if not placed infront of the timpani (Zubin likes that !), which ruins playing & ears. I found the Viennese sitting order very good for the big pieces with 8 horns, seated in two rows, much up the stage at the right side from the conductor, as it provides better contact between woods & first horn and trumpets & trombones places on the left side up the stage dont blow into the horn players ears - and the bell, tilting the sound. ============================================================ ============================================ -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Carlberg Jones Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2007 11:32 PM To: The Horn List Subject: Re: [Hornlist] Principal Horn Seat Musical Chairs At 10:25 PM +0000 5/5/07, harveycor wrote: >Has anyone ever performed 1st horn in a concert where you have not been >seated to the left of the section? yes, we did a mozart last season and the order of the winds from l to r was hn2 hn1 ob1 ob2 and it worked just fine. >if you wish to pm this one; you may pm to: thanks, I did that this morning. -- Carlberg Jones Skype - carlbergbmug Cornista - Orq. Sin. de Aguascalientes Aguascalientes, Ags. MEXICO _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/hans%40pizka. de _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/brassyhorn%40yahoo.com --------------------------------- Don't pick lemons. See all the new 2007 cars at Yahoo! Autos. _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
