Again, some gutsy stories for those who are still doubting wether they should change to gut or not.
In Holland we have a passion season: many performances of the St. Matthew and St. John Passions by Bach just before Easter. Before I changed my archlute to gut I was affraid of the passion season. So many concerts in a row, one day 440, the next 415. Lots of different venues, lots of travelling. This year's adventures: St. John at 415 in small, very hot and full church (Waalse Kerk) in Amsterdam. No rehearsal. Tuning was ok till about half way. I could not keep courses 5, 6 and 7 in tune with the cello, so in the last two aria's I played continuo on only the top 4 courses. Which was beautiful, by the way. St. Matthew at 415 without break (!) in large church (Domkerk) in Utrecht. Archlute and baroque guitar. Tuning was no problem at all. But the first string on the archlute (new just before the general rehearsal) broke in the final chorus during the perfromance, it had lasted only 6 hours of playing. But, again, resulting in interesting continuo. ;-) Three times St. John at 415 in different locations, travelling a lot in between. No problems at all with tuning. Twice St. Matthew, only the 'Komm, suesses Kreuz' aria at 440 (same strings, even the 0.40mm first string!) with a modern orhcestra in a huge church (St. Laurens Kerk Alkmaar) and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. In the church no tuning problems at all, basses were more stable than Kuerschner wound basses have ever been for me. In the Concertgebouw (no tuning break!) I could keep courses 6 and 7 in tune with 'silent' tuning during the concert, but course 5 was too low. During my solo I could adjust the fretted notes on course 5, but not open course 5. More interesting than the tuning was the sound. I have been playing passions on this archlute (64cm Hasenfuss) for many years with nails on carbon and Kuerschner overspun basses. Which worked fine enough, though the sound was rather sharp and aggressive. This year for the first time fingertips and all gut. The lute was much better to hear in every location, much warmer in sound and better blending with the other instruments. Also in the middle register in the solo in St. John (Betrachte, meine Seele), which always was a problem before. Many people in the different orchestras came to me to ask me what I had done to get this 'new' and better sound, they noticed even without me telling them beforehand about my new strings! People in the audience came to tell me the sound was so nice. 'Knowledgable' friends in the audience were impressed with the guts; they told me the sound was so much more personal and the articulation was so much more clear. They noticed. All in all, a positive experience. David ***************************************** David van Ooijen Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Http://home.planet.nl/~d.v.ooijen/ ***************************************** Read about my latest Japanese CD and hear a sample at http://home.planet.nl/~d.v.ooijen/david/ensembles/chiyomi.html
