Weinberger - Schwanda: Polka and Fugue, Reiner - CSO

A Celebration of Brass!

Weinberger

Polka and Fugue (From Schwanda)

Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Category:

Music

Tags:

• classical
• brass
• reiner
• fugue
• loud
• trumpet

[poopoo111222333]

Please listen to everything before the ending. The intonalion between the first, second, and third trumpets is great! At the end there is an extra trumpet doubling. They did this a lot. He came in cold after sitting there for a long time.The intonation went out the window at this point.

I don't remember why Reiner was pissed about the organ. This story was told to me a long time ago by my former teacher who was not pleased with the results.

[poopoo111222333]

reiner was pissed about the organ, so he told the brass to play as loud as they could at the end. Well - they did and there were some clams and bad intonation. He was making faces and shaking his fist wanting more. The players wanted another take but reiner wouldn't do it. The players were following the direction of the conductor. Get off of their backs!

[Jan96106]

I like Schwanda der Dudelsackpfeifer so much. The music sounds so happy.

[JHJennings]

It's been FAR TOO LONG since we've all heard Weinberger's Polka & Fugue from his swashbuckling opera, "Schwanda" -- Sit down and listen to this!

[robertgift]

@PENNSY671E String players feel thatheir instruments sound brighter when "tighter", so that may be the reason for the gradual increase. At one time, A was 435! (I have an old 435 tuning fork.) Some carillon bells purchased by orchestras have been tuned to A444. I also have perfect pitch but cannot discern the orchestra being at A444.

[PENNSY671E]

@robertgift "Organ A remains 440 Hz. Orchestras are getting sharper and now around A444."  I have perfect pitch and have also noticed this. At first I wasn't sure, but now that someone else has heard the pitch-up, I want to ask why this phenomenon - or is it deliberate ? I am curious.

[7845lptape]

Does anyone have the Ormandy/Minneapolis version from the early 1930's they can download? Really a very good version.

[mrotwist]

Interesting fact about Reiner and the organ. It would have tempered his anger just to eliminate the organ entirely. Of course, he knew that wouldn't sell, so he jazzed up the piece by trying to drown it out.l Shades of Leopold Stokowski, who used to do his own thing with many of the pieces he recorded, instead of following the composer's intent! The result was often interesting, but irritated most purists no end!

[G6Jeremy]

if you never played the piece, then shhh...dont criticize, just enjoy...

[WimGrundy]

Comments and music make for quite a history lesson here. YouTube is the best thing since Gutenberg!

[robertgift]

@poopoo111222333 In marching band I played trumpet. For fun we (brass)would sometimes play as loudly as possible hoping to hear our echos off distant buildings! Still, we played in tune.

What was Reiner's problem with the organ - other than the orchestra being sharp tuning to the oboe instead of the organ - to which they SHOULD have tuned?

Organ A remains 440 Hz. Orchestras are getting sharper and now around A444.