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Chicago
Symphony Orchestra
Trombone and Tuba Sections
Play
Concert
Works and Orchestral Excerpts
 Jay
Friedman, James Gilbertsen, Frank Crisafulli and
Edward Kleinhammer, trombones, Arnold Jacobs, tuba
This
recording was made in 1971 for the purpose of
providing students, teachers and music lovers in
general with a better aural perspective of the
trombone and tuba section of a great symphony
orchestra. It is perhaps the first attempt to
present the sound of an orchestral section playing
the standard orchestral excerpts, thus enabling
the listener to hear the professional orchestral
approach to sound, style, phrasing and other
musical problems in greater detail. In addition,
it was felt that the considerable body of fine
original literature for trombones and tuba
deserved attention. It is hoped that this record
will provide a source of inspiration to the young
players, a stimulation of interest in the
literature and playing style on the part of the
teacher, and an enjoyable, aural and musical
experience for all listeners.
On
this recording. Mr. Friedman plays First Trombone;
Mr. Gilbertsen plays second trombone on those
pieces requiring four trombones; Mr. Crisafulli
plays the second part on those pieces requiring
three trombones and the third part on those
requiring four; Mr. Kleinhammer plays bass
trombone on all selections.
This
recording was made in July 1971 at Lederer Hall.
Temple Emanuel. in Chicago. Joeseph Kreines
produced the recording, and Norman Pellegrini
engineered it. Once levels had been set for the
three Sony microphones employed, they remained
unchanged throughout the sessions. The only
alteration in microphone placement occurred when
pieces without tuba were recorded. The
participants wish to thank Temple Emanuel for
their generous cooperation in making their
facilities available for this recording. This CD
has been remastered by Konrad Strauss.
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Chicago
Symphony Orchestra Trombone and Tuba
Sections
Play
Concert Works and Orchestral Excerpts
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MP3 |
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Wagner-Ride
of the Valkyries from Die Walkire
(full ensemble).
Well-known as an orchestral showpiece, and
difficult to play with rhythmic accuracy,
good intonation and tonal control at extreme
volumes.
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Holst-Mars from The Planets
(full ensemble). A fine example of brass choir
sound with an important part for the tenor tuba
(euphonium).
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Mahler-Fifth
Movement excerpt from Symphony No.2
(Resurrection) (full ensemble). A
chorale-like passage featuring rich harmonic
texture and wide dynamic range, showing Mahler
as perhaps the most imaginative composer of
brass orchestral writing.
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Tchaikovsky-Excerpt from
1812 Overture
(3 trombones, tuba). A good
example of the big full-sounding
Tchaikovsky. Note the marcato
style, which should be clearly
articulated but never
edgy-sounding.
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Verdi-Introduction to
Nabucco Overture
(3 trombones, tuba). Simple but
beautiful harmony, setting a
noble, eloquent mood.
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Wagner-Excerpts from
Wotan's Farewell and Magic Fire
Music, from Die Walkure
(full ensemble). These were the
most difficult of all the
excerpts. A demonstration of
soft, sustained passages
requiring the ultimate in
control, finesse and
musicianship.
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Mahler-First Movement
excerpt from Symphony No.3
(full ensemble). A martial,
heroic episode emphasizing the
dramatic power and intensity of
the brass.
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Gliere-First Movement
excerpts from Ilya Mourometz
(Symphony No.3)
(full ensemble). This track
provides the contrast of very
soft and loud versions of the
same music in a majestic
setting.
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Bruckner-First
Movement excerpts from Symphony
No.4 (Romantic) (3
trombones, tuba). These, and the
excerpts on track 12 are among
the best examples of the
chorale-like epic style of
Bruckner's brass writing.
Particular attention should he
paid to the style of attack and
the overall sound-concept which
are essential to producing the
correct musical results. |
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Tchaikovsky-Fourth
Movement excerpt from Symphony
No. 6 (Pathatique)
(3 trombones, tuba). One of the
most beautiful soft-chord
passages, requiring great care
in attacks, release and balance. |
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Wagner-Prelude to Act 3 of
Lohengrin
(3 trombones, tuba). A challenge
to any brass section for
precision, clarity and balance.
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Bruckner-Fourth Movement
excerpts from Symphony No.8
(3 trombones, tuba). See note
for track 9. |
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Smetana-Excerpt from The
Moldau
(3 trombones, tuba). A famous
passage demonstrating the
wonderfully mysterious aspect of
soft-brass sound. This excerpt
requires clarity and firmness of
rhythm despite the soft volume.
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Berlioz-Rakoczy March
Finale from The Damnation of Faust
(3 trombones, tuba). This well-known passage
provides plenty of technical challenge and
it also demands accurate rhythmic placement
and good control of sound.
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Wagner- Finale of
Tannhauser Overture
(3 Trombones, Tuba). One of the most
impressive orchestral climaxes is also a
fine vehicle for both unison and chordal
sounds by the low brass choir. |
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Brahms-Chorale-Prelude No.
8, Es 1st Ein Ros 'Entsprungen
(arranged by Fate, published by Kendor Music
Co.) (Full Ensemble). Originally for organ,
this beautiful rich-textured work has been
well-transcribed for trombones and tuba. It
is particularly demanding in terms of
phrasing and feeling of the long line. |
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Tomasi-Etre ou ne pas etre
(To Be Or Not To Be) after Hamlet's monologue
(published by Alphonse Leduc). A fascinating,
rather unusual work with a recitative-like solo
tuba line against a trombone-trio accompaniment,
providing the tuba with an opportunity to show
its capacity for a vocal-like style.
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Kreines-Chorale Variations
(published by
Kagarice Brass Editions) (Full Ensemble). An
original work especially composed for this
group, using Jesu meine Prelude as the
theme, with five variations on contrasting
moods and tempi (a lyric, flowing line; a
toccata; a funeral dirge; a cadenza-like
variation with solos for each player) and a
coda.
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Bozza Three Pieces for
trombone quartet
(published by Alphonse Leduc) A very
difficult and demanding work with much
virtuoso writing for all four players, but
highly enjoyable to work on. |
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Price
$19.98
Order
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(c)1971.
Educational Brass Recordings. Reprinted 2002
-Program Notes by Joseph Kreines
Missing from the recording are biographies.
Here are biographies from the Chicago Symphony:
Frank Crisafulli
Although he has been a member of the Chicago
Symphony trombone section since 1938, Frank
Crisafulli plays the cello as a hobby and has, in
fact, played that instrument with a
nonprofessional chamber music group. Mr.
Crisafulli has deep musical roots in Chicago, and
it was only natural for him to begin study of the
trombone with his father, who played the
instrument with the Chicago Opera Company and the
WGN radio orchestra. The family musical tree also
included Frank's sister, a pianist. Mr. Crisafulli
refined his talent as a member of the Civic
Orchestra of Chicago between 1934 and 1937. During
that period he attended Northwestern University,
where he now teaches trombone and has appeared as
a faculty soloist with the Northwestern band. In
addition, he taught at the Chicago State College
for a while. Frank and his wife, Dorothy, whose
father was a violinist with the Chicago Symphony,
have four sons who are musically inclined (one has
even built his own Baroque style organ). Mr.
Crisafulli's hobbies include swimming, bicycling,
and family travel; he and his wife have many fond
memories of camping with all four sons. Mr.
Crisafulli is one of the shrinking group of
Orchestra members who have performed under the
direction of every music director except founder
Theodore Thomas.
Mr Crisafulli retired from the Chicago Symphony
in 1990 and passed away in 1998..
Jay Friedman
A dedicated, total musician who has shared his
talent with others as an educator and clinician,
Jay Friedman joined the Chicago Symphony in 1962
as assistant principal and two years later, at the
tender age of 25, was appointed principal trombone
- the youngest in any major orchestra. He also
broke new ground when he became the first trombone
soloist in the history of the Orchestra. Chicago -
born Mr. Friedman has show business in his blood:
his father was a dancer, an aunt ran a ballet
company, and another close relative sang opera. He
learned the euphonium in military school,
switching to trombone in high school. Next came
training with the Civic Orchestra for four years,
studies at Chicago Musical College, two years as
first trombone with the Florida Symphony, and
further study as a scholarship student at the Yale
Summer School of Musical Art, where he explored
composition and conducting. A prominent soloist
and clinician, Mr. Friedman served on the faculty
of the International Trombone Workshop for two
years and also was professor of trombone at
Indiana University. In 1976 he was selected to
represent the United States at the first Brass
Symposium in Switzerland. Perhaps his most unusual
teaching assignment was arranged by Sir Georg
Solti in the summer of 1971: Jay went off to Paris
to work with trumpets and trombones of the
Orchestra de Paris, with which the maestro
associated at the time. Mr. Friedman, who
maintains an interest in composing, is featured on
a number of solo and ensemble recordings.
Jim Gilbertsen
James Gilbertsen, who grew up in Janesville,
Wisconsin, began taking piano lessons in third
grade and started playing the trombone two years
later. He and his classmates became acquainted
with classical music by listening to the music
appreciation program on the University of
Wisconsin radio station one hour a week. He
developed an interest in science as well as music;
by ninth grade he had licenses to operate a
"ham" radio. Mr Gilbertsen enrolled at
the University of Wisconsin to study electrical
engineering, but he stayed only a year before
transferring to Northwestern University where he
could study with Chicago Symphony trombonist Frank
Crisafulli. While he was working towards degrees
in Music Education, he played first trombone in
the Florida Symphony, which was then directed by
Henry Mazer. He joined the Chicago Symphony in
1968. Jim's scientific interests continue along
with his career as a musician. In time left over
from his Symphony schedule, ensemble performances,
teaching and at least two hours of practicing
every day, he has rebuilt an old Porsche engine,
ground telescope lenses, made a steam engine,
built a sound system, and worked with stained
glass. He also enjoys woodworking and flying.
Arnold Jacobs
Arnold Jacobs, principal tuba of the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra, was born in Philadelphia, but
was raised in California. The product of a musical
family, he credits his mother, a keyboard artist,
for his initial inspiration in music, and spent a
good part of his youth progressing from bugle to
trumpet to trombone and finally to tuba. He
entered Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music
as a 15-year-old on a scholarship and continued to
major in tuba.
After his graduation from Curtis in 1937, he
played two seasons in the Indianapolis Symphony
under Fabien Sevitzky From 1939 until 1944 he was
tuba in the Pittsburgh Symphony under Fritz Reiner.
In 1941 Mr. Jacobs toured the country with Leopold
Stokowski and the AII-American Youth Orchestra. He
joined the Chicago Symphony in 1944, and during
the spring of 1949 he took a temporary leave from
the Orchestra to tour England and Scotland with
the Philadelphia Orchestra. In June, 1962, he had
the honor of being the first tuba player invited
to play at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico.
Mr. Jacobs is a member of the Chicago Symphony
Brass Quintet and recently retired after more than
20 years of teaching tuba at the Northwestern
University school of music. In addition to his
students around the world, he also teaches and
coaches for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.Mr.
Jacobs has given lectures and clinics throughout
the United States and Canada, and is widely known
as a teacher of brass instruments, specializing in
respiratory and motivational applications for both
brass and wind instrument playing and voice.
During the Orchestra's 1977 Japanese tour, Mr.
Jacobs was a clinician for the Yamaha Band
Instrument Company in Tokyo. In January, 1978, he
was invited to lecture at Michael Reese Hospital
on the use of playing wind instruments in the
therapeutic treatment of asthma in children. More
recently he gave masterclasses at Baylor
University, Ohio University, and at the New
College in Sarasota, Florida.
Mr. Jacobs can be heard as the soloist for the
Chicago Symphony's recording of Vaughan Williams'
Tuba Concerto, conducted by Daniel Barenboim and
released by Deutsche Grammophon.
Mr Jacobs retired from the Chicago Symphony in
1988 and passed away in 1998..
Edward Kleinhammer
Edward Kleinhammer's original musical training
was on violin, which he began when he was ten,
Born in Chicago in 1919, he took up trombone when
he was 14, studying with Edward Geffert and David
Anderson. For two years he was a member of the
Civic Orchestra.
Mr. Kleinhammer joined the All American Youth
Orchestra organized in 1940 by Leopold Stokowski
and the same year he joined the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra as bass trombonist. He is active in
brass ensemble playing and has taught many
students who are members of symphony orchestras
across the country. He is on the faculty of
Chicago Conservatory College. Mr. Kleinhammer's
book. "The Art of Trombone Playing.'' is both
text and music. He designed the optional 'E"
attachment for bass trombone.
Mr Kleinhammer retired from the Chicago
Symphony in 1986.
Reviews:
Reprinted from ITEA JOURNAL, Volume 30, Number
1, Fall 2002
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Tromhone and Tuba
Sections Plays Concert Works and Orchestral
Excerpts CD
recording available from WindSong Press P.O. Box
146, Gurnee, IL 60031.
Phone 847-223-4586 Fax 847-223-4580
www.WindSongPress.com $19.98 including shipping.
A little over 30 years ago, Educational Brass
Recordings issued a rather unusual album. The
first side of the LP consisted entirely of musical
fragments, while the second side was made up of
music for trombone quartets, of all things. At
times, a tuba was added, making a quintet of
instruments, and in one case, that tuba was the
solo voice! The album didn't go to the top of the
charts, but among low brass players, it caused
quite a stir. Those music fragments on the first
side were orchestral excerpts played by what is
arguably the finest section that has ever played
together for any significant length at time.
Here is ensemble playing at its best. At times
these gentlemen get a little raucous, but that is
understandable given the joy they shared of
performing. All the important standard excerpts
are here - Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, Prelude
to Act 3 of Lohengrin, the Tannhauser
Overture, along with Holst's Mars,
Berlioz' Rakoczy March and Tschaikovsky's 1812
Overture Lesser known selections include the
first movement of Gliere's llya Mourometz
and Smetana's Moldau.
Quite impressive here is the range of dynamics
and the balance of sound within the section. Here
is the core of what came to be known as the
Chicago sound that so many of us try to emulate.
The finale of Bruckner's Symphony No. 8
gets the adrenaline pumping, and yet the delicacy
with which Verdi's Nahucco is played is
unsurpassed. All of this gives the young aspiring
orchestral player a chance to witness the nuances
of playing in such a section that could only be
experienced by sitting next to the players
themselves in concert.
The quartets are also fine examples of ensemble
playing and served as inspiration for an entire
generation of low brass players, this reviewer
included. Mr. Jacobs' work on the Tomasi Etre
ou ne pas etre (To Be or not to Be) convinced
us of the viability of the tuba as a solo
instrument. His performances throught )ut the
recording are flawless.
For several years, the need to make this
recording available in CD format was discussed,
but the master tape was lost some time ago.
Finally, with the encouragement and financial
support of Brian Frederiksen of WindSong Press,
Verne Kagarice, trombone instructor at North Texas
University, found a mint copy of the recording and
transferred it to CD. You can hear, if you listen
very carefully, the needle moving along the
record, along with that "pre-sound" of
the trombones just before the actual sound starts.
Another clue that this was not remastered is that
Mr. Kleinhainmer's valves are heard prominently in
the Bozza Three Pieces. My one complaint would be
that the booklet included with the CD has most,
but not all, of the original notes. Brian has made
the original notes from the LP available at
http://www.windsongpress. com. Two other omissions
from the notes are 1 ) who plays the euphonium
part in the Mars excerpt (Friedman) and 2) that on
Track 9, although marked "Bruckner - First
Movement excerpts from Symphony No. 4
(Romantic), it also includes excerpts from the
Fourth Movement, a fact which was not mentioned in
the original notes either.
Everyone needs to buy this CD!! Even if you are
like this reviewer and can sing every note that is
played here because it is burned in your brain,
your LP is probably almost as transparent as
tissue paper and needs replacing. Mr. Kagarice is to be congratulated for making
sure that such an important recording is now
enshrined in a more permanent form for future
generations to enjoy.
Michael Short, Drake University
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