Jazz for aficionados

Orpheus, to answer your question first - yes, it is normally just called "the horn," and everyone knows that that means French horn. There's really nothing French about it, and no one knows why it acquired that name in the first place. The International Horn Society officially changed the name of the instrument back in the 70s to Horn. Of course, many of the general public are totally unaware of this. But if a classical musician or classical music lover mentions "the horn," they are definitely talking about my instrument (shame on them if not, they should know better, LOL).

Rok - if the women in the NY Phil were wearing brightly colored dresses, this was certainly a special occasion. That is definitely NOT normal, and they do not normally do it, I assure you. Black is the norm, whether very formal or less so sometimes now. I think that was a special New Year's Eve or New Year's Day thing, if I remember?? I did hear about that concert.

The Vienna Phil is pretty much the last standing all-male orchestra, and even they have had a couple of women in their ranks in the last couple of decades. I believe their current harpist is female, but I think that's it at the moment.

There are a great many women in all US orchestras now, and in most around the rest of the world as well. Even on my instrument, the majority of students at the top music schools in the country are female, and this is slowly beginning to be reflected in the professional ranks.

There are many CDs available of many US orchestras, and yes, the best ones are as good as any in the world. Which are the top ten would still generate furious debate (either speaking of the whole world, or just US orchestras). The five you mentioned are the traditional "big five" US orchestras, but there are at least three others who merit very serious consideration (to be in the top five, I mean). The Pittsburgh Symphony is certainly top ten in the world right now, as is the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Other great American orchestras are Minnesota (what is happening there is an absolute travesty), LA, San Francisco, National, Detroit, Atlanta, St. Louis, Dallas, Cincinnati. All of these are considered top tier groups. There are a great many second tier groups which are also world class ensembles - Baltimore, Houston, Nashville, Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Utah. I could go on, I have left a few out. I do play in one of the ones I have listed, though I do not want to say which, as I want to maintain relative anonymity here, so I can feel free to post what I like about conductors, orchestras, musicians, etc., without fear of offending colleagues. I did NOT list these groups in any sort of ranking order, by the way. I have friends in all of them...

About the recordings, most orchestras now self-produce their recordings, so you would need to go to their websites to find current recordings for all but the very largest groups. Also, a great way to check out different orchestras and what they are doing is to see if they stream old concerts, or live ones. Or go online and find their local radio stations that do their broadcasts. You can listen to so many more orchestras nowadays this way than ever before.

Leersfool, when I took my son's alto sax to the music store for sale, the owner gave me a price, and told me he would pay a lot more if I took it to the St. Louis Woodwinds and Brass Instrument Repair, and get a clean bill of health.

There was only one person ahead of me when I arrived. Someone was explaining every detail of what was wrong with her horn, and what it would take to repair it.

That can't take but a minute I thought, but he seemed to go on and on. Fortunately the wait was a pleasant one. This was in a very large open room, with a long counter separating the customers from the instrument repair specialists at their separate work stations.

As I sat in a comfortable chair listening to classical music and watching the men at work, I began to experience the calm this place exuded. Whether the person was working on woodwind or brass, he seemed to have an attachment to that particular instrument as he played a few quiet notes for testing. The calm expressions on their faces indicated to me, there was nothing else that they would rather be doing, or no place else they would rather be than here; consequently, what they were doing didn't fit the definition of "work".

Although I'm not particular fond of classical, I liked this music. While I couldn't see the rig, the mellow tube sound that was the antithesis of ARC, indicated it was probably old refurbished electronics. The speakers were custom horn, probably very efficient. I liked this sound much better than what I've heard that was supposedly state of the art.

I had gotten fairly comfortable when, "Can I help you"?

"Yes, I have an alto sax I would like you to go over"

That exchange brought me back to the reason I was there. After examining the horn, he explained every detail that was wrong, and told me I could wait, which I didn't mind at all.

There were photos on the wall of local jazz musicians which I instantly recognized, plus the classical musicians from different venues in the city. All of these photos were of musicians who had their instruments worked on here. There were even photos of world famous musicians. The fact that they all had been here and had their instruments worked on was quite impressive.

When they called me to the counter for the bill, it was less than I expected. After I took the horn to the music store with a clean bill of health, he gave me more than I expected; that was a good day.

Hi Orpheus - that's a nice story. There are good and bad repair guys, sounds like you had a good one. Many musicians will fly across the country to have a certain person work on their instrument. I am lucky to have one of the very best in my immediate area. It's about time for my annual cleaning, now that I think about it.

The best ones are usually former or current players themselves, though the repair would be their main work. Some teach on the side as well.

As for the system you heard there, most musicians that are into hifi gravitate to old school tubes and horn speakers once they have heard them. Still the closest thing out there for reproducing timbre, dynamics, (softs, too) etc. I know a few who like the electrostats, too, but those are much more finicky. Horns are so much easier to deal with. And I agree that much of what is supposedly state of the art really doesn't sound very good at all in comparison, assuming we are talking about reproducing acoustic instruments or voices that were recorded in a good, live space. Folks that only listen to mostly or entirely electronically produced (and studio produced) music will not care so much about the things the old school equipment can do, and that's fine. Different strokes for different folks, depends on what your priorities are.

Learsfool:

Thanks for all the info. Sad to learn that the bright dresses were a one off thing. I liked it. I went to the NYPO site looking for recordings. Slim pickings, but I will check out the other groups.

A few more questions:

(1)What is the normal path for becoming a conductor? I don't recall ever reading anything about the well known conductor's career prior to them becoming conductors. What are the prerequisites?

(2)Are people ever fired for sub-par playing etc...

(3) What sort of turn-over is there in the typical orchestra?. What is the most common cause of vacancies? Is there a waiting list?

(4) What is the FUNDAMENTAL difference between the top and the second tier orchestras.

(5) Who OWNS orchestras?

(6) Pay scale. Who gets what? Ball park.

Thanks for all your time and input.

Cheers

Rok, this is kind of late, but it might stop my torture next year. Christmas is all about "childhood" memories now that I'm and old man. I don't even like the Christmas jazz music in my own collection anymore. Here's a Christmas song that holds fond memories of my youth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJSUT8Inl14

Enjoy the music.