Announcer: You are listening to member-supported 89.7 KACU-FM Abilene. This hour of Schickele Mix provided by special friends of KACU.
Ready or not, here's the theme.
[theme: Mozart, Symphony No. 24]
Well, hello there. I'm Peter Schickele And this is Schickele Mix, a program dedicated to the proposition that all musics are created equal, or as Duke Ellington put it, If it sounds good, it is good and the bills for the show are paid by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting And now,
Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Larry Kong Show. I'm Peter Schickele, standing in for, well, sitting in, actually, for Larry, who's on vacation. He's somewhere down there in the Bermuda Triangle. Well, one can hope, can't one? Just kidding folks, I've got my own show, and I'm quite satisfied with things the way they are. Okay, on today's program we're going to be talking to the wallflowers of the woodwind family, instruments that don't get no respect, to coin a phrase, when it comes to solo literature.
Well, I guess I shouldn't say they don't get no respect, but they don't get hardly no respect. And I must say that I can't figure out why. Some of these instruments have beautiful voices. I don't know why more composers don't write for them. And a good case in point is our first guest, the lovely English horn. Welcome to the show. You
know, even though we've never actually met, I've enjoyed you so often that I feel as if I know you. I hate to call you Miss Horn. I mean, that could mean Marilyn or Lena. What, what do your friends call you? Okay.
Well, if If it's all right with you, that's what I'll call you, too. Is that okay? Oh,
man, I just love your voice. What gives it that husky sort of covered quality, which I must say is very sexy? What makes it sound like that?
[music]
So it is the bell, huh? I've noticed that your sister Oboe has a flared bell, sort of like a trumpet, whereas yours is round, sort of bulbous. It looks like an onion. And that really affects the sound that much?
Okay, now let me ask you this, Ing, and you know that the Larry Kong Show has a reputation for asking the hard questions, so this has nothing to do with my own feelings, but, well, some people have said that as beautiful as your voice is, it doesn't have enough variety to be an important solo instrument, like some people think that...
Wait a minute, let me finish. It has been said, for instance, that the celesta is a very beautiful instrument in the Nutcracker, you know, in the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, but it's no accident that Beethoven didn't write 32 sonatas for the celesta. Now, you obviously don't feel that you're in that category, but, well, why do you think that some people do put you in that category?
[music]
Well, Ing, you may be right. There is a lot of prejudice around. You certainly make a very convincing case for yourself. Are you pretty much always riled up about that, the injustice of it all, or do you sort of take it philosophically?
You have the patience of a saint, and if you don't mind my saying so, the seductiveness of a courtesan. You do, you do. And I'm dying to hear some performances on you, Ing, so why don't you go on over there to the other part of the studio, where the musicians are, and put yourself in the capable hands of Carolyn Hove and Julie Jacob.
We're going to hear two selections. The first is an excerpt from a larger work, but the second one we'll hear complete in its entirety. It's music time, folks. I'll be back in about eight minutes. Okay,
[music: Hindemith, Sonata für English Horn und Klavier, 3rd & 4th Mvts.; Carolyn Hove, English horn/Gloria Cheng, piano]
[music: Snyder/Smith/Wheeler, "The Sheik of Araby" (Sorta Dixie); Billy May & His Orchestra]
Brava, brava. Two pieces featuring our first guest, English horn. We heard two movements or sections of the Hindemith Sonata for English horn and piano with Carolyn Hove and Gloria Cheng, and then Billy May and his band. What a treat. Thanks for coming, Billy. That was Billy's arrangement of The Sheik of Araby, with Julie Jacob as the soloist. And I must say, as far as I can remember, that's the only jazz English horn solo I've ever heard.
Come on back over here, Ing. I've got something I'd like to play you. Okay? Here it comes.
[music excerpt: Freberg, "The Battle of Yorktown" (Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America); Stan Freberg]
Recording: Good morning, Lord Cornwallis. Oh, hello, Bradshaw. Fine morning, isn't it, old man? Just the sort of morning to defeat the American rebels, right? Right, sir. Well then, shall we mount the attack and muddle through to victory? What was that? English horns. No, no, no, before that. Oh, oh, gunfire.
I thought you'd like that, Ing. A little Stan Freberg there. And this is the Larry Kong Show. And we'll be back after this commercial message.
[music]
We're back. And our second guest is Piccolo. Glad you could join us.
Okay, now, the cool cats used to say Daddy-O, and we all know about Jackie-O. When did you add the O to your name?
[music]
Oh, so you really had nothing to do with it, huh? Well, let me ask you this. Everybody knows that a piccolo is a small flute, and on my own show, Schickele Mix, I've told my listeners what I've always been told about how the piccolo was first invented.
About how people in the south of Italy would go to the beach, build big fires and put some olive oil in these huge cooking pans and then put flutes in there and let them simmer until they had shriveled up to half their original size. Is that your understanding of your origins?
Okay, and is it also true that that process was called the Mediterranean flute fry?
Well, hell, it must be true then. You're sounding good today. You know, most people associate you with your high register, but I love the sound of your voice in the middle and lower parts of your range. It's so sweet. Sweet and simple and sort of innocent, almost like a penny whistle, which I love. But as I say, most folks think of you in connection with your high register, which, I hope you don't mind my saying, can get a little shrill.
[music excerpt: Sibelius, "Finlandia"; Philadelphia Orchestra/Ormandy]
Well, that's right, of course. It would be boring if everybody were Juliet, right? You've got to have Lady Macbeth in there once in a while, too. But here's what I want to know. A friend of mine who's the piccolo player in a major symphony orchestra, and this is a true story, folks, he told me that they were doing a concert with Stars and Stripes Forever on it, and when it came to that famous high and loud piccolo solo in the last section, The second violinist who sat directly in front of him. Now it's true this was outdoors but it was not a rehearsal. It was in the middle of the concert. The second violinist in front of him stood up, turned around, and shouted at the top of his lungs, If you don't stop that I'm going to kill you! Has something like that ever happened to you?
[music]
I guess you're just lucky. And we're lucky, too, because we're about to hear you played by some very fine musicians. While Piccolo is going over there, I'll mention that we'll be hearing three selections. The first and last, accompanied by piano, and the middle one by a small chamber ensemble, plus a very special guest artist narrating. Okay, I think they're ready to go, folks. See you in five.
[music: Poulenc, "Villanelle" (French Chamber Music for Woodwinds, Vol. 2); William Bennett, piccolo/Clifford Benson, piano]
[music: Rimbaud, set by Schickele, "Childhood III" (Baptism); Joan Baez, narrator]
Joan Baez (recorded): In the woods there is a bird. His song stops you and makes you blush.
Joan Baez (recorded): There is a clock that never strikes. There is a swamp with a nest of white beasts.
Joan Baez (recorded): There is a cathedral that goes down and a lake that comes up.
Joan Baez (recorded): There is a little carriage abandoned in the copse, or that goes running down the road, beribboned.
Joan Baez (recorded): There is a troop of strolling players in costume, glimpsed on the road to the border of the woods.
Joan Baez (recorded): And then, when you're hungry and thirsty, there's someone who chases you away.
[music: Janáček, "The March of the Bluebirds"; Laurence Trott, piccolo/Marcella Branagan, piano]
Delightful. Absolutely delightful. Thank you, Piccolo. Okay, we heard a charming little Villanelle by Poulenc, played by William Bennett and Clifford Benson, and then came Childhood III with words by Rimbaud. That's the French poet, not the American one-man army. Words translated by Louise Varèse and spoken by Joan Baez. Thanks a lot, Joan. I appreciate it. And I'm embarrassed to say I don't know the name of the piccolo player on that one.
She's already left, union musician obviously, and I didn't get her name. I wrote that music for an album called Baptism that I did with Joan back in 1968.
Wow. Well, as the rowdies at Animal House say, fruit flies when you're having fun. Anyway, the last piece was The March of the Bluebirds by Janáček, and that was performed by Laurence Trott and Marcella Branagan.
1968. Who would have thought back then that I'd someday be filling in for Larry Kong himself? Not me, who was then and is now Peter Schickele, the regular host of Schickele Mix from PRI, Public Radio International. We're talking to the wallflowers of the woodwind family, and our next guest is, well, he's the kind of guy you don't want to get on the wrong side of. His name's Contrabassoon. How you doing, big fella? You don't say much, do you? Well, now, I hope you won't take offense at this, because I love your sound. You know, I used to play the real bassoon, the regular bassoon, myself, and I love all the low instruments, but, you know, it's kind of hard to take you seriously. You've got You've got, what, 16 feet of tubing there folded over on itself three times, is that it?
I'm telling you, you look like Paul Bunyan's lower intestines, and you sound like him, too.
[music]
Hey, take it easy, this is a family show. I'm just kidding around here a little. And I do know that you can sing lyrically, too, which a lot of people don't realize when they think about the contrabassoon.
If they think about the contrabassoon.
[music]
I didn't realize there were two of you here. Where'd you come from, big brother? Tell you what, why don't you guys go on over there to the music area and give us all the opportunity, the very rare opportunity, of hearing some solo contrabassoon music. We're going to hear three selections, the first and last accompanied by piano, and the middle one just for the two big brothers there. You know, this is an instrument that in most hands is incapable of playing above middle C, the sort of central note of the piano.
So if you wanted to give this set of pieces a name, you could call it the Neptune Suite because it's all below C level.
Oh man, I gotta get it together here. Because this, folks, this is really mostly serious music for a greatly underutilized instrument. I'll see you in five and a half minutes.
[music: Organn, "Romance"; Susan Nigro, contrabassoon/Mark Lindeblad, piano]
[music: Erb, Five Hot Duets for Two Contrabassoons, No. 1; Bradford Buckley & Gregg Henegar]
[music: Nicholson, Miniature Suite, Finale; Susan Nigro, contrabassoon/Mark Lindeblad, piano]
Truly amazing sounds. The first piece was a romance by Robert Organn, and the last was the finale of Ralph Nicholson's miniature suite. Both were played by Susan Nigro with Mark Lindeblad on piano. In between, we heard the first of Donald Erb's five red-hot duets for two contrabassoons, played by Bradford Buckley and Gregg Henegar.
And you are listening to the Larry Kong Show, even though I'm not Larry Kong, and whoever you are, don't go away. I'll be back after this commercial message.
[music]
And we're back again, this time with our last guest. He's a member of the clarinet family, and he calls himself bass. Not Basie, like Count Basie, just bass. As in home base, or data base, or free base, or more to the point, basement.
I would have liked to ask him a few questions, but he's too cool for that stuff. He told me that as far as he's concerned, instruments should sing, not talk. And anything he's got to say can be said musically. So he's already over there at the music area, and I do have to say, he has got guts. He's going to do something that none of our other guests has done.
He's going to let himself be played all alone. No accompaniment. So here's bass clarinet with God Bless the Child.
[music: Holiday/Herzog, "God Bless the Child" (Here and There); Eric Dolphy]
Bless the Child. Played by Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet, our fourth and final guest on today's edition of the Larry Kong Show. Very, very impressive.
Sorry, Mr. Clarinet, about the crew talking a bit during your number. They're just not used to unaccompanied. You know, I think they thought you were still warming up. Anyway, come on over and take a load off. And thanks, all of you, for being on the show. It's been a great pleasure talking with you and hearing you. And now, I know you're going to be doing one last number together for us, but before you go back on over there, let me just say good luck, and I hope you'll join the show again sometime in the future.
English horn, piccolo, contrabassoon, and bass clarinet, wallflowers of the woodwind family, although why I'll never know. Me, I'm Peter Schickele from Schickele Mix, which is from PRI, Public Radio International.
And now we're in for a real treat. All four of our forgotten members of the woodwind family. By the way, when I say forgotten, I just mean in terms of a sizable solo literature. All of these instruments have wonderful moments in the spotlight when it comes to orchestral and band pieces. But anyway, here are all four of them, piccolo, English horn, bass clarinet, and contrabassoon, together in one piece, along with two other instruments that are more or less ignored as soloists, celesta and harp.
You've seen all of these instruments in the orchestra, but it's a pretty good bet that you've never seen these six instruments together in a piece of chamber music before. This is a P. D. Q. Bach piece, and I discovered the manuscript in a hotel safe, which is why it has come to be known as the Safe Sextet. I did have to do a little bit of adaptation in preparing a performing edition of this piece, Since the composer wrote the top part originally for an instrument that is now obsolete, the dill piccolo.
And one other thing. You may have noticed in some of the performances on today's show that you can sometimes hear the keys on the instruments clicking. P. D. Q. Bach, ever the pragmatist, turns this necessary evil into a lively virtue. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, as the disgruntled diner said, take it away.
[music: P. D. Q. Bach, "Safe" Sextet (Classical WTWP: Talkity-Talk Radio); Fink/Krause/Nereim/Maret/Okuniewski/Jones]
Safe Sextet by P. D. Q. Bach, performed on today's guests, piccolo, English horn, bass clarinet, and contrabassoon, plus celesta and harp, and the players were Mary Kay Fink, Felix Krause, Linnea Nereim, Stanley Maret, Joella Jones, and Laura Okuniewski, all members of I Virtuosi di Hoople. And that's our show for today, folks.
Join us again tomorrow when Larry will be back at this microphone and I expect you'll be seeing a considerably tanner Larry Kong. That's tomorrow on the Larry Kong Show. Remember, if Larry doesn't know about it, it hasn't happened. Be good to yourself and watch where you walk.
And out. Okay. Well, that ought to keep the losers who listen to Larry League... That should keep them happy for another 23 hours or so. Well, let's see, where did I park the car? I've got a lot of stuff to carry.
Hello? Oh, hello, sir.
What? I'm still on the air, but I thought I'd... How much longer? Okay, okay, well, I'll throw something on. That is, I'll play something for our listeners to enjoy until the hour's up. The trouble is, with all that live music, I don't have much in the way of... But I'll find something. Okay, alright, bye. Come on, come on, come on, come on. What have I got here? Anything.
[music: Trad., "Han ya hsi sui" (China's Instrumental Heritage); Professor Liang Tsai-Ping & His Group]
Well, that's Schickele Mix for this week. Our program is made possible with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by this radio station and its members. Thank you, members. Believe it or not, our program is distributed by PRI, Public Radio International. We'll tell you in a moment how you can get an official playlist of all the music on today's program with album numbers and everything. Just refer to the program number. This is program number 149.
And this is Peter Schickele saying goodbye and reminding you that it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that certain je ne sais quoi. You're looking good. See you next week.
[music: Snyder/Smith/Wheeler, "The Sheik of Araby" (Sorta Dixie); Billy May & His Orchestra]
If you'd like a copy of that playlist I mentioned, send a stamped self-addressed envelope to Schickele Mix. That's S-C-H-I-C-K-E-L-E, Schickele Mix. Care of Public Radio International, 100 North 6th Street, Suite 900A, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55403.