Originally Posted by
davewerden
Thanks, John! That helps clear it up. It is at the very least "dangerous" writing, IMHO, because of the diversity of range and color. The live version still sounds worse, but I think a cold instrument could have accounted for that. Perhaps that line was inspired by "The Elephant and the Flea" (or "Fly" in some versions), but my first instinct as a conductor would be to have the flute try it, so it would sound an octave lower.
In "Bolero," Ravel scored a passage played by winds in the middle range, with the same rhythm played by flute (or piccolo, I forget) at a fixed interval above. The idea (whether scientifically derived or just instinctual by Ravel's extraordinary ear) was to strengthen one of the upper harmonics of the melody note, thus created a new instrument (i.e., the combo of the lower and upper voices) that had a ratio of overtones unlike any instrument that existed (this works with flutes and piccolos, since their tone is closest to a pure sine wave). Looking at part of this piccolo part, it seems like Brasch was doing something similar. If any of you have ever played a Hammond organ, it creates its different sound by choosing the ratio of overtones using a drawbar interface.
Dean L. Surkin
Mack Brass MACK-EU1150S, BB1 mouthpiece
Bach 36B trombone; Bach 6.5AL and Faxx 7C mouthpieces (pBone on loan to granddaughter)
Steinway 1902 Model A, restored by AC Pianocraft in 1988; Kawai MP8, Yamaha KX-76
See my avatar: Jazz (the black cockapoo; RIP) and Delilah (the cavapoo) keep me company while practicing