[Graysax]

I think all of in attendance have many moments of "wow" still going through our minds. While It is still fresh - I feel it is important to share with one another what was impressed upon us over this past weekend.

Posting Photo's is encouraged. Sharing personal stories is welcome.

I think this is something we can to do to keep Rascher's ideals alive in all of us.

Personally - SOTWers Qwerty - thanks for being a co-pilot in your own car - Tom Gorin - great playin bass with you - and Saintsday - You are what we should all strive to be. Glad to be with all of you.

Charlie
(Graysax)

 

[Dannel]

Amazing weekend is all I have to say. I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to meet all of you but I definitely did meet some fellow SOTWers!

There is so much to say about this weekend, but I just can't find the words right now. I do love that EBC place though!!

 

[thejoyofsax]

I'm not even a staunch Rascherite -- I play on a Yamaha and an S80 or S90 -- but I have always appreciated his contributions and efforts in the sax world.

That said, this weekend was very eye-opening for me. To see what an emotional connection everybody had with simply the ideal and legacy of Sigurd Rascher, even if they didn't ever meet the man, was very inspiring.

The best part of the weekend for me was experiencing the playing of Harry White. I had the pleasure of hearing the rehearsal for the concerto concert on Friday, and both renditions of the Larsson I heard were practically carbon copies. He plays with such ease and his tone is out of this world. I have not been inspired so much by a player in a long time.

I also enjoyed Noah Getz's lecture on the Brant Concerto. Very informative and organized.

All in all a great weekend, met some great SUNYFred students. Tempted to get a Buescher now ... I'll see if the feeling is still ripe in me when I come across some cash, haha.

 

[Dannel]

I thought I saw you at the rehearsal. Just from looking at your picture icon I was like hmmmmm, but yea. Oh well I'll meet you next time!

 

[saintsday]

It certainly was a very special and inspiring weekend.

From the first recital with Brian Kauth playing the Palester Concertino (very nice and nicely played) to the Erie Saxophone Quartet and the FSU Graduate Quartet (featuring Dannel on bari) and all the way to the closing reading, it was wonderful to be surrounded by people with a real love for the saxophone.

For me the highlights just kept coming.

James Houlik's brilliant playing interspersed with his equally brilliant reading of letters from SMR was both moving and inspiring.

The Fredonia Saxophone Ensemble playing Hartley's Octet, with the composer in attendence right in front of me and just to the side of Carina Rascher, highlighted the great results that a great program can produce.

I agree that Harry White's playing of the Larsson was a display of the highest level of virtuosity. He made it look easy and joy's comment about his tone is not an overstatement. I would sell my soul to sound like him for just a few measures. But I was also blown away by Wildy Zumwalt's playing and tone. Fredonia is fortunate to have him. And what a nice guy!

I really liked the way that the Rascher Quartet bookended their recital with Bach and it is easy to understand why so many composers have written for them through the years.

Looking at the Rascher archive at the library, including his gold NA, straight alto, keyless saxophone, contrabass (how many times have there been two contrabasses within bellowing distance of each other?) and all the photos was time I'll remember.

The Sunday reading was also a highlight for me. I doubt I'll ever hear five bass saxophones together again. I doubt I'll ever hear so many saxophones, so many Bueschers, played together. Steve can be forgiven his VI and squared chamber because, a. it gives him the sound he wants, b. he loves saxophones and saxophone music, and c. he is a really nice guy with great taste in music. It was also fun to meet Mark Taggart who played 4th and 5th chair in junior high school when my girlfriend Lisa was 1st chair. He didn't take music seriously until he moved from the town they both lived in. Maybe she was a bad influence:twisted:

Finally, I want to thank Charlie, Steve, and Glenn for being just as genuine and gracious as one would expect from their postings here and special thanks to Kevin for the Rascher cds. It was a real pleasure meeting all of you.

In a very real sense, the whole weekend was a highlight and a testimonial to the power of music.

 

[Kevin]

I wish I had more time to meet and hang out with some other SOTW's, but my wife who was gracious enough to come with me had lots of work to do for herself and I didn't want to leave her alone. It was, however, very nice to meet those that I did and to see old friends again, some of whom I haven't seen for a few years.

It was a very inspiring weekend and I have to say that Harry White's performance of the Larsson was the highlight for me. I dare say that most in the audience was getting a little choked up during the second movement with his amazing tone, perfect intonation, and impeccable artistry. I also very much enjoyed the other soloists! Wildy was amazing!

Dannel, Mike and friends rendition of the Lukas Rondo was awesome. This is another example of a great piece of music that should be standard rep. for any tradition of playing, and yet remains unpublished! Dannel played the bari part and having played the bari part on this piece before, my pinky finger ached as he played Ron Caravan and Sar Strong played a newly published work by Hans Brehme that was written for Rascher in 1932, and my former teacher (Ron Caravan) received the biggest reception during the day. For those that heard Sar Strong play that difficult piano part with such virtuosity can understand why Carina was extra enthusiastic about his playing.

Another highlight for me was hearing those who were friends of Rascher talk about how he directly influenced their lives. I never had the priviledge of meeting Mr. Rascher, but he has been a huge part of my musical life and I feel a debt of gratitude and responsibility for keeping his integrity alive. It was very telling, and seemed to almost illustrate the crossroads we are in right now when Eliot Riley, the alto player with the Rascher Quartet, while addressing the audience during their program, said that he is the first member of the quartet to never have met or studied with Mr. Rascher.

I did not have time to go to this event, nor the money, but I did anyway and wouldn't change that for anything!

 

[Rackety Sax]

I'm just returning from the trip this evening.

I was only able to attend Saturday, but that was enough to nourish my spirit for quite a while. Some notable highlights:

The absolute highlight was Harry White's rendition of the Larsson Concerto. He had such a beautiful, liquid tone, and he just nailed the long, difficult and gorgeous piece from the first note to the last. I tend to be pretty reserved with standing ovations, but I really thought we should have hoisted the man on our shoulders and carried him around campus after that performance.

This was my first opportunity to hear Wildy Zumwalt play, and his performance was outstanding as well. I have to dig up some recordings of the von Borck concerto and listen to them more carefully - what an exciting piece it is. It gave me a better appreciation for the effect Rascher's performances of it in 1932 must have had on listeners of the day.

There were many other wonderful moments to savor:

• Brian Kauth's performance of the Palester concertina that opened the day
• The performances by the Erie and Florida State saxophone quartets. I was especially floored by the way the former group, after sitting in the auditorium through a substantial lecture, picked up their cold horns and just drilled a difficult opening to their piece without taking so much as a moment to warm up or tune up. Congratulations to both groups! [And not to shortchange the Fredonia Saxophone Ensemble, but I ducked out to see the Rascher archive during their performance]
• Ronald Caravan's performance of a revived work from 1932, Hans Brehme's Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano. A tip of the bell to Kevin for his role in helping to get this work published.
• Paul Cohen's playing of the 1951 (I think) live recording by Rascher of the original Dahl concerto, only the second performance of the work
• James Houlik's wonderful interplay of romantic and virtuoso tenor performance and Rascher anecdotes based on his correspondence with SMR
• The archive itself. One walks into the room and is immediately face-to-face with SMR's contrabass saxophone with it's casket-sized case just behind. As Saintsday mentioned, there are lots of interesting horns on display. There are also many photos hanging around the room, some neat examples of Rascher's woodworking, a few ivory mouthpieces made for Rascher by Buescher, and on a center table many notebooks filled with programs and published reviews of Rascher's performances from the early days on that I could have spent many happy hours thumbing through. The only thing missing was a continuous feed of unreleased Rascher recordings, but maybe they are working on that

Congratulations to Wildy Zumwalt and everyone else involved for putting on such a marvelous event. I should also mention that in Carina Rascher's comments at the dinner and in her program note she made it clear that the archive is part of a larger vision of helping to strengthen Fredonia as a major center of saxophone study (with the presumption unspoken that the Rascher tradition would be highly emphasized of course).

My major regret is that I didn't really get to spend much time with the other SOTW'ers in attendance. It was remarkably difficult, given the tight time schedule and fairly crowded space, to figure out who was who - even knowing Saintsday's forehead very well from his avatar I had to scan the auditorium several times to pick him out. He and Lisa were a delight to meet, and I at least got to say hello to graysax and have short chats with qwerty and Kevin. My mom came to the concert on Saturday evening which was really great but it made it a little problematical to sneak off to the bar afterwards with my immediate and several of my extended family members at the hotel - I hope I'll have the opportunity to hang out more at some future event.

 

[Rackety Sax]

Oh, I also have to mention one other thing for those not in attendance. One of the conference attendees was William Willett, who started the saxophone program at Fredonia 59 years ago and hired Laurence Wyman to teach saxophone there in the 1960s.

 

[qwerty]

The weekend was just perfect for me (well except for the hour stuck in traffic in Syracuse yesterday) .. So many beautiful touching heartfelt musical moments, all banging around in my head this morning. I could not fall asleep last night, thinking about all of the wonderful performances. This coupled with such a spirit of camaraderie and fellowship. Very often at sax workshops, day of saxophone, etc. by the end of the first day, I get "saxed-out". Not so this past weekend...I was sad when Sunday ended, and I long for MORE! Wow.

Musically, I will concur with everyone that Harry White's performance was stunning. Such control and command. Chi-town stole my description of his sound. LIQUID. Extended range? What extended range? In White's hands the notes above f sounded as natural as a middle c.

I was really impressed by Jonathan Bergeron's performance of the Elegie et Rondo...One of my favorite pieces...The Elegie performed with such control AND passion, and the Rondo was dynamic and exciting! Bravo, Jonathan! (If you read here Jonathan, I am the fellow who caught you in the hall after the dinner and complimented your performance)

Wows all around to Wildy Zumwalt. His performance on the concerto program was tremendous! Technical execution, beauty of sound and expression, his performance had it all! This after a full day of meeting guests, seeing that the day was running smoothly and well over a year of planning. Thanks to Wildy and his students for pulling this weekend together.

James Houlik. This was just beautiful. His performance interspersed with letters from Mr. Rascher was perfect. Moving, emotional, funny, touching. His performance was as usual just delightful. As an interesting aside, Graysax noted that while he played, John Moore was on stage turning pages for the accompanist (who was fabuloso as well!). Two of the best classical tenor players in the world.....

The ensemble read through was fun...But it was more than that. 80+ saxophonists breaking musical bread together. The hour flew by. Dr. Taggart was great to have as a conductor. I sat in the tenor section near Dr. Mauk of Ithaca College and John Moore. I was humble, to be sure. Next to me sat an 18 year old freshman girl from Oberlin (I am sorry I did not get your name). In front of me sat 89 year old William Willett, who as Chi-town noted, was the first professor of Saxophone in the US, some 59 years ago. Coincidentally, he was Concert Band Director and head of the Music Education Department at Hartt when I was an undergrad there 25+ years ago. It was wonderful to see him! He told me he still plays every day! 18 year olds playing music with an 89 year old? WOW!

Near the end of the ensemble reading session, Dr. Taggart asked for a moment of meditation and silence for the purpose of thinking about what we take away from the weekend and go forth to honor, preserve and spread Mr. Rascher's legacy. Immediately after, we closed the reading session with "If Thou Be Near". I am sure I was not the only one who felt strongly emotional during that work....

There are more...but I have to get to work!

On a personal note...

Meeting Dr. Willett after 25 years was so nice!
Same with Tom Gorin! I played on his senior recital! 25 years ago!!! And hadn't seen or heard from him since! Great to see him!

Meeting and hearing SOTW'ers BKauth and Dannel was great! Putiing a face to the well written thoughtful posts was so neat! And these guys can play too! Bravo Brian on the restoration and inspiring performace of the Palester...and Dannel wrangled the Bari in the FSU quartet's performance with authority, confidence and with great beauty. YES!

Meeting Chitownjazz albeit briefly and spending time at dinner with Saintsday and Lisa was really cool...And to set the record straight, Saints...I teach my kids with square chambered mouthpieces from the dark side..( after this weekend however...I am going to spend some time with Rascher and Caravan mouthpieces, again)....but I actually play horseshoe chamber old soloist style selmer mouth pieces with the chambers opened by our own EZ .... Not quite Rascherian

Saints and Chi...if you're ever in NY, give me a shout..

Regrets...not meeting a few of the other SOTW'ers at the weekend...joyofsax, and Kevin...I am sorry I did not seek you out and say "Hi".

And to my driver Graysax.....Thanks buddy, for everything! Meeting your family was fun and such a trip! Their hospitality was fabulous. I could tell stories...but suffice it to say, I now understand you a bit more my friend. And man, can Graysax's mom cook! MMMMM, Apple sheetcake! And on a bit of an inside joke:
20.8 !!!!!

later,

Steve

 

[Rackety Sax]

Can someone briefly summarize the discussion of the archive on Sunday morning? I'm particularly curious whether there are any plans to put any of the materials online and whether there was discussion of any unreleased recordings in the collection and how they might be handled.

 

[saintsday]

Almost all of the talk was centered on the process of organizing the material. There was no real discussion of what recordings they have or what they intend to do with them.

In answer to a question from Paul Cohen, it is clear that some of the sheet music that is not notated by SMR and is otherwise available, will be released to the music department and not kept as part of the archive, except to note that it was in SMR's possession and where it was found in relation to other materials.

I don't think that I envy the archivist's job if his professional opinion ever differs from Ms. Rascher's opinion.

 

[Dannel]

Some great summaries going on in this thread! I definitely agree with all of them and really thank those that mention me . I only wish I would have been able to sit down and have some drinks with all of you and get to know you guys better. I felt like a chicken with it's head cut off running around this weekend. So much to do, so many people to talk to, so much to see! It really was great meeting you(Saints, Chi, and qwerty) and great seeing you again(Kevin, Dave, Brian, and the others that post on here)

Carina Rascher did tell me that there will be more added to the archive, including many recordings.

Everyone that I came across this weekend was just as nice as can be. I don't think there was a moment where I did not see a smile on someone's face. Unless it was during the second movement of Larsson with Harry White, and then you would have just been in tears.

 

[rascherian]

A most beatific weekend to say the very least. It was such a pleasure to meet people and attach faces to names. Marvelous performances as well, complete musical nirvana. It was so awesome to see, here in Fredonia, after all the anticipation and preparation, the event finally happen.

 

[DWoz5000]

The most obvious highlight for me was the concerto concert. It was a treat hearing my former teacher (Dr. Zumwalt) command the vonBorck like he did (he plays the Concerto even better than the Introduction und Cappriccio) and my current teacher (Dr. Gwozdz) deliver a stirring performance of the Glazunov with Rascher's cadenza! Mr. Meighan plays with such a gorgeous tone and I always relish the opportunity to hear Harry White (my favorite saxophone player playing my favorite concerto). On a personal note I was able to get a very informative lesson from Mr. White on Friday that I will remember for a long time. Houlik's lecture/performance was wonderful as well - it is inspiring to experience a player with such excellent stage prescence and command of the instrument. In short, there wasn't a single disappointing moment the entire weekend!

Does anybody know if recording will be made available of the concerto concert (Jake Swanson)???

 

[wilsaxo]

Dear Friends,

It is so wonderful to read the responses to Harry White's playing here and it was great that I was able to have my wife hear him live finally. You cannot hear Harry perform live without it changing you. I first heard him at the SMR Memorial in 2001. I had gone to play in the saxophone orchestra to honor and thank a man, SMR, that had an enormous impact upon my musical and saxophonist life, whom I had never met or thanked; his influence on me was from what he had written and recorded. I was also curious if the seeds he had sown would continue to bare fruit or would they become rarer and die off as his students died off and the recordings of him and a small number of his students became the stuff of archives; would the sound be lost? I was reassured in 2001 that these seeds had indeed fallen on fertile soil and were being spread by generations of those he had influenced. I clearly saw my responsibility to this experience. I have, since then, strived to pass this on by teaching my students and by starting a youth saxophone orchestra in my town.

This SMR 100 weekend was beyond what I could have dreamed, and I dreamed quite high from the moment I heard of it. Not only have the seeds been sown on fertile soil but the fruits are amazingly vibrant and new seeds are actively being sown, and music that is alive and in the moment is being sung through the saxophone! The Erie Quartet, FSU Graduate Quartet, and Fredonia Saxophone Ensemble proved this and also that the future holds wonders yet unimagined!

I realized this weekend that I must thank the living for their influence, as I had never thanked Mr. Rascher when he was alive. I must thank Dr. Wyman for taking the job at Fredonia. Where would saxophone playing be if he hadn't? I must thank Wildy Z. for taking the job at Fredonia and running tirelessly with the torch that he has taken and held so high. His influence has only just begun. There are many more to thank. The future is indeed bright! I must also thank all who I have met at these events who carry on good work and all of you who I have not met or could not attend these events. The future is what we create from what we choose to keep alive from the past. This event gave us plenty to work with and the archive promises even more. Lets get busy!

David G. Wilson

BTW in 2001 I had the amazing good fortune to drive Harry White across NY state from Albany to Fredonia. What a sweet and wonderful person and what a day. One of the things that he told me then was that he works out of Top Tones every day. Another was that he sings everything that he plays and that poetry was having a great influence on his playing. We all heard the results!

 

[Graysax]

I can not express how happy I am that all of you are taking advantage of this thread I started. I just realized while reading I didn’t get to say much about how much I enjoyed being a part of this.

Some of you may or may not know I am a 1994 Graduate of Fredonia under Dr. Wyman. Wyman saw something in me and constantly pushed me to be better. Every time I see the man since the day I graduated I can not say to him how much he changed me. It was because of him a group of students traveled across NYS to see the Rascher quartet, meet Mr. Rascher, and go out for a beverage with them all. It was because of him I attended the 1992 Rascher Summer Study week at Yale University. This is for those of you who may not know the last camp Mr. Rascher conducted in the United States.

From that week in 1992 I made many friends - and one example being Jonathan Bergeron. We were about the same age and he came to that camp with Dr. Gowzdz and I with Dr. Wyman. When I saw him Saturday I said - "Yale 1992" and he replied - "you roomed across the hall from me". That was one of many moments revisited that had a Rascher implication.

If you ever met Mr. Rascher I am sure you (as I was) very choked up at the discussion event with Wyman, Reid, Meyer, and Patrick. I do not know how many of you know of the visit these men made (with a few others) to give a private Ensemble concert after his stroke in 1995. I was lucky enough to participate as a 2nd Baritone to Lee Patrick for that event. Playing with Mr. Rascher looking over your shoulder in his own house is a life changing experience in its self.

As many of us grew up reading the books and methods of the man whose face covered our texts, some of us were lucky enough to get beyond that. I think Lee Patrick said it best with his comment about "taking the bait" and what that did for us.

Listening to the stories, reading the albums that his daughter put together,
and viewing the archive, if thought about, really explains what this weekend was celebrating. There are many great musicians and many great saxophonists in this world. It is only Siguard Rascher that combined kindness, thought, wit, and perseverance to this musical gift of his, to literally change this earth.

I can’t begin to say how much all of the music performed touched me in a way that is beyond words. Probably even more so, for all the hours of effort these people invested just to pay tribute. I swear I felt that Mr. Rascher was listening during the middle of the 2nd mvt of Harry White’s performance and during the entire RSQ performance.

I by no means label myself as a student of Mr. Rascher, but only a saxophonist who was lucky enough to meet him a handful of times before he passed away. Because of my respect of this man I grew as a human.

I can ramble for days about the wonderful memories I have because of this man and how many I revisited becaue of this event. This weekend renewed my faith (for lack of a better word) in his beliefs and ideals. Maybe I’ll start taking 2 steps at a time myself.

Charles Gray
Graysax

 

[saintsday]

Look.

 

[Graysax]

Awesome!!!!!

 

[Martinman]

I love how the one huge sax is sticking up above everything else. Contrabass?

 

[Kevin]

Okay, for those of us that didn't get a chance to meet everyone, who is who?

I am in the front row, fifth from the right