Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Sir James Galway again!

Right, to talk more about the Galway master class yesterday.

Before going to the master class, I was initially quite skeptical of this flautist who is just so famous. Is he just another Maxim the piano player? Sure, he plays pop pieces a lot, but is he going to disfigure classics like how Maxim did? (It's apparent to this point that I don't like Maxim!)

Thankfully, my fears were unfound.

Let me say this again, Sir James Galway is really a fantastic flautist!

When he might seem a bit egoistic and show-off, what can we say? He's truly qualified to be.

How many can qualify to be a show-off and play difficult passages from memory flawlessly and stylistically?

While some might go ga-ga over his extensive collection of flutes, I wasn't. While good instruments can be bought with money, good skills can't be. For Reader's info, at the start of the master class, he took out from his suitcase not one, not two, not three but five flutes! I'm not really that much into the range of flutes, but knowing his expertise and the price range of high-end flutes, there could easily been $250k+ worth of flutes laying on that table.

I'm not kidding, a 14k gold Muramatsu (the brand he uses) flute with B foot already costs something like USD 22 500, and I believe he has the top-of-the-range flute like the 24k on the table. Oh, there was a platinium flute on the table too. It was indeed quite a feast for those young flautists there to see extremely expensive flutes like his golden flutes of which he is known for.

I wish I could be like him too.

*opens cupboard*

Hmmmm, which oboe should I play today? Would it be my cocobolo Howarth XL with 24k gold key? Would it be my Marigaux altuglass model 2001? Or should I play the Laubin? What about the Dupin? Maybe the Rigoutat that was custom made for me?

My dream oboe would be something really flamboyant like the altuglass Marigaux, which is actually transparent acrylic with gold keys and/or normal grenadilla, cocobolo or violetwood with beautiful engravings on the bell and lower joint. Hmmm, that would be something new to my wish-list!

*wakes up*

I digress too much! Ok, let's get to his playing.

He has a very nice, big sound which certainly filled the whole hall. The only thing I didn't like that much was his over-extensive usage of vibrato. It was just too strong and violent at times for my liking, probably from his usage of the "HA!" syllabus. Other than that, he has a beautiful sound from his lowest B to the highest god-knows-what-note-that-is.

His techniques were simply breathless. Had I ever mention this? A few years ago, while watching a documentary on him on TV, I was very impressed at one simple thing he did.

A 3-octaves C major scale.

One might think, isn't C major the easiest to play? Let me tell those who doubt it, go try it yourself. Can you match the flawless running, even notes, musicality of the scale?

The simplest thing of all is often the hardest to do.

He demonstrated some extracts yesterday which just breath-taking. Hearing it on CD is one thing, hearing him play it "live" is another story. I might not know the piece to catch any wrong notes, but the evenness and musicality was just enough to blow you away.

Perhaps the downside of the whole master class was that it was too long! (I left after 3.5 hours) While one might not get enough of his virtuoso playing, a 4 hours master class is too much to digest! Anyway, I'll be going back for more tonight when I attend his concert at the Esplanade.

It makes me wonder eagerly in anticipation how Gordon Hunt would be like when he comes down to Singapore next year! Yes, oboists out there, Gordon Hunt is coming next year!

Conclusion: If you haven't purchase your ticket to the concert tonight, please do! It's highly recommended!



Sir James Galway, the man with the golden flute. I'm truly impressed and inspired!
fjozn at 10:52 AM