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trumpeterswain
Regular Member
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Posts: 59
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
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 Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 2:34 pm Post subject: Portamento in Mahler 5 |
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Ten measures before rehearsal 7 in the first movement of his Fifth Symphony, Mahler instructs the first trumpet to play “portamento” in the connected middle D to high C (concert C to Bb on C trumpet). “Portamento” (from the Italian meaning "carriage" or "carrying") is a pitch sliding from one note to another. It’s not a glissando, so what kind of sliding pitch is expected? A suggestion of what tones are within the minor 7th interval, or just a very smooth and connected transition between the notes?
My mantra with Mahler is, “what would Bud Herseth do”? Any suggestions? |
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Tpt_Guy
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Joined: 16 Jul 2004
Posts: 1102
Location: Sacramento, Ca
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 4:04 pm Post subject: Re: Portamento in Mahler 5 |
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| trumpeterswain wrote: | | My mantra with Mahler is, “what would Bud Herseth do”? Any suggestions? |
Get some recordings of Bud playing it and listen over and over to figure it out.
Then, practice it. Record yourself. Listen back and forth and compare your chosen technique against his. You'll figure it out.
Edit:
I did a little digging and found this thread from another forum:
https://www.vsl.co.at/community/posts/t14634-The-ultimate-glissando-vs-portamento-topic#post92532
The last post gives a more clear description and distinction between glissando and portamento.
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dutchtrumpet
Regular Member
Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Posts: 26
Location: Dallas
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 4:51 pm Post subject: Re: Portamento in Mahler 5 |
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| trumpeterswain wrote: | Ten measures before rehearsal 7 in the first movement of his Fifth Symphony, Mahler instructs the first trumpet to play “portamento” in the connected middle D to high C (concert C to Bb on C trumpet). “Portamento” (from the Italian meaning "carriage" or "carrying") is a pitch sliding from one note to another. It’s not a glissando, so what kind of sliding pitch is expected? A suggestion of what tones are within the minor 7th interval, or just a very smooth and connected transition between the notes?
My mantra with Mahler is, “what would Bud Herseth do”? Any suggestions? |
The word was defined to me in this exact passage by my teacher Charlie Geyer long ago as the beautiful and liquid connection of a master singer.
Works for me. |
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trumpeterswain
Regular Member
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Posts: 59
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 10:08 pm Post subject: Re: Portamento in Mahler 5 |
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| Quote: | The word was defined to me in this exact passage by my teacher Charlie Geyer long ago as the beautiful and liquid connection of a master singer.
Works for me.
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That’s an excellent musical image.
The singer whom this brings to mind is actually Ella Fitzgerald, since she had a wonderfully liquid vocal range with virtually no break between registers. Like https://youtu.be/eCACOat8YaU at 1:42. |
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trumpeterswain
Regular Member
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Posts: 59
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
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| Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 2:37 pm Post subject: It’s listening, damnit. |
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The answer is easy to come to when you listen to (or look at the score for) what else is going on during that passage. The third trumpet is playing a variant on the triplet passage, which the first trumpet dramatizes through the crescendo in the concert C, resolves with the strong-toned Bb, and then notches down (I think visually of physically backing away).
Seeing Mahler’s genius as an orchestrator fully and the way the part fits into the tapestry makes the interpretation so much more valid. We sometimes think of Mahler #5’s opening movement as if it were a trumpet concerto. There’s a reason Mahler never wrote a concerto. The trumpet part is one of Mahler’s tools to create the world in a symphony, not an individual. |
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