David Runnion wrote:

>Every concertmaster, or leader, has a different style and form of tuning
>the orchestra.  Here in Palma, the winds get an A, the brass get an A, then
>the strings get one A just to tune the A strings, then everybody sort of
>stops and then comes yet another to retune the A strings and then the other
>three.  To me, it's rather a preponderance of A's, and it takes rather a
>long time, but I'm not the concertmaster.

To which I would add:  The only time I ever saw a solo entry of the
principal concertmaster after [in this case] his associate had tuned
the band was on the BBC Philharmonic's US tour some years back.

I've never seen the concertmaster not make a solo entry either at the
start or at intermission-and I suspect that the question of tuning styles
has usually some input from the conductor, or at least the tacit consent
of the conductor.  Stokowski used to tune the winds and brass to a B-flat,
which even without perfect pitch, drove me crazy...and of course, if the
orchestra used C-trumpets, was quite irrelevant.

And then, of course, there was the Soviet [or is/was it Russian?] of
staying off stage and QUIET until just before the concert starts...and
tuning very briefly and QUIETLY on stage at this last minute.  Rostropovich
tried that briefly with the NSO; it didn't last long and clearly drove
orchestra and audience alike beserk.

Tuning practices AND preconcert stage decorum have often become
contractual issues in the US, by the way...as has the use of electronic
tuners either on or off stage either in addition to or instead of the
oboe's A.  It takes no skill in labo[u]r psychology to imagine what
sort of circumstances have created this degree of legalism.  One master
agreement I saw [can't remember which second- or third-line major it was]
specifically enjoined players from rehearsing major thematic excerpts from
the works on the program.  Too many fortissimo Siegfried calls or licks
from Strauss or Mahler, followed by cracks and clams in context, I suppose.

The RPO is playing an acronymic program under Gatti at the Kennedy Center
Wednesday night, Brahms Tragic Overture and Second Symphony flank Ignatz
Solzhentitzen playing Mozart K.  488.  I'm planning on being there, weather
permitting, and will try to remember to report on platform behavio[u]r as
well as artistic matters.

Joel Lazar
Bethesda MD