Composers Concordance concert & tarogato

I thought I'd include a little announcement about our upcoming
concert on May 24, 2001 and, following, a paragraph on the
"tarogato," the Hungarian instrument which will be featured in Robert
Rowe's piece for tarogoto and electronics.

As you will see from the following paragraphs, the tarogato is in,
according to performer Esther Lamneck, a "non-tempered" scale...

Anton Rovner, of course, is the Russian composer who is a new
addition to our Tuning List!

COMPOSERS CONCORDANCE
Thursday, May 24, 2001
NYU Frederick Loewe Theatre, 35 W. 4th St., NYC
(between Washington Square East and Greene St.), 8 PM

Music By:

William Rhoads Slam (flute, guitar, piano, percussion) 7'
Anton Rovner Hexagram (cello and saxophone) 10'
Roger Trefousse Hotel Brown Poems (soprano, piano) 7'
+Steven Burke Spelling Venus (clarinet, cello, piano) 10'
Harrison Birtwistle Pulse Sampler (oboe & claves) 10'
Robert Rowe Shells (tarogato and electronics)
+Ursula Mamlok Polarities (flute, violin, cello, piano) 9'
Gordon Beeferman Sonata Bombastica (violin and piano) 10'

+Meet the Composer participant

Performed by: Margaret Lancaster, Koaki Fujimoto, flute, Jacqueline
LeClair, oboe, Richard Faria, clarinet, Paul Cohen, soprano/alto sax,
Jennifer Williams, violin, Jennifer DeVore, Heidi Hoffman, cello,
Matthew Gold, Peter Jarvis, percussion, Paul Hoffmann, Beata Moon,
Read Gainsford, Leonard Lehrman, piano, Kevin Gallagher, electric
guitar, Helene Williams, soprano, Esther Lamneck, tarogato.

Tickets $12, $7, students, seniors, TDF accepted.

History of the Tárogató by Tarogato player Esther Lamneck:

Although many centuries ago 'tarogato' referred to a double reed
instrument which originated in the Middle East and was at times
called an Eastern oboe or a Turkish pipe, the current form of the
Tarogato was built in the latter part of the nineteenth century in
Budapest. Some Hungarian composers have used the instrument as an
orchestral one. Gustav Mahler required the Tarogato for the
performances at Vienna and Budapest of the Shepherd Boy's tune in the
third act of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde.

The Tárogató is a single reed instrument with a conical bore, (the
shape of today's soprano saxophone) rather than the cylindrical bore
of the clarinet family. It uses fingerings which are similar to the
oboe's and has a SCALE WHICH IS NON-TEMPERED. Since it was primarily
a rustic instrument and taken up by folk or Gypsy musicians whose
music in handed down aurally, there are few if any known works
specifically for the instrument from its past. Sándor Burka, the
Hungarian master of the Tárogató, left us with a few tapes and
recordings of his interpretations of Hungarian folk and art
songs. They demonstrate the depth of his improvisational skills in a
style of playing which has been somewhat neglected in the present
time. In the study of folk music of Hungary and Eastern Europe, I
have found a rich source of material from which I have developed a
repertoire for the Tárogató.

_________ ______ ______ ___
Joseph Pehrson