Jonathan
Haas Discography
Philip
Glass'
Concerto
Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra
18th
Century Concertos for Timpani and Orchestra
Johnny
H. and the Prisoners of Swing
Philip
Glass
Concerto
Project Vol. 1

Jonathan Haas is featured
on the PHILIP GLASS Concerto Project Vol. I on Glass' Orange Mountain
Music label. The recording includes Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists
and Orchestra written by Glass for Jonathan. Conducted by Gerard
Schwarz, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra performs the piece
with Jonathan and Evelyn Glennie as timpani soloists. The Concerto
was recorded in the acoustically wonderful Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool,
January, 2004.
According to an Orange Mountain
Music statement, "The soloists were superb, exhibiting their well deserved
recognition of being at the top of their respective fields. The orchestra,
under Mr. Schwarz’s direction, performed beautifully. Orange Mountain
Music is very happy to initiate Philip Glass’ Concerto Project with this
disc."
The booklet included with
the CD contains the arist’s bios and there comments on working with and
performing Philip Glass’ music. Also on this recording is Glass'
Concerto
for Cello and Orchestra.
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18th
Century Concertos
for Timpani and Orchestra
Jonathan Haas, known as a virtuoso
musician who has raised the timpani's status to that of a solo instrument,
has released 18th Century Concertos for Timpani and Orchestra on
Sunset Records, a recording emboding the spirit of a modern-day artist
exploring a repertoire that had been lost in music history.
The CD features three pieces
written in the 1700s to showcase the timpani, Johann Fischer's Symphony
for Eight Timpani and Orchestra and Georg Druschetzky's Partita
In C Major and Concerto For Oboe, Eight Timpani and Orchestra.
Jonathan is the soloist on the three works, performing on all eight timpani
with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta conducted by Harold Farberman. Gordon
Hunt is the oboe soloist.
"I discovered early in my
career that audiences could easily distinguish pitches and enjoy the intricate
melodic lines produced on the timpani," says Jonathan. "So, in addition
to commissioning new works, I began searching for music from the past that
spotlighted them. Musicologist Harrison Powley, whose program notes
are featured in the 18th Century CD, brought these pieces to my attention."
Symphony for Eight Timpani
and Orchestra was written by Johann Carl Christian Fischer (1752-1807)
prior to 1792 when he was employed by Herzog Friedrich Franz I. It
includes a written-out cadenza at the end of the first movement.
The opening allegro is in concerto form with the timpani functioning first
as part of the ensemble and second as a solo instrument playing bass-like
patterns or doubling the melody. The adagio movement provides a brief
transition to the rondo-like finale. Improvisations using three-
and four-note chords are added to this passage, and in keeping with the
improvisational style of 18th-century military timpani playing, further
embellishment is added to the solo part throughout the entire work.
The Bohemian composer Georg
Druschetzky (1745-1819) first learned and refined his musical craft not
within the circles of the aristocracy but as a practicing musician (both
oboist and timpanist) employed by the state. That he was a professional
timpanist made him sensitive to the melodic possibilities of the instrument
long before modern-day pedal mechanisms increased its melodic potential.
His approach to writing for multiple timpani is clearly seen in his Partita
in C Major for Six Timpani and Orchestra, a short tuneful work in four
movements. Lightly scored for flute, two oboes, two horns, two trumpets,
and strings, the solo timpanist performs a variety of melodic material.
The Concerto For Oboe,
Eight Timpani and Orchestra, a unique work in the Sinfonia-concertante
tradition of the late 18th century, is a tour de force for the oboist as
well as the timpanist. No other work from the classic era for this
pair of soloists and orchestra has yet been discovered. Written around
1800 when Druschetzky was in Hungary, the piece contains three movements.
The several cadenzas in the concerto are improvised by the performers,
each soloist taking his turn with the timpanist leading the way.
The colorful scoring of clarinets, bassoons, and timpani (two drums being
struck simultaneously in thirds) is a technique that predated by perhaps
twenty years Beethoven's use of striking both drums at once in the third
movement of his Ninth Symphony.
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JOHNNY
H. AND THE
PRISONERS
OF SWING

This
recording features a sound rarely heard in jazz: the timpani, those deep
bowled kettledrums that are tuned so as to play clearly distinguished pitches.
Jonathan
Haas was inspired by the recordings of Vic Berton (who is considered the
first jazz timpanist) and Ian Finkel (a great jazz musician). It
was instantly agreed that it was time for the kettledrums to get their
chance to swing.
The
CD is named for Jonathan's jazz group and features innovative renderings
of jazz compositions featuring "hot timpani" in front of a full jazz ensemble.
His rediscovery of Duke Ellington’s brilliant composition for jazz timpani,
"Tympaturbably Blue," is included on this recording, as are other jazz
standards played on a set of ten kettledrums.
In
addition to Duke Ellington, composers of the tracks include Hoagy Carmichael,
Eddie Durham and Lionel Hampton.
Produced
by Jonathan Haas and Ian Finkel
Music
arranged by Ian Finkel
TRACKS
The
Twitch
Limehouse
Blues
Cubano
Chant
It's
A Wonderful World
Georgia
Moanin'
Big
Noise From Winnetka
Bumble
Bee Rumba
Sweet
Georgia Brown
Tymperturbably
Blue
It
Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing
Delirium
Allah's
Holiday
Devil's
Kitchen
Hamp's
Boogie Woogie
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