Tchaikovsky opus 45 fast fingerings
Talented composer who did not play high register flute fingerings himself.
Dear Jen,
Are you able to give me an idea for alternative fingering for this really fast section in Capriccio Italien, Flute 1, Opus 45 by Tchaikovsky?
I'm not going to be able to do it with normal fingering at the speed required...or should I persist practicing?
____________________________
Answer: I would definitely try out these fingerings here before you give up practicing. You must keep your RH pinky on the Eb key to make the high A sound, so make sure you're doing that. And the fingering you'll want to perfect will be the real fingering from high A to high B. But most others can be overblown from the lower fingering as shown here:
click to enlarge jpg
I have a question. If you give up due to fast tempo, how many other flutists will be covering the part? It sounds pretty prominent in the video:
(this video is set to start at the fast fingering section at the end of opus 45.)
Let me know what you discover. You definitely want to keep fingers low, curved and close to the keys. There is no true substitute fingering for high A and B except those used in Prokofiev Classical (Baxtresser fingerings given here.)
Best, Jen
posted by jen at 5:59 PM
permalink
Comments (4)
What is the orchestra? Boehm system clarinets, piston valve trumpets, American sounding oboes (yay!). The writing appears to be Russian.
Gosh, which orch? Will have to look it up. I just chose the easiest to find youtube. :>)
Jen
The three flutes are in unison for that bit. So you can all suffer together, if that helps (p84 of the full score on IMSLP). I think the last time I played this I mostly overblew the octave below, which sounds fairly disgusting. Thankfully it never showed up on any auditions.
Thanks for your input. :>) Jen