10 Greatest Timpanists of all time?

[Mr Layaway]

Who, in your opinion are the greatest timp players of all time? For the
purpose of this question, I am confining elegibility to only those players who
made their mark as the Timpanist of a MAJOR World Orchestra performing the
"standard" Classical Works!! What about players still performing? Salvitore
Rabbio MUST be on this list, I am sure!!

[Brandon E Paluzzi]

I would put in for Timothy Adams, current Timpanist for the
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Percussion head at Carnegie
Mellon University...

Saw him perform with Evelyn Glennie and the PSO...
fantastic!

Brandon
***************************************************************

Carnegie Mellon University
bp...@andrew.cmu.edu
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/bp33/
Tartan Ice Hockey Kiltie Tenor Line Pipe Band Snare Line

[DIRads]

offhand....

Raynor Carroll
Saul Goodman
Randall Hicks (NJSO)

more to come.
-------
And there you have it...
Dan
dir...@aol.com

[Mell Csicsila]

In article <199804041910...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,

The #1 player is Cloyd Duff, retired from the Cleveland Orchestra. That's
it, no arguments. :-) Compare the magnificent SOUND and style and
philosophy of his playing on any recording to any other recording
available and you will find no comparison. It's also interesting if you
go to the Remo website and compare/contrast his method of timpani head
changing with Vic Firth's. I would be very curious to hear any recordings
of Oskar Schwar from the Philadelphia Orchestra who was Duff's teacher at
Curtis in the early 30's. (I'd also be curious to know if anybody has any
of the old Schwar signature model timpani sticks that Slingerland marketed
in the 30's.)

You would certainly have to put Fred Hinger and Saul Goodman and Vic Firth
on the list. At least Werner Tharichen and Richard Hochrainer to
represent Europeans among us.

To the more current player issue:

I go to watch Paul Yancich play with Cleveland quite frequently which is
very educational. Unfortunately, I missed him performing the world
premiere of the Oliverio Timpani Concerto, but I do have a tape of the
radio broadcast.

I've also enjoyed listening to Don Liuzzi's playing on the recent
Philadelphia Orchestra broadcasts. (They just started to be broadcast
here in Cleveland.)

I've seen the Boston Pops Esplanade play a few times and I've been
impressed with the facility and security of Everett Beale's tuning.

Although it is not the style of timpani playing I've been raised with nor
prefer, Eugene Espino of the Cincinatti Symphony plays quite well. If I
were to study with an East Coast style player, it would probably be him.

Some of the London orchestra timpanists have a very good sound as well.
--
Mell D. Csicsila (notice altered mail address in header)
email: <mdcsi...@sprintmail.com>
web: <http://www.stark.kent.edu/music/MelMusic.htm>

[Malletshop]

> Who, in your opinion are the greatest timp players of all time? For the
>purpose of this question, I am confining elegibility to only those players
>who
>made their mark as the Timpanist of a MAJOR World Orchestra performing the
>"standard" Classical Works!! What about players still performing? Salvitore
>Rabbio MUST be on this list, I am sure!!
>
>
>
>
>

Rabbio just retired
I would say:

Cloyd Duff
Tim Adams
Dave Herbert
Paul Jancich
Tim Freer
Peter Cogen
Sal Rabbio
Don Luizzi
Vic Firth
Saul Goodman
Rick Holmes
Roland Kollof
John Toyfoya

.: there are others but these are just to name a few
John Haas

[Drpep311]

How about John Beck? I got a chance to meet him last summer... He teaches at
Eastman School of Music and performs witht e Rochester Symphony Orchestra.
Great clinician and all-around nice guy!!!
--Frank

[MATTHEW CAPPER]

Don't forget Allan Cumberland. Off the top of my head he was principal
timpanist of the London Philharmonic From 196? to 1987. He also was
invited to play for the World philharmonic last year or something and was
the timpanist on the original Star Wars Triligy. Can't remember anything
else except that his soung is absoloutly amazing!

Matt

[GENORTHERN]

I love this Newsgroup!!!!

In no particular Order

Saul Goodman
Cloyd Duff
Fred Hinger
Gerald Carlyss
Paul Yancich
Richard Holmes
John Beck
Tim Adams
Walter Light
Roland Kohloff

This is fun!

Glenn Northern

[Cary Nasatir/Jan Steinhoff]

Well you named most of my favorites already. Nobody
mentioned Al Payson with Chicago!
Also confining it to major orchestras is just
that...confining. Greg Goodall is a major timpanist in L.A.
and is on the last 8 or nine disney animated projects. Vic
Burton played "jazz timps" that would blow one's mind for
techinique.

I would have liked to have heard Charles White who was with
the L.A. Phil back in the '30's. He also was a Leedy
endorser and invented a very simple tuning guage for timps
that relied on direct pressure with no springs.

Cary Nasatir

[Malletshop]

>
>Well you named most of my favorites already. Nobody
>mentioned Al Payson with Chicago!
>Also confining it to major orchestras is just
>that...confining.

Al isn't the timpanist there, never was, He played percussion. The timpanist
is someone else, I can't think of his name at the moment???

[Ken Romig]

> Who, in your opinion are the greatest timp players of all time? For
the
>purpose of this question, I am confining elegibility to only those players
who
>made their mark as the Timpanist of a MAJOR World Orchestra performing the
>"standard" Classical Works!! What about players still performing?
Salvitore
>Rabbio MUST be on this list, I am sure!!

Hal Rees

I know he dosn't fit the original filter, he
didn't play tymps in a live performance orch, but
he did play with the LA Phil in the 30s I believe.

He was THE tympani guy in Hollywood for years. "How the West was Won",
"Planet of the Apes," and the original "Fantasia." (I know Disney says is
was Philly, but it was mostly LA studio guys) were some of his favorites.
If you have seen a movie made between 1930-1975 you have heard Hal play
tymps.

and of course

Cloyd and Saul

Ken Romig
kro...@econone.com

[Ran girl]

>>>If you have seen a movie made between 1930-1975 you have heard Hal play
tymps.<<<

Along with Hal Rees, don't forget some of the other great studio timpanists
like Larry Bunker and Ken Watson (just to name two) who have played on
countless films and TV scores.

Danielle

[Ran girl]

>Who, in your opinion are the greatest timp players of all >time?

Hmmm... what about William Street with the RPO? Or Karl Glassman of the
Toscanini NBC Orchestra?

And let's not forget all my teachers that I have studied with! :)
Danielle

[louis porsi]

I know that I am awfully late in posting to this
question. but just had a thought. Are we talking about players who play
in orchestras??
Are we talking abouy players who play the music they READ??
If so the question should have been tympani Readers not players. Do any
orchestras "Wing it" that is play without charts so they can stylize and
improvize? or does every player have to play the same chart?? How would
you know wo was the best if they all played the same Part?? I need a
little help from you people out there. Louis

[DIRads]

>I know that I am awfully late in posting to this <BR>
>question. but just had a thought. Are we talking about players who play<BR>
>in orchestras??<BR>
>Are we talking abouy players who play the music they READ??<BR>
>If so the question should have been tympani Readers not players. Do any<BR>
>orchestras "Wing it" that is play without charts so they can stylize and<BR>
>improvize? or does every player have to play the same chart?? How would<BR>
>you know wo was the best if they all played the same Part?? I need a<BR>

>little help from you people out there.

Feel, interpretation, style? Any good musician will tell you that s/he is not
just playing notes off a page, but using them to some extent as a chart. It may
not be as pronounced as in the looser styles like jazz and rock, but if you
were to listen to Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, a piece in which the snare
drum plays everything from heavy, loud and fast through slow and delicate. This
would sound complelty different in comparing Chris Lamb's performance (NY,
possibly the best in the world) and mine. He would surely interpret the music
differently, putting feeling and expression into it. Emotion plays a key role
here. With timpani, this difference is even more pronounced. Now we're dealing
with a tonal instrument, with sustain. Even more variables are at play. Listen
to a timpani part from say, Beethoven 3 or Berlioz's Syphony Fantastique.
Listen to two or more recordings of the same piece by maybe Philly, New York,
and Podunk, USA. You'll hear significant differneces overall.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------

And there you have it...
Dan

DIR...@aol.com

[MATTHEW CAPPER]

Am I the only one who has heard of Alan Cumberland? Has anyone else?
While I'm at it has anyone ever heard or played David Morby Timpani
Sticks?

Matt

[Brandon E Paluzzi]

>>
If so the question should have been tympani Readers not players. Do any

orchestras "Wing it" that is play without charts so they can stylize and

improvize? or does every player have to play the same chart?? How would

you know wo was the best if they all played the same Part?? I need a

little help from you people out there. Louis
>>

With timpani, there is just _so_ much more than the notes on the page.

Expression, technique, and most importantly SOUND

Just my thoughts
Brandon
***************************************************************

Carnegie Mellon University
Information and Decision Systems, Class of 2000

[MATTHEW CAPPER]

Have you ever heard of Alan Cumberland? He played with the London
Philharmonic from 68 to 87. I've got this timpani book by him and it
starts off easy but gets icredibably hard. It's got pieces range from 2
to five drums. I think from memory when he plays with five he uses two
32's with one cranked up, I could be wrong though. He was the Timpanist
for the original Star Wars soundtrek. My teacher here at uni. tells me
his concept of sound was very different to the that when he first started.
Supposedly he was a violin player heard someone play timpani and though I
could do better 2 years later he held the pricipal timpani position for
London Philharmonic. With that behind him does put him among the greats?
It's just that no one in the newsgroup has even mentioned him. See ya!

Mat

[Neil Grover]

MATTHEW CAPPER wrote:
>
> Have you ever heard of Alan Cumberland? He played with the London
> Philharmonic from 68 to 87. I've got this timpani book by him and it
> starts off easy but gets icredibably hard. It's got pieces range from 2
> to five drums. I think from memory when he plays with five he uses two
> 32's with one cranked up, I could be wrong though. He was the Timpanist
> for the original Star Wars soundtrek.

This is incorrect.....the timpanist for the original Starwars soundtrack
was Kurt-Han Gurdiecke, timpanist of the London Sym.

[Mark Felix De Cesare]

How about another timpani player in the popular music business, namely
Carl Palmer, formerly of Emerson Lake & Palmer and of Asia.

- Mark

[Ted Ward]

I'm pretty sure it was phil ehart. That guy from "Kansas".

MATTHEW CAPPER wrote in message ...

[samha...@gmail.com]

On Saturday, April 4, 1998 at 4:00:00 AM UTC-4, Mr Layaway wrote:
> Who, in your opinion are the greatest timp players of all time? For the
> purpose of this question, I am confining elegibility to only those players who
> made their mark as the Timpanist of a MAJOR World Orchestra performing the
> "standard" Classical Works!! What about players still performing? Salvitore
> Rabbio MUST be on this list, I am sure!!

Vic Firth is up there

[nancydef...@gmail.com]

Kurt Goedicke of the LSO

[steveshar...@gmail.com]

I was his students for 4 years and thank you for acknowledging him.
He did use two 32' and he was the first one who did it...

[awr0...@gmail.com]

Surly someone must mention the tympanist for all 17 years of the NBC's existence under Toscanini, KARL GLASSMAN.

[wile...@gmail.com]

On Saturday, April 4, 1998 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-5, Brandon E Paluzzi wrote:
> I would put in for Timothy Adams, current Timpanist for the
> Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Percussion head at Carnegie
> Mellon University...
>
> Saw him perform with Evelyn Glennie and the PSO...
> fantastic!
>

> Brandon
> ***************************************************************
>
> Carnegie Mellon University

> bp...@andrew.cmu.edu
> http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/bp33/
> Tartan Ice Hockey Kiltie Tenor Line Pipe Band Snare Line

I study with Tim Adams. I would agree. :)

[cahc...@gmail.com]

Donald Koss was the timpanist of Chicago during AL Payson's time.

[Dave Bayles]

On Friday, April 17, 1998 at 2:00:00 AM UTC-5, MATTHEW CAPPER wrote:

> On 14 Apr 1998, Ran girl wrote:
> > >Who, in your opinion are the greatest timp players of all >time?
> >

> > Hmmm... what about William Street with the RPO? Or Karl Glassman of the
> > Toscanini NBC Orchestra?
> >
> > And let's not forget all my teachers that I have studied with! :)
> > Danielle
> >
> Am I the only one who has heard of Alan Cumberland? Has anyone else?
> While I'm at it has anyone ever heard or played David Morby Timpani
> Sticks?
> Matt

Matt My friend timpanist w/ Milwaukee Ballet highly suggests Morby Mallets- about the only ones he uses. expensive but well worth it.

[Aaron Flagg]

Elayne Jones was timpanist for the New York City Opera beginning in 1949, timpanist of the San Francisco Symphony, played with the New York Philharmonic in 1958 and ended her PAS Hall of Fame career in a San Francisco opera pit in 1998. She should definitely be on the list!

P.S. She is also a Black woman. This quote describes what she overcame. “They didn’t want to hire me because I was black and I was a woman,” she recalls, “and I wasn’t Italian! But Goodman stepped in on my behalf and reminded them that I had played the best audition. Al played the rehearsals of Strauss’s ‘Der Rosenkavalier,’ but I had to play the performance! I think they wanted me to fail. So I sat in the audience during the rehearsals while Al played timpani, and I listened to everything.” In October 1949, Jones was the first black person to play in an opera orchestra, and one of only two women in the pit that night. That performance was the beginning of an eleven-year career with NYCO.