Cloyd duff cleveland orchestra

For his students he was an inspiration; for his colleagues, he was the rock-solid foundation of the Cleveland Orchestra. His first orchestra job was as principal timpanist with the Indianapolis Symphony for four years before moving on to Cleveland. Cloyd had a wonderful career with the Cleveland Orchestra: four decades working with many of the foremost conductors of his time and performing in concert halls around the world. The recordings he made with the orchestra continue to be reissued and many have become a standard reference for young timpanists learning the repertoire.

Like all legendary figures, stories abound about Duff's performances. His first orchestra job was as principal timpanist with the Indianapolis Symphony for four years before moving on to Cleveland.

Cloyd had a wonderful career with the Cleveland Orchestra: four decades working with many of the foremost conductors of his time and performing in concert halls around the world. The recordings he made with the orchestra continue to be reissued and many have become a standard reference for young timpanists learning the repertoire.

Just as the orchestra arrived at that moment in the music, the head on the inch drum broke! His sympathies did not extend far or deep into the modern period, although he championed a few living composers such as Samuel Barber and William Walton. It was at Mr. Szell also served as music adviser and senior guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic dur ing the interim period before Mr.

Boulez's arrival to succeed Leonard Bernstein as music director. In his own way, close asso ciates insisted, Mr. Szell could be a warm man and a gener ous colleagne. The maestro and Glenn Goull, the eccentric Ca nadian pianist, locked in a bit ter battle at their first re hearsal together, and Mr. Szell declined to conduct for sub seqiient Gould concerts. Nevertheless, Mr. Szell in vited Mr. Gould backao Cleve land to play under other con ductors.

Much of kn Szell's fear some reputation stemmed from such famous rehearsal sessions. We do some of our best playing in rehearsals. Although he played no or chestral instruments, his knowl edge of their capabilities was enormous and his identification with the ensemble complete.

We seem to react to him. Some of his men were proud of the musical integrity that they felt Mr. Szell instilled in his men, and contrasted the idealism within the Cleveland Orchestra's ranks with what seemed to them cynical pro fessionalism in other orches tras. In the years after World War II; that stream dried up to a great ex tent, although such conductors such as Herbert von Karajan, Georg Soli, Eugene Ormandy and Erich Leinsdorf still carry on the tradition that the best orchestra conductors receive their early training in opera houses.

Coming from that tradition steeped milieu, Mr. Szell knew exactly what to value in European musical perform ance, and what American or chestras had to offer. His orchestra, regardless of whatever outside reputation Mr. Szell acquired over the years, came to accept and cher ish his musical standards. Proud of his musical integ rity and bluntly outspoker when others chose to softer their opinions, Mr.

Szell sparec no one's feeling. The hall is an insult to music. Even at home, Mr. Szell's mu sical integrity would not be silenced. He would sometimes stop and correct his wife's casual whistling, insisting that as long as she was going to whistle she might as well get the tempo and the pitch right.

Szell, the former Helene Schulz of Prague, whom he married in in Glasgow when he was conductor of the Scottish Orchestra, cultivated forebearance and a dry wit dur ing her years with Mr. She needled him about his methodical habits and mania for instructing others. Both the Szells had been married once previously, he as a young conductor to a girl who decided she liked his con certmaster better and left him. The faculty included members of the Cleveland Orchestra. At the time, Cloyd was more interested in going to Ohio State University, having been impressed by its famous marching band.

The faculty members of the camp at Cedar Point managed to convince Cloyd that he should at least look into going to Curtis. So, he called them up and asked if there were any openings, and was told that an opening would be coming up in a few weeks. He took the audition and won a spot at Curtis. He was a pupil of the renowned German timpanist Oscar Schwar, the timpanist with the Philadelphia Orchestra from until his death in Schwar was renowned for his tone and his impeccable musicianship, traits he imparted to Cloyd and which Cloyd made his own.

It was great experience for him and he really put to use all he learned at Curtis. He won his first permanent orchestral position as timpanist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra from until It was there that he purchased the two Jenka and Boruvka then the owners of the Dresdener Apparatebau timpani and used with such success, both in Inianapolis and most of his Cleveland Orchestra tenure.

Oscar Schwar recommended that he get a 24 inch and a 32 inch Anheier cable timpani for the outside drums, which Cloyd eventually did. They stood him in good stead.

In , Artur Rodzinski was still music director in Cleveland , and he was renowned for firing his timpanists every two years. A vacancy opened up, and Cloyd won the position. Apparently he broke the jinx and stayed with the orchestra for thirty-nine years until his retirement in Cloyd was on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music for many years, and also taught for a time at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

It served him well for the rest of his career. Cloyd served as timpanist of the Cleveland Orchestra for thirty-nine years. Concerts and recordings all took place in Severance Hall in Cleveland, and Cloyd used his Jenak and Boruvka and Anheiers with calfskin heads throughout most of the Szell era. Cloyd himself commented many times that the sound of calfskin under the best of circumstances was warm and round, and that is certainly the case on these recordings.

The Cleveland Orchestra enjoyed the excellent acoustics of Severance Hall and that surely helped Cloyd in producing such excellent tone. That, and his meticulous preparations such as head and drum maintenance.

Cloyd also started using timpani manufactured by Walter Light of Denver, and using those with Remo plastic heads.

Working with Remo, he eventually advocated plastic heads with an insert-ring hoop. He kept his Dresden and Anheiers with calfskin, but used them much more sparingly. During the years he played under Maazel, Cloyd used the Light timpani for concerts and recordings.