Now Playing: The Monstrosity of Organic Romanticism

Now playing, the Monstrosity of Organic Romanticism, or Bruckner's E-flat Symphony. This work is nothing less than a study in utter boredom for the timpanist. No offense intended to the Maestro, but I could play some of the roll studies from Technique for the Virtuoso Timpanist and get just about as much fulfillment as I can from playing this symphony.

Let me try and be positive for a moment and come up with three positive goals that I have to work towards during rehearsals and performance.

• Goal #1 - Maintain accurate intonation when executing passages at high volumes. Dynamic changes from pianissimo to fortissimo occur "subito" in a few locations throughout the work causing pitch to get sloppy without proper attention.
  
• Goal #2 - Create the sound of a bass pizzicato at the end of the second movement. Since this is the only real "shining" moment for my instrument throughout this masterwork, I believe every attention should be paid to final bars of this movement.
  
• Goal #3 - Smoothly execute each fortissimo roll and cleanly release each roll without accent (unless requested).

Ok, perhaps the entire work isn't so bad; the hunting theme in the Scherzo is fun, and I like the duplet/triplet motive that anchors that movement. But seriously, can we change the title to the "Dramatic" symphony? With no less than seven "authentic" versions of the score in existence, the symphony has surely caused enough drama to warrant a change in title.