Musician Profile - Bruce Pulk, Principal Timpani

TPS - We hear you have quite a large CD collection. How many CDs would you venture to guess you own?
BP - Amassing a large collection of recorded repertoire (initially through records or vinyl- with that collection [now mostly sold] reaching a height of 28,000 records) allowed the freedom to explore beyond those pieces performed at most live concerts. As if often the case, when one reads a book – we move on to the next book; sometimes by the same author, sometimes not.

Non standard orchestral and operatic repertoire of the 19th, 20th and now 21st centuries has long been of greatest interest. Having gone through the standard repertoire in high school years left me searching for new material. The love of the standard repertoire is still there, but, having performed it so often, reduces the anticipation of visiting those works again (at least in the rehearsal process – the concert performances are always wonderful since these standard works have proven their worth and, in the hands of great orchestra like The Phoenix Symphony can often lead to satisfying reminders of why we play these works again and again). But frustration evolves when observing the wealth of material available yet being restricted to the top 150 classical “tunes.” However, since this is a business, the bills (including my salary) must be paid! So, it becomes an unfortunate marketplace reality.

TPS - If you were to create a 10-song playlist of your favorite pieces (classical or non-classical), what would they be and why did you choose them?
BP - Sorry, this exceeds 10 song playlist. In almost all cases, these are “audience friendly” pieces. For the orchestral art form to survive, the process of renewal and exposure of the less heard, keeps it fresh and alive for the players and the listeners.

Mahler: Symphony # 9. 2, 3, 6, 5, 7, 10 (completed vrs), Das Lied von der Erde
Joachim Raff: Symphony # 5 Leonore
Shchedrin: Concerto for Orchestra: Mischievous Melodies (or Merry Ditties)
Sibelius: Symphony # 3, 4, 5, 7; Kullervo Symphony; Leminkainen Symphony; Luonnotar; Pohjola’s Daughter
Arnold Bax: Symphony # 5, 4, 3, and 6
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music
Schoenberg: Guerre Lieder
Otmar Macha: Night and Hope (Noce Nedije)
Smetana: Libuse; Dalibor
Janacek: Sinfonietta, Glagolitic Mass (Slavonic Mass)
Leonard Bernstein: Symphony # 3 Kaddish
Respighi: Festa Romana
Pierne: Children’s Crusade
Dvorak: Hussite Overture; Scherzo Capriccioso; Symphonies 1, 2, 3, 4
Hilding Rosenberg: Symphony # 4 “The Revelation of Saint John”
Howard Hanson: Symphony # 2, 1, 3; Cherubic Hymn; Merry Mount
Havergal Brian: Symphonies (any of the 32)
John Ireland: These Things Shall Be
Kalinnikov: Symphony # 1 g minor
Janis Ivanovs: Symphonies (any)
Akutagawa: Music for Symphony Orchestra
Glazunov: Symphony # 8
Alfven: Symphony # 4 “From the Outermost Skerries”
George Antheil Symphony # 4, 5
Kurt Atterberg: Symphony # 5
Franz Berwald: Symphonies
Bruckner: Symphony # Minus One (f minor), # 0 Die Nulte; Symphony # 1, 5, 6, 8
Delius: Mass for Life
James DeMars (faculty Arizona State University) American Requiem, anything else
Holon Mathews: Symphony # 2 (Eastman grad, was Arizona resident)
Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Symphony # 2 (Symphonic Adagio); # 6
Georges Enescu: Symphony # 3 (Dante Symphony)
Don Gillis: Symphony # 8 “Dance Symphony”
Gliere: Symphony # 3 “Illya Murometz”
Bernard Herrmann: Ghost and Mrs. Muir; Obsession; Torn Curtain
Vagn Holmboe: Symphony # 8
Mieczyslaw Karlowicz: Episode During a Masquerade
Korngold: Symphony in f#
Carl Nielsen: Symphony # 6
George Lloyd: Symphony # 11
Hadley: Lucifer
Alberic Magnard: Symphonies
Bohuslav Martinu: Symphony # 3, 4, 5; Concerto for Double String Orch Piano and Timpani; Parables for Orchestra; Memorial to Lidice; Les Fresques
Menotti: Violin Concerto
Nicolai Miaskovsky: Symphony # 6
Enrst Moeran: Symphony
Moussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain – original version
Vitezslav Novak: About the Eternal Longing; In the Tatras;
Gosta Nystroem: Sinfonia del Mare (Sea Symphony)
Andrzej Panufnik: Sinfonia Sacra
Allan Pettersson: Symphony # 6, 5
Carl Ruggles: Sun Treader
Varese: Arcana
Franz Schmidt: Symphony # 4
Florent Schmitt: Tragedie de Salome
Shostakovich: Symphony # 4, 8, 11
Josef Suk: Asrael Sympony
Smetana: String Quartet in the George Szell orchestral transcription
Eduard Tubin: Sympony # 3, 4, 5, 7
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphony # 7 “Sinfonia Antartica”
Zemlinsky: Lyric Symphony

Non symphonic listening favorites:
The Beatles
Billy Joel (what a poet!!!)
Klaatu
Stan Kenton
Ted Heath (English big band 1940’s – 1960’s)
Billy May

TPS - If you were forced to choose a different instrument within the orchestra to play, which would you choose?
BP - Conducting has been of great interest, and I’ve done some of that (Mesa Symphony, The Phoenix Symphony, Grand Salon Orchestra); but the primary reason to do this is to expose players and listeners to great music they may not have heard before.

TPS - Tell us a bit about your own orchestra, The Grand Salon Orchestra.
BP - Here’s a history of the orchestra: The Grand Salon Orchestra was founded in 1980 in Grand Rapids, Michigan by Music Director Bruce Pulk. In a basement storage room he discovered a small library of 800 vintage musical selections written for the small hotel/theater orchestras prevalent in every American small town early in this century. From these beginnings the orchestra's repertoire has expanded to over 7,000 works that encompass a wide range of musical styles.

The cornerstone of The Grand Salon Orchestra's success is the vocal artistry of soprano Jennifer Song and tenor Ken Goodenberger. Both are recent winners of the state of Arizona Metropolitan Opera competition and have performed with the Phoenix, Scottsdale and Flagstaff Symphonies and well as in opera and choral performances throughout the country. Both are active teachers in the valley, including faculty positions with the Arizona School for the Arts, and large private studios.

The Grand Salon Orchestra has been quite visible in the Valley of the Sun and throughout the state of Arizona since 1982. For numerous years, The Phoenix Symphony Council's Rite of Spring featured the Salon Orchestra in an old fashioned concert in the park that raised $50,000 annually for The Phoenix Symphony.