Heckelphone - Modern Use

Modern Use

For all its potential in adding weight to the lower registers of the woodwind section, the heckelphone remains a rarity on the orchestral scene—only about 150 heckelphones have been produced, of which around 100 are believed to be extant—and is seldom carried on the regular roster of professional orchestras. Competent players are thus rare. The most prominent American heckelphone players now are Mark Perchanok and Andrew Shreeves, both of New York City. Shreeves plays regularly with the Metropolitan Opera while Perchanok has performed many new and older compositions for the instrument and has recorded with the Paul Winter Consort. Other notable American players include Robert Howe of Massachusetts, most known for recital work, and Arthur Grossman of Seattle, Washington.

The first annual meeting of the North American Heckelphone Society took place on August 6, 2001 at the Riverside Church in New York City, with six heckelphonists in attendance—possibly the first occasion upon which six such instruments had been assembled under one roof. Later meetings have included as many as 14 instruments. The group met annually in New York through 2006.

The centennial of the heckelphone in 2004–5 led to the publication of a number of articles on the instrument in organological journals. Among these were two in the German-language Rohrblatt by the Cologne player Georg Otto Klapproth; a comprehensive review article by Robert Howe and Peter Hurd, "The Heckelphone at 100", in the 2004 Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society; and a two-part article by Michael Finkelman in the 2005 issues of The Double Reed.