I saw the Andre Rieu Dublin concert on PBS last Sunday evening. One of the musicians Mr. Teun Ramaekers played whistle for the song “The Last Rose of Summer” (C Key). The whistle pitch tune is so pure, sweet, clear and beautiful (like a bird singing). I liked it very, very much, but I cannot use my Burke’s whistle to duplicate that kind of pure and sweet high pitch tone. The whistle he used in the concert has green fipple. I believe it is C key. But the whistle pitch (both first and second octaves) sound higher than those of my Burke Al Pro C whistle. Anyone watched the concert and can identify the whistle, the key and explain why the pitch tone is higher than Burke’s C Al Pro. Mr. Ramaekers also played whistle for “My Heart will Go On” during the concert.
This concert was played by my local PBS station and I saw only the piece played with the whistle accompaniment. From the close ups it looked like a brass Feadog. It was evident at certain points that the whistle was out of pitch with the rest of the orchestra, especially in the upper register. In accord with Andre Rieu’s philosophy that more schmaltz is always better the whistle player, who also played piccolo, ended the piece with a barrage of scales and arpeggios. It was neat to hear the whistle’s distinctive sound along with the orchestra but it was pretty obvious that the orchestra approached it as a novelty piece.
Mike