During the Dutilleux last night, I kept trying to figure out just what combination of instruments could the composer possibly be using to sound like a cimbalom. (It's a concert-sized hammer dulcimer used extensively by Hungarian folk bands, and occasionally by concert-music composers such as Stravinsky.)
You bet I had a slap-the-forehead moment when I saw a cimbalom cover carried on stage during the intermission. Yes, I should have read the program more carefully! D'oh!
CIMBALOM, not cimbolom, in Hungarian or English.
ReplyDeleteTo be pedantic: "In English, the cimbalom spelling is the most common, followed by the variants, derived from Austria-Hungary’s languages, cimbál, cymbalom, cymbalum, ţambal, tsymbaly and tsimbl etc."