Sprightly

Bernard Labadie, conductor Benedetto Lupo, piano Haydn - Symphony No. 94 (Surprise) Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 18 Mozart - Chaconne from Idomeneo Mozart - Symphony No. 39 Wordy conductors arrive at our concert hall carrying their verbiage like the penitent's burden. Already looking at an uphill trek to Golgotha, the early music specialist ascending our podium might fair better lightening his load a bit. While it may be possible to teach an old dog new tricks, it is probably wise not to talk to him about about it. Bernard Labadie brought with him some good ideas and a different viewpoint than we are accustomed to. Less vibrato, more open strings, holding off on the sostenuto , among other things, are IMO valid suggestions. I have no problem with trying to play something differently. In fact I think playing it the same old way causes me more heartburn these days. Unfortunately, the preponderance of instructions, suggestions, reminders, admonishments, notifications, rejoinders, talk...

As we know, There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know There are known unknowns. That is to say We know there are some things We do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, The ones we don't know We don't know. Donald Rumsfeld —Feb. 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing Ellington - Three Black Kings Intermission Turnage & Scofield - Scorched for Jazz Trio and Orchestra (Redacted) Symphony Orchestra Steven Sloane, conductor John Scofield, guitar John Patitucci, bass Peter Erskine, drums Donald Harrison, alto saxophone Willie Pickens, piano Rodgers and Hammerstein at the Movies (Redacted) Symphony Orchestra Emil de Cou, conductor A fine week to begin blogging again. A lot of interesting things have gone on. The most interesting unfortunately, if I value my metaphorical kneecaps, figuratively speaking, I better not mention. The Ellington/Turnage&Scofield show brought a stellar group of musicians to the front of our stage. These...

Stravinsky - Symphony in Three Movements Stravinsky - Four Studies for Orchestra Carter - Réflexions Varèse - Ionisation Varèse - Amériques Janácek - Sinfonietta Szymanowski - Violin Concerto No. 1 Stravinsky - Pulcinella Frank Peter Zimmermann, violin Roxana Constantinescu, mezzo-soprano Nicholas Phan, tenor Kyle Ketelsen, bass-baritone Boulez came to town with a heap of ‘modern’ music. Maybe that should be amended to ‘scary’ modern music seeing how the concerts were so poorly attended, both here and in that somewhat larger city to the east. Too bad really, since I’m quite fond of Ameriques – the savagery of the piece is right in our wheelhouse! The Stravinsky pieces were all recorded for our (Grammy winning!) in-house label [Redacted] Resound. (That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?) Sometimes Boulez’s nonchalance and understated approach has had a very positive, calming effect, the perfect antidote to Solti or that other guy who followed him. But now that we ha...

Lincoln Bicentennial Tribute Root - The Battle Cry of Freedom Payne & Bishop - Home, Sweet Home Harris - Symphony No. 6 (Gettysburg) Bennett - Selections from Abraham Lincoln (A Likeness in Symphony Form) Copland - Lincoln Portrait Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 James Gaffigan, conductor James Earl Jones, narrator Kevin Gudahl, speaker Gerard McBurney, speaker I think the last time our orchestra performed the Lincoln Portrait the junior senator from our state did the narration. Since he went on to bigger and better things James Earl Jones stepped in and schooled everybody in the meaning of star power. Still, having the current junior senator do the honors might have made for an entertaining evening. Program notes or a post-concert press conference could have clarified and revised the senator’s narration. Besides, we might have been able to boast hosting one of his final public appearances. Not sure what Beethoven 5 was doing on this concert – Lincoln’s favorite piece? ...

The Forbidden Concert Hall Friday, February 13 Beijing We may have finally found a venue on this tour to match the massive inhuman scale of our repertoire. While exploring Tianamen square I kept bumping into the ghost of Anton Bruckner. Out for a stroll, hands clasped behind his back, the venerable composer nodded in silent approval, dreaming of ways to subjugate another string section beneath his musical fist of iron. It seems as if regular-old socialists and their ‘national’ brethren share some taste in architecture. The scheduled 2-hour morning rehearsal was converted to one of the 45-minute pre concert warm-ups so I did not arrive in the vicinity of the ‘Egg’ (National Center for the Performing Arts) until about 4 in the afternoon. I enjoy arriving at a new concert hall alone, not with the group, in part to see how these architectural marvels yield up their secrets to a more or less ordinary person encountering them with the modest goal of entering, perhaps finding a bathroom, my i...

Shanghaied... If someone on the street in Shanghai offers to take you to a tea ceremony or an art gallery, my advice would be to respectfully decline, that is if you value the contents of your pocket book. Unfortunately, anybody who wants to ‘practice English’ is probably up to no good. Having made a brutally honest assessment of my appeal to members of either sex, I have to conclude the countless offers for more personal sorts of attention attracted while walking alone were nefarious as well. Another depressing fact: the 300 kph (!) train ride from the airport is more than 10x faster than the creaky, lurching transit system in my hometown. Tuesday, February 10 Breakfast: thank heaven for the in-room coffee maker! Another rehearsal this morning, devoted to Bruckner and Haydn. Graciously acknowledging the presence of many Shanghai musicians and students, Haitink changed his usual rehearsal routine and offered up a read-through of the Bruckner 7 Finale before hitting the same old spo...

Cursed! Friday, February 6 Hong Kong. Breakfast of fruit in my room, compliments of the hotel. Afterwards, another rehearsal 11 – 1 devoted to Mozart and Strauss. Same passages covered as at previous rehearsal in Tokyo. On my way out the door after finishing, I glance at my watch. It’s 11:23. There were some warnings about the acoustics at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. It’s sort of a smallish place and the sound was not too clear, although I’m not convinced we did our best to adjust our playing to the room. There is no backstage there to speak of, so much of our stuff had to be stored at the hotel, which was a bit of a drag. After the brief rehearsal, while soaking up some of the nice warm sunny weather, a man in a turban approached me, introduced himself as a ‘Yogi from India’ and began telling me I had a lucky face, along with a number of other insightful observations about my personality – all of them way, way off. This shifty-eyed gentleman was impossible to get rid of, an...