Sprightly

Pleasant conductors are all alike; Every insufferable conductor is insufferable in his own way. My apologies to Tolstoy, but that is certainly how it seems when I'm sitting through an interminable rehearsal under an insufferable maestro. As time rolls along, I find myself more often preoccupied with the bad and not noticing the good, especially when dealing with conductors, where it has gotten so that the maestro who can avoid irritating me one way or another is like the thumb-tack I didn't step on – completely unremarkable. It sure feels as if I've been pulling a lot of tacks out of my toes lately. What I really wanted to write about is obliquely related and amounts to little more than a few random thoughts I wish someone better equipped than I would expand upon. Several weeks ago now we played concerts with Mitsuko Uchida, who led two Mozart piano concertos from the keyboard. Also on the program was the Mozart Divertimento in F major for strings, which we played sans cond...

SCHUBERT Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, D. 759 (Unfinished) GOLIJOV She Was Here INTERMISSION COPLAND Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson GOLIJOV How Slow The Wind COPLAND Suite from Appalachian Spring (chamber version) Robert Spano, Conductor Jessica Rivera, Soprano Once while on tour in a German speaking country (well, OK, Germany) we were all invited to a swanky reception, the sort of thing that looked too good to pass up in spite of some nagging doubts on my part. After a circuit of the buffet table, an ordeal in and of itself – I've stopped going to orchestra functions, so I'm not sure if anyone has picked up the torch, but some of those old timers could turn it up a notch or two in the presence of free food – having paid for every moment of hesitation with a friendly blow to the ribs from a member of the violin section, I managed escape with a full plate, grab a drink and secure a seat at an out of the way table. Finally having the chance to examine the bounty I came away with, I ...

My apologies for the dearth of posts recently. For one reason or another. the orchestra hasn't been drawing my interest of late. Last week Charles Dutoit came to town and conducted Shostakovitch 11 (The Year 1905), along with the Rachmaninoff 2nd piano concerto. I generally like what Dutoit does, but something about his antics on the podium bring to mind the lion tamer, or perhaps the matador – something to do with subduing supposedly 'wild' animals anyway. Suffice it to say, we did our beastly best for him. Some reprehensible offstage antics (nothing to do with Dutoit) evoked 1924 more than 1905 and put a pretty bad spin on the whole week for me. The rest of this post I imagine will prove interesting only to bassists. The layperson is warned to proceed at the risk of extreme boredom. * * * Playing the bass tends to bring to the surface any issues one might have with inferiority. These are often successfully sidestepped at 'bass only' events such as the solo recital...

Sometimes, if you choose the right right concerts for a leave of absence they come with a bonanza of time off. Such was the case for me in January when I took a leave for the two concerts in New York and ended up with three weeks off. Months ago a local chamber group invited me to play with them and I jumped at the chance to be a big fish in Highland Park Illinois rather than just another krill in New York. Of course I ended up missing out on much of the hoopla, ceremony and pageantry surrounding the eighty-fifth birthday of Maestro Boulez, which was too bad, because I really am fond of him. I'll do my best to stick around for his hundred and seventieth, which might be the year I finally qualify for a full pension anyway. So instead of touring to New York, I stayed home and played some bass music, including the Rossini Duetto for cello and double bass, a silly but charming piece of fluff, if there ever was one – in the double bass repertoire there are plenty, by the way. For me, t...

Every once in a while I get a question from a reader. Clive sent me the following, which I thought worthy of a post. During the rehearsals I have watched, the orchestra plays through the work, apparently mostly to the conductors satisfaction. The conductor stops a occasionally, explains some points to the players, who seem to get it and make notes on their music, and then they move on. I have been wondering how the orchestra gets to this point of near perfection (at least from the point of view of the conductor). Is the open rehearsal that we see the end result of several earlier rehearsals? Does each section rehearse separately with the section leader? If there is a good book that describes the rehearsal process I would love a recommendation. As far as I can recall, open rehearsals are always the final rehearsals before a concert. In a typical week, we have three or four rehearsals, so the perfection of which you speak (in so far as it is not illusory) comes as the result of what has ...

A group I have played with for the past seven years, one I can actually name, has a few performances of note coming up. In fact, it seems as if the '09 ' - '10 season might mark the beginning of a 'golden age' for the Gunnelpumpers with more performances than we have done in quite a while. Brainchild of bassist Doug Johnson, the Gunnelpumers are best described by the subtitle on the band's myspace page: music by accident . Other band members include bassist Mathew Golombisky, percussionists Randy Farr, Douglas Brush and Quin Kirchner, along with Guitarist John Meyer. The group has also included a host of stellar guest artists over the years. One of the most interesting things about the group is seeing who will show up for any given performance. One of the best things is that we almost never rehearse. We might have had one, maybe two over the past seven years. More info about the Gunnelpumpers, including music and photos, may be found here . The Gunnelpumpers wil...

TCHAIKOVSKY The Storm [L'Orage], Op. 76 TCHAIKOVSKY Selections from The Snow Maiden, Op. 12 Alex Balestrieri, Narrator ----INTERMISSION---- TCHAIKOVSKY Selections from Swan Lake, Op. 20 Alexander Polianichko, Conductor Redmoon Theater Frank Maugeri, Artistic Director Alex Balestrieri, Narrator All of the concerts I've played since the week of Thanksgiving have been in the dark (sometimes both literally and figuratively) with stand lights and visual aids. I had the week conducted by Nicholas Kramer off, so I have no idea if they had pole dancers and a laser light show for those performances. It certainly seems as if we are resorting to a lot of smoke and mirrors of late. Also, since my night vision really sucks, I find playing in the dark kind of a drag. The stand lights never seem bright enough. One place I could have done with less light was on the podium. Polianichko pitched a couple of no-hitters in the four performances. I think it was the Selmer Musical Instrument Company ...