September 2005 Archives

Yesterday morning when I arrived at the hall, the auditorium was filled with strange, eerie sounds: the recorded sounds that are part of Ingram Marshall’s Kingdom Come . Stage technician Josh Riggs gave me headphones to listen to the recording as he set off to take care of other duties. I listened to the sounds of a choir singing a hymn, with a haunting sense of space surrounding the voices. When I took the headphones off I joked that it sounded like the end to The White Album.

Last night, after the Wayne Shorter concert at the Touhill, violinist Lorraine Glass-Harris looked as though a permanent smile had been affixed to her. She was one of the 26 members of the orchestra who played with the Shorter Quartet. I asked her, “Was it great?” “Oh,” she said through that fresh new smile, “Great doesn’t do it. It was much, much, much more than great.”

Orli Shaham was more than ready to get to work this morning. She was at the keyboard early filling the auditorium (the sound ebbing into the foyer) with Brahms.

It’s not too often the little rehearsal speakers in our offices come on so late in the afternoon as they did today. Many of us were slightly perplexed. What’s going on?

Then we heard David Robertson introduce Wayne Shorter to the members of the SLSO who will be performing with the Wayne Shorter Quartet at UM-St. Louis Wednesday night (the first Fusion Series concert).

And then there was a communal, “Cool,” at the idea of Wayne Shorter being in the house.

The woman behind us was shouting -- unrestrained bravos punctuated with an occasional “Yeah!” and “Wow!” -- at the finale to John Adams’ Harmonielehre.

Development department dervish Faith Maddy began to tell me of how many Opening Week functions she’s been to in the last few days, but then ran out of breath.

There’s a soiree over at the Pulitzer and Contemporary courtyard tonight before David Robertson gives his Opening Night PreConcert Perspective at 7pm. So you can do the appetizers and chardonnay social swirl, walk over to Powell and have David provide you with some ways of listening to the program. Then comes the music. He gives a "Perspective" one hour before each concert this weekend. Enjoy the concerts. Enjoy the weekend.

As musicians were gathering for the Harmonielehre rehearsal this afternoon, I noticed percussionist John Kasica playing lightly with a mallet on an assortment of – what looked like to me, at first – some industrial size hubcaps. The sound he made was very non-industrial-like, however, with soft, liquid tones. He plays these in the Claude Vivier piece Lonely Child, accompanying soprano Dawn Upshaw.

Yesterday afternoon there was all the bustle of a lot of musicians arriving to rehearse a big piece. The big piece is John Adams’ Harmonielehre, which along with all the flutes and piccolos and clarinets and bassoons and horns and trombones and trumpets it calls for – of which there is an ample number of each – there’s a lot of percussion. Glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimbas, different types of cymbals, tubular bells, xylophone, and a gong among other assorted percussive instruments.

Just like everybody else Conductor Nic McGegan has his own website. He recently introduced a forum page and a current topic for discussion is late-night dining. Since McGegan is on the road a lot, and because he loves food, he is asking for tips on where an itinerant conductor might find a decent meal after a vigorous evening leading major orchestras through baroque repertoire. In the coming months he’ll be up late in Stavanger (Norway), Atlanta, Kansas City, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and his home base of Berkeley and the Bay Area. And, on Friday and Saturday, October 21 and 22, St. Louis. Already a respondent has assured him that there are alternatives to steak in Kansas City (although I would add he should never miss out on the rib-eatin' opportunities there -- makes up for the bad baseball).

So, check out Maestro McGegan’s site at www.nicholasmcgegan.com, and if you have a place you think he should try in the Lou in the wee small hours – or in Stavanger, Norway, for that matter – let him know.

A generous house came to Powell Symphony Hall for the Sunday Katrina Benefit Concert. Approximately $13,000 was raised, to be distributed to the American Red Cross as well as relief funds for musicians impacted by the disaster organized by the American Symphony Orchestra League and the American Federation of Musicians.

In terms of music, many staffers have commented on the Brahms Piano Trio performed by Orli Shaham, David Halen and Daniel Lee – “incredible,” “amazing,” “extraordinary” were some of the adjectives used -- and the hall was rockin’ to the “When the Saints Come Marching In” finale.

My first SLSO concert was the summer of ’93, which was the summer I moved here and the summer of the Great Flood. It was a benefit concert for the victims of what was – at that time – a nearly unimaginable disaster. The concert was held in the Fox Theatre, and I remember Leonard Slatkin conducted and André Watts appeared as soloist. The program concluded with a rousing “Ode to Joy” with the Saint Louis Symphony Chorus. I remember thinking how impressive it was to have such a group of artists who were so terrific musically and whose hearts were so clearly in the right place.

I saw Stage Manager Mike Lynch first thing this morning and asked him, “Is there going to be a Forest Park concert tonight?”

He shook his head. “Instead of spending seven hours building a stage we should have built an ark.”

Let’s see. David Robertson speaks in Des Peres tonight along with Cynthia Brinkley and Randy Adams for a Q&A session with the audience. A concert tomorrow night at Forest Park. A Hurricane Katrina benefit concert at Powell on Sunday afternoon. A student concert next Thursday night. Opening Weekend next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Yep, no rest for…

David Halen was backstage this morning preparing for a full day of auditions for a new associate concertmaster. Since the person selected will be sitting next to Concertmaster Halen on stage, part of the audition process involves David playing music with the various candidates. David looked pretty cool about this.

David Robertson throws the ceremonial first pitch at Busch tonight before the Cards-Pirates contest. I hear he’s been practicing. I hope so. Of course, the last time Mark McGwire was here to throw out the first ball, he threw it over the catcher's head. Good to keep things in perspective. No pressure.

So much loss.

Wendy Bush leaves the staff of the SLSO this week. She has served as Randy Adams’ assistant here since 2001, and previous to that worked with him when he was in the banking industry. She’s taking a position to work for the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington, DC. As she told me, “I wanted to serve my country.”

We were shocked to learn of the loss of our office custodian Earnest Hurt over the holiday weekend. Earnest suffered from diabetes, which appears to have been the cause of his death.

The last two evenings, as I left the building, there was much more commotion -- and anxiety -- around the hall than usual at those hours. Youth Orchestra auditions in progress. Nietzsche wrote that there is nothing as serious as a child at play. I will amend that to few things as serious, anxious, focused and in torment as young musicians before an audition.

I’ve been thinking about my session with trombonists Tim Myers and Steve Lange (see previous posting). With their other section member, Gerry Pagano, they purchased new instruments, a decision made together after many hours trying out those instruments last summer. They were seeking not only a uniformity of sound, but a quality of sound that promises to be distinctive this season.