I understand the need for the familiar, especially when our day-to-day lives bristle with so much that is unfamiliar in this (choose one) digital, virtual, frenzied, hyper-speed, techno age. Yet there is still the thrill of something new, unheard, unmediated.
Our remarkably adaptable and capable and amicable and gregarious stage hands often show up in the slso blog, partly because they contain all the qualities just listed, and because the behind-the-scenes stuff they do is really interesting, and because they tell great stories, and because they’re usually the first people I see every morning.
More news from New York:
Diana Haskell sent in this message Monday morning, but was pre-empted by the New York Times review. Here is her Carnegie report:
The Carnegie review from Mr. Tommasini of the Times.
I went to the NY Times website and found this review of the Friday night Debussy/Monet program at Carnegie, which comes via the Associated Press.
Friday evening was labeled "the Night of Too Many Concerts" by Alex Ross in The New Yorker (November 21): conductor Reinbert de Leeuw presenting the Alan Berg Chamber Concerto at the Miller Theatre; Leon Botstein and the American Symphony performing Witold Lutoslawksi's Symphony No. 3 at Avery Fisher Hall; David Robertson and the SLSO performing Seeing Debussy, Hearing Monet at Carnegie Hall; and, reports Concertmaster David Halen, Alanis Morissette was singing just across the street. "Nothing but New York style concerts," Halen joked, "not a New World Symphony to be found."
I have received the most widely diverse comments about the Fusion program over the last couple days via email. From “Outstanding! David Robertson is a genius” to “I was bored out of my skull.” And then all opinions in between.
Tonight the Seeing Debussy, Hearing Monet program is performed in Carnegie Hall. If I hear from members of the orchestra in New York this weekend, I’ll share with you their reactions.
It is the morning after the Fusion concert at Touhill and I suspect there will be many more visits than usual to Monet’s Water Lilies at the St. Louis Art Museum this weekend. David Robertson served as conductor, presenter, teacher, intellectual force. With projections from Monet’s “Water Lilies” and “Morning on the Seine” series, he connected the Impressionist painter with his contemporaries, especially Debussy and Mallarmé, and made those connections in the most intriguing and inspiring ways. By the time the orchestra played Jeux, a work that might on any other occasion receive mild audience disdain because of its "modern" tendencies, the sold-out house was eager for it (at least that’s what my colleague Richard Ashburner and I observed).
I had the feeling that David Robertson was on his game right away in the morning rehearsal of Debussy. (By the way, the Fusion concert at Touhill tomorrow night is sold out!) The metaphors were fast and inventive. David translated a French phrase as “the feeling of having one too many valiums.” He told the musicians to play one passage “kind of like old Marlon Brando, like there’s no voice left after 40 years of chain smoking.”
Check out this feature by Mark Swed in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times.
http://www.calendarlive.com/music/swed/cl-ca-robertson13nov13,2,2216857.story
Many years ago in Montana I was in writng workshops with the poet Richard Hugo. Hugo was an unforgettably enigmatic teacher. He was also quite passionate, and specific, about the things he loved. He loved poetry. He loved fishing (this was Montana, home of blue-ribbon trout streams). He loved baseball, Bartok and Mozart.
“I believe in God, Mozart, and Beethoven.” – Richard Wagner
We’ve got two out of three confirmed this weekend. And as the song goes, two out of three ain’t bad.
Just now, waiting for the elevator, I could hear Philippe Jordan and the orchestra ripping through the Beethoven 7 on stage while Piotr Anderszewski rehearsed the Mozart concerto in the Green Room. Kind of an iPod shuffle without the technology.
I ran into Concertmaster David Halen after the orchestra rehearsed the Beethoven 7 with guest conductor Philippe Jordan this morning. The Seventh Symphony being one of the war horses, I joked, “You know how to play that one. You can go home.”
David said, “It’s really great actually to be able to rehearse this piece. This conductor really has some ideas.”
I have observed in my brief time here at the SLSO that whenever students are given the opportunity to applaud the different sections of the orchestra at the close of education concerts, the percussion section always gets the bulk of the applause.
1) Sunday morning after brunch at Duff’s, Michelle DeYoung sitting outside in a leather jacket and all that hair.
The New Yorker (October 31) lists in its “On the Horizon” notes of upcoming events: “At Carnegie Hall, David Robertson conducts the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in ‘Seeing Debussy, Hearing Monet,’ which features performances of ‘Prélude à l’Après-Midi d’un Faune’ and ‘Jeux’ along with a discussion exploring Impressionism and French music and painting accompanied by projections of Monet’s works.”
David Robertson overheard during Mozart rehearsal: “Resist the crescendo here… Break out!”
Yesterday we had busloads of schoolchildren for Young People’s Concerts (grades 4-6). Scott Parkman entertained and educated (the two aren’t mutually exclusive) the 9:30 group; David Robertson had the 11am shift. They both managed to get a whole lot of kids to stamp their feet in time to Prokofiev.
David Robertson and members of the SLSO brass and percussion performed the National Anthem at the Rams game this past Sunday. In the midst of all the football mania, a fan along the sideline reached over to shake David’s hand. He introduced himself as Rodger Guebert, not only a diehard Rams fan, but a Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra subscriber. An SLSO fan. Rodger expressed how glad he was that David was the new Music Director. A photo was taken, which I share here.
