On my door I have a T-rex with the words, “Deadline: Grrrrrr” written across its fierce image. Which explains what I was doing during this morning’s coffee concert. However, I did run downstairs during intermission just to see the backstage scene.
The smokers were braving the cold outside the stage door.
Our receptionist, Christine, the voice you hear when you call the hall, warned me not to bother the musicians in the middle of the concert as I might disturb their “mojo.”
Mojo or not, a violinist whispered to me, “I love this conductor (Miguel Harth-Bedoya),” which is always a good sign.
John Tafoya, the SLSO librarian, was excited about the Revueltas that was to come. He told me La noche de los Mayas might have the most percussion parts, 13, that he has seen the SLSO perform. Among the percussion instruments involved is something that looks like a sea shell, which this weekend is blown by violist Chris Woehr. When you come tomorrow evening (and do come), you will see percussion amidst the orchestra, set up between the violas and cellos, as well as upstage.
I remembered a story John told me a couple weeks ago, and excuse me if I don’t get all the specifics right, but he was awaiting a copy of the conductor’s score – either from the publisher or from the San Francisco Symphony, where David Robertson conducted the work in November. He received a package that contained not a score, but galvanized pipes, like those a plumber would use. John wondered, what with the amount of percussion used in the piece, perhaps these were specifically for La noche. It’s not a crazy idea considering percussionists play brake drums, among other things. John asked percussionist John Kasica to have a look. Kasica beat on the pipes a few times with a mallet. Nope, nothing musical about them.
Which means, somewhere, a plumber is sitting with the score to Revueltas’ La noche de los Mayas, awaiting his missing pipes.
Don't forget the 35th-anniversary Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra concert Sunday afternoon. The world premiere of Robert Pound’s Fêtes and Fireworks, commissioned for this concert, will be performed. I just met Pound, who is a friend of YO conductor Scott Parkman. I told him I’ll be very interested to hear his new work. He replied, “So will I.” To which Scott added, nervously, “So will I.”
