December 2006 Archives

For the last post of 2006, I’ll tell you about the day ahead, the day behind, and anticipation of a couple days into the future.

The funniest thing all day was when I said to Mike Lynch (you know, stage manager, leader of the Henchmen), “Do you want that big screen up there?”

The big screen is for the Chaplin double feature Friday and Saturday, The Idle Class and The Kid. The orchestra has been rehearsing most of the day. The most exciting thing to report from these rehearsals was the sound of bongos that came from the stage. It’s my belief that just about any concert with bongos in it is going to be fabulous.

Chaplin and Coogan in The Kid

I’m off to my own private Idaho for Christmas. My next post will be Thursday, December 28. Until then, fond wishes to all, and get your tickets for the Chaplin double feature, The Kid and The Idle Class, with David Robertson conducting the Orchestra playing Chaplin’s own scores. And popcorn!: December 29 & 30. When David and the Orchestra played Chaplin’s City Lights last year it was one of the best times I’ve had at Powell Symphony Hall ever. And I’ve had a lot of fun here over the years.

I was asked about the ancient card catalogue I referred to in my last post. In the ancient card catalogue there are entries that go back to concerts conducted by Max Zach at the beginning of the last century. These are all typed. For those of you of a certain generation, there used to be these things called typewriters that didn’t plug into anything. One developed very strong fingers using these machines, strong and calloused enough to search through card catalogues without too many paper cuts.

I was googling away, trying to find out who E. Murphy was, the first to conduct Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra with the SLSO. David Robertson conducts the work on January 20 and 21. Our ancient card catalogue provides first initials for guest artists, which is what sends me a-googling when I am preparing program information.

From Wall Street Journal critic Terry Teachout’s list of favorite Christmas records, from his blog “About Last Night”:

My colleague Yvonne Holland told me about the fantastic time she had at A Gospel Christmas last night. A full house at Powell, with guest artist Pastor Shirley Caesar leading the congregation (an appropriate word for A Gospel Christmas audience, especially with Pastor Shirley at the mike – did she preach? I asked Yvonne; “Oh yes,” she told me, “She even said, ‘You know what happens if you give a preacher a microphone.’”). Yvonne said that the second half of the program, which featured Pastor Caesar and the Caesar Singers with the In Unison Chorus, was a totally interactive affair, with the sold-out house in full voice. “Shirley Caesar is a legend,” Yvonne told me, and 2700 people singing “O Come, All Ye Faithful” an unforgettable moment.

I think this will make my second entry in one year expressing the glee of hearing the music that opens Love and Death, also known as Prokofiev’s Troika from Lt. Kije Suite, at Powell Hall. The rehearsal for the Holiday Concerts was just completed, Scott Parkman conducting. I was backstage as a line of St. Louis Children’s Choirs singers filed in – all serious and nervous and giddy. The Prokofiev came later, with its jangly bells and bouncy rhythms that seem to be rushing you off to love or death or Christmas. For the Holiday Concerts it is part of a medley of Sleigh Rides, sandwiched between Mozart and Leroy Anderson (that’s the one with the great whip action).

“Let’s kill Napoleon!”

I had lunch with Gary Smith yesterday, SLSO trumpeter for the last 41 years, who is retiring at the end of this season. Gary is another musician I have had the privilege of being in an ongoing conversation with for many years. He knows the West, where he camps and hikes in the summers, and he knows western writers such as Wallace Stegner, William Kittredge and Tom McGuane. Since I grew up in that part of the world, it's nice to connect with people who know the same places and names.

One must always veer toward the side of caution when reporting the goings-on of an office holiday party, but to the best of my knowledge everyone exhibited appropriate, and not untoward, behavior.

We are experiencing the calm before the Holiday Concerts storm.

I am a huge Ingmar Bergman fan and was delighted to read of a documentary that has just been released in the United States about the great film director, who is now in his 80s, living alone on the island of Faro, where he made so many of his most penetrating works, including Persona and Scenes from a Marriage.

When I came in from the cold this morning, Andre Watts was rehearsing alone on stage. As I waited for the elevator, the esteemed pianist, having completed his early morning preparations, passed by. “Good morning,” I said.

I probably don’t need to explain what extras are, because it is the most self-explanatory word. When the orchestra needs more musicians for a particular work on a particular weekend, they hire extras. You can find who is playing each week, both among the full-time orchestra and extra players, on the website where you find the program notes. Orchestra Personnel Manager Andrea Drinkall sends me rosters for each piece each week, as she’s pretty much in charge of locating and hiring who might be needed. I’m sure if you’re an SLSO fan you’ve gotten to recognize some of the extras regulars: violinist Jane Price, percussionists Henry Claude and Jason Niehoff, for example.

For the last two days Extras auditions have been held, which means instead of hearing 40 trombones in various states of Bolero ecstasy throughout the day, we’ve been hearing a full assortment of instruments. So far today I’ve heard strings, clarinets and a saxophone.

Before the big freeze hit, I was hanging around the auditorium in-between rehearsals and noticed that inside nearly all the violin and viola cases there were photos affixed. So when upper-string players open their cases, they see snapshots of: partners, spouses, children, dogs and at least one parrot – in a very random sampling.

Powell Symphony Hall is open for business. The streets are being cleared. The parking lots are plowed. Find shelter from the storm with music that is made just for that.