January 2007 Archives

A voice from the blogopshere:

Many, many young people were bundled from head to toe -- hood, hats, gloves, hats, scarves, thick socks, bulky winter coats – oh there are some good St. Louis Moms out there getting their children ready for school and for a wintry visit to Powell this morning. They were rewarded with Rossini, Brahms and Beethoven (the last two movements of the Fifth Symphony). They learned about opposites: long and short (How long do you stay in the cold? Not long!), loud and soft, high and low, slow and fast (You get up in the morning slow and you come home fast.) Well, that wasn’t the lesson but I have a head full of DayQuil and it’s the best I can do.

Overheard during this morning’s rehearsal of John Cage’s Credo in US, which will be performed at the Pulitzer this Wednesday and Thursday evenings:

I am under the weather. Hope to be back on Monday.

If Bryan Ferry had grown up Russian with a flair for Shostakovich, I think he might have looked a lot like this week’s guest conductor, Vassily Sinaisky (see homepage). Or vice versa.

David Robertson backstage just before the resumption of morning rehearsal, with enthusiasm: “Did you see the big hammer for the Berg?”

See January 11 post, “Seen & Heard”

You know you’re going to hear something amazing when just about the time the rehearsal speaker in your office clicks on, a colleague comes by and says “Get ready.”

And then you hear something amazing: Alban Berg’s Three Pieces.

Starlings take refuge in the sunlight along an eighth floor window ledge, meaning it’s bloody cold outside.

Things I have seen the last couple days:

We received a response to the SymphonEminder that was more than a trifle obscure. In case you don’t receive one, the Eminder is a newsletter we put together on a regular basis to offer up information about upcoming concerts, a calendar of Community Partnership concerts, some news about the SLSO and whatever else might fit. We send this out to a bunch of people who are on the list (you can get on the list too, just click on Eminder on the homepage) and we sometimes hear back from the recipients.

One of the best things about this job is that I get to walk by the auditorium and hear Heidi Harris, with piano accompaniment, on stage rehearsing the Wieniawski Violin Concerto No. 2.

One of the worst things is that I don’t get to stay there and listen the rest of the day.

A pair of women’s shoes, slip-ons, with a buckle and black velvety material, backstage near a cello travel crate. Someone played right out of her shoes.

She still has that impish look of “Oh boy!” when she’s listening to the orchestra just before she takes off into the concerto.

You know that the string players are facing a challenging piece of music when just about the whole string ensemble is on stage a good 15 minutes before rehearsal bowing vigorously over a few thorny passages. Violins and viola -- Alison Harney, Kristin Ahlstrom, Silvian Iticovici and Shannon Farrell -- were standing at center stage like a chamber ensemble working to get it right amidst all the other strings making all the other string sounds.

Playing in an orchestra takes intense concentration, which is why I tread lightly in between rehearsals, whether backstage or onstage. Some players are working over a worrisome part, some are going through a sort of post-rehearsal cool down or are gearing themselves for the next go at it, even as others are as laid back as can be – or at least present themselves as such.