November 2007 Archives

Bramwell Tovey throws himself into his conducting with great vigor and spirit. As proof, I was shown the two batons he damaged on Thursday evening. They’ve been repaired (a little tape, a couple rubber bands), but I understand that some of the musicians may require safety goggles for Friday and Saturday.

I have joined the ranks of the fallen among my colleagues at the symphony. Colds, sore throats, flu. I'm hoping to be back posting on Friday. Meanwhile, lots of great music around town over the next few days: Rhapsody in Blue, etc. at Powell tonight and through Saturday; Edgar Meyer and Mike Marshall at the Touhill Sunday afternoon; a Pulitzer program next Wednesday. You like music? We got it all different shapes and styles and venues. Go.

I didn’t have any good eavesdropping time today, but I did hear lots of laughter from the stage with Bramwell Tovey at the podium. Laughter is always a good sign. I saw oboist Phil Ross at the end of the day, and he gave Tovey a big thumbs up.

Our answer to “What to do with family visiting for Thanksgiving?” included a trip to the Cahokia Mounds and Mexican food at Ramon’s; art excursions to the Pulitzer, Contemporary, and Kemper (the “Blonde” show was a big hit); and the Saturday night Youth Orchestra concert, which proved to be a delight to all. When Holly Jenkins played the violin solo in Shostakovich’s First Symphony, my wife turned to me wide-eyed and mouthed: “Wow.”

A Happy Thanksgiving to all. My next post will be Monday, November 26.

With the 40th anniversary of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra’s move to Powell Symphony Hall upon us, I remember former SLSO trumpet player Gary Smith telling me about when the orchestra played at the Kiel Opera House. During some concerts, the NBA St. Louis Hawks would be playing right next door, which is just one reason why the orchestra moved.

I saw my friend Chris King at intermission Friday morning. Chris was a frequent contributor to the local newsweekly where I was formerly employed. Chris is now editor of the St. Louis American and has written some articles for Playbill too.

Maybe it is because we are still so near to All Souls’ Day, the Day of the Dead, and the many other ancient rituals celebrated at harvest time when, it seems, the demarcations between the spirits and the living are most porous -- maybe because of that the late Maestro Hans Vonk has been so much in our minds of late.

Confirmed. They were here. I saw them. And I saw the schoolchildren enjoying the tales of Scheherazade as told by Rimsky-Korsakov and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

An SLSO fan writes: subject heading, “Saturday Night; WOW!”

In its final movment, it is as if Mahler has constructed a great gorgeous picture that dissolves into the bright light of Isabel Leonard.

Go!

Many conductors take to song as they try to convey to an orchestra the sound in their heads that they want to hear in their ears. And those singing styles are as diverse as the personalities that take to the podium.

An SLSO fan wrote in asking me about the time the SLSO performed Philip Glass’ Double Timpani Concerto. I remember it well. I was writing for a local weekly and interviewed Glass, guest timpanist Jonathan Haas and SLSO Principal Timpani Richard Holmes to preview the concerts. April 6-8, 2001, this place rocked. The work was both visually and musically stunning, with Haas and Holmes at center stage, with each playing a set of timpani, each shifting and tuning and pedaling on the fly. I remember at intermission, after the long ovation, one veteran concertgoer saying to the other: “I never thought I’d like a work by Philip Glass.” (Yes!) I just looked it up again and saw it was the world premiere.

This morning there were 52 busloads of schoolchildren who came to hear the SLSO play Scheherazade. Tomorrow: 55 busloads. Pretty popular number that Scheherazade.

At the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, like most workplaces on Monday morning, the discussion turns to the football of Sunday afternoon. And those discussions have evolved over recent years to the subject not of what occurred between any number of teams on the gridiron, but what happened among those teams that is pertinent to your fantasy team.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Liz Wienke -- who in the SLSO’s multimedia production of Musique pour les soupers du Roi Ubu played a character that was equal parts Groucho, Bip, Chaplin, and Joel Grey as the Emcee in Cabaret a couple weeks back – will not be dancing in her I Dream of Jeannie costume during this weekend’s performance of Scheherazade.

It’s going to be a great concert anyway. Come hear it.

I can’t confirm who said it, but Concertmaster David Halen agrees with me that it is a question that needs to be asked each week.

It was after the morning Scheherazade rehearsal, which, by the way, even through the little speaker in my office, really sizzled, someone on stage said, “Is it sexy enough?”