French Character

Many of the musicians were feeling very French today, what with rehearsing a program of Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Debussy and Franck, and under the baton of Yan Pascal Tortelier. Tortelier speaks a very clear English, but with intonations that sound almost like a parody of a French accent, as if he actually grew up as Jerry Thornbush from Hoboken and took on the persona of a French conductor. I tried to coax Concertmaster David Halen toward my double-identity theory, but he wouldn't bite. "No," David said, "he's just very French." And, as if to confirm, harpist Frances Tietov informed me, "He even called me Madame."