Summer is Over, Here Comes Mahler!

I had a great summer relaxing awhile at the beach, seeing family and doing a lot of practicing. I put the violin down completely for an entire week this time, enough to get a break but not so long as to forget how to play it. I have to be careful because when I start up again, it is easy to overdo it and stress the muscles more than they can easily handle, especially when you have been playing the violin for about 45 years, as I have.

Still, I can't complain about spending some time at the beach, seeing an O's game with my son Eric, catching up with my son Stephen after his long trip with the Yale Whiffenpoofs, a male a cappella group who traveled around the world this summer. The summer concluded with a family reunion in Glen Summit, Pennsylvania, (near Wilkes Barre) where my dad and his brothers and sisters own a very old summer home. Every Labor Day we gather there for tennis tournaments, swimming in the lake, playing chamber music together and just catching up with aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. Even first cousins once removed, etc. This time I met some relatives I didn't even know I had! Pretty big family.

But I am glad to get back to work this week. I believe that I have only performed Mahler's Seventh Symphony once in my career. The violin part is unusually difficult, even for Mahler, I think. If I am not mistaken, the last time that we did Mahler with Marin, we played the Ninth Symphony. I thought that was a really good performance, so I am excited about this week.

Hope to see you there!

Rusty Musicians is Back!

Last night we had our second Rusty Musician event. This time it was right here in Baltimore, at the Meyerhoff. We rehearsed and then performed Brahm's Academic Festival Overture and the Finale from Stravinsky's Firebird Suite with four different groups of "Rusty Musicians." (The BSO was split into 2 orchestras, each BSO musician performed with two of the four groups of Rustys.)

Funny, though. Both of my stand partners, Tanesha and Gwendolyn weren't rusty at all! They both perform in Maryland orchestras (Columbia and Susquehanah), and I could tell that they both know how to be good orchestral players. I enjoyed sitting with them, hearing them play, and even talking just a bit. They both had children in the audience; Tanesha's son was right there smiling in the front row. He plays the violin too.

It is impressive and inspiring to me how much musicians like Tanesha and Gwendolyn are able to keep up their instrumental skills while working and being moms!

Summertime, and the livin' is easy

It certainly has been an eclectic summer, musically speaking! From Tchaikovsky to Michael Jackson to the Eagles and NOW, this week, to famed Baltimore composers Philip Glass and Frank Zappa. I practiced the Zappa music today; it looks like he probably admired Bela Bartok (I do too), as he uses lots of irregular meters, snap pizzicati (where we pull the string hard enough while plucking it to make it hit against the fingerboard of the violin) and glissandi (obviously sliding between notes).

But before we play Glass and Zappa Friday night, Thursday night we FINALLY get to perform Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. We were supposed to do it (three times, I think) in February, but there was that little blizzard or three we had. We lost all of those performances.

I love Porgy and Bess; besides all the wonderful songs that became so popular, there is lots of less familiar music that Gershwin composed in between the songs. After all, opera is mainly a piece of music that just happens to have a plot and characters, right? So while characters are performing some action other than singing, or the strange changes are occurring, instead of just waiting, we in the orchestra play some pretty cool stuff. Actually it is some of the most intense symphonic music that I know of by Gershwin, very moody and dark, action packed. Since we often perform only the songs from the opera, we don't get to play these fairly serious sections nearly as much. I am excited to rehearse and perform them this week.

And to top it all off, Marin will be back (a rarity in the summer!) to guide us through all the music Thursday and Friday. I'm looking forward to seeing her again.

Recapitulation

Playing Planet Earth last week was cool. Great photograph, of course, and nice music. I especially liked the way George Fenton, composer and conductor, worked the soprano's voice into the texture in such a beautiful, almost eerie way. It was also nice that at the conclusion of the concert Mr. Fenton expressed some optimism that, because we all value the beauty and diversity of the earth, we will begin to the solve the great problems that are challenging our environment. Let's hope so! (It was great this morning to see that BP may have gotten a better cap on the leaking well; as I write this they are still testing it.)

Our concert on Saturday, conducted by my good friend Christian Colberg, was really fun. Two great young soloists, Sirena Huang and Conrad Tao, playing Tchaikovsky's most famous two concertos, the Violin Concerto and the Piano Concerto No. 1, and his Capriccio Italien. Christian does a remarkable job on the podium, especially considering how much of a newcomer he still is to conducting professionally. Too bad he is leaving us at the end of this summer season to become the Principal Violist of the Cincinnati Symphony. We will miss him greatly!

If you missed it, you can see him in action again this Saturday at our FREE Artscape concert at 2 pm at the Meyerhoff, conducting us in the Capriccio Italien and a few other pieces. AND then that night we repeat last Saturday's program at Strathmore. Come check it out!

HOW ABOUT THAT NADAL?!

And Serena's not too shabby, either. The Orioles, on the other hand... so sad to see all the losses. It's not as if they aren't trying. Good thing there are lots of opportunities to win games, with 162 of them each year!

This week we are playing the soundtrack to Planet Earth Live video; should be pretty cool, as that was an amazing series.

Then come out and see Christian Colberg, BSO violist and talented conductor. lead us in an all Tchaikovsky program. I can't wait to see what he does with Capriccio Italien!

The End of the Beginning

Last night the Academy musicians, with occasional help from BSO musicians, performed an informal chamber music concert. It was a joy to watch and listen to them perform such a variety of works, many of which I didn't know. The lobby of the Meyerhoff made for a beautiful setting (as the sun was setting) for this event, and there were excellent desserts and drinks.

I particularly enjoyed listening to my group, Steve, Xiaobin, Naomi, Suzanne and Nancy, perform the first two movements of the Mozart Clarinet Quintet. They did a beautiful job of not only getting almost all the notes, but of playing musically with each other. It sounds as if they are interested in returning next year, perhaps!

This afternoon is the orchestra concert. Fun!

Mozart Clarinet Quintet

Last night I coached the group playing the Mozart Clarinet Quintet for the second time. They got four coaching sessions altogether from my friend Ivan Stefanovic and me.

Wow, what amazing progress! Steve, the clarinetist, has a beautiful sound and knows the piece well. This serves as somewhat of an anchor and helps everyone else. The string players, (Xiaobin and Naomi on violins, Suzanne on viola and Nancy on cello), have really worked on their sound, their overall tempo/rhythm/ensemble (their pitch was already quite good the first time I heard them!) these last few evenings. Noticing each others' dynamics, type of sound and articulation for given passages as well as rhythm, they now sound more cohesive as a group, though they were already accomplished instrumentalists to start.

They are now ready to perform the first two movements of the Quintet in an informal concert in the JMSH lobby tonight. I am excited for them, and looking forward to hearing them and other chamber groups play.