I rarely attend orchestra concerts. Usually I’m the one conducting, and if I’m not then it’s probably my turn to look after the kids. Today was a rare exception.
Odds & Ends
ONE MORE TIME!!!
I’m about to enter my own personal hell and it has led to some reflection on repertoire and the rep choices that orchestras make.
Challenge = Opportunity – Undoing the Mess(iaen)
So you’re in a fine restaurant, order a dish, eat a little and decide not to finish or to send it back. Maybe you didn’t like it and wished you had asked more about it before ordering, maybe it was under cooked, or that you liked it but you were full. Question, if you were the chef would you march out to the table to make the customer eat it? Well that’s what Itzhak Perlman did recently in a recital after performing a Messiaen piece. Just like in a restaurant though, he could have instead offered the equivalent of a description of the dish or even better, a take out box…….
Let it Roll
I hate shopping at Menards. I’m supposed to “save big money” but I usually end up having a headache.
Putting the Dis in Discharge!
So for a holy mackerel story from October that seemed to slip by, a Champaign County Municipal Court Judge Susan Fornof-Lippencott sentenced a man to listen to Beethoven, Bach and Chopin for 20 hours or pay $150. The crime can’t have been too heinous, otherwise the sentence might have been to listen to Berg, Schoenberg and Ligeti!……..
Santa Baby…….
It’s Christmas. As usual it’s a sad Christmas. This is becoming way too common lately……
A Flat Brew…..
My class is winding up soon, I will miss this group. The students bring articles and blog posts to discuss each class and Amanda brought one about the Night Shift Series put on by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment which takes place late at night, where drinking beer is allowed and encouraged (musicians don’t get too excited)….if you’re in the audience……
Caveat Emptor!!!
Conductors are like reverse ostriches. We are constantly popping our heads up out of the sand, looking around, and trying to determine what orchestras are coming available, who’s looking for a new Music Director. We want that next job, the next claim to fame, etc. Buried deep on the New York Times website I noticed a little ditty. It seems that an orchestra that I am familiar with is parting ways with their M.D. Perhaps I should…….