A conductor’s life is a strange one. A couple days home and the next thing I know I’m off to the airport. Greetings from Calgary.
2 1/2 days home is not enough, especially when you have a loving wife and two kids. But one has to make some money and keep the mortgage hounds at bay, so I find myself in Calgary working with the Calgary Philharmonic. This is quite a change from Charlotte on about 18 different levels. The weather, the accent, the rep, the hall, etc. I first notice the difference at Immigration control.
Now for the record, Canadian Immigration hates me. I’m not sure why. I hear rumour that they’re pretty strict with everyone but I can’t attest to that. I just know that every time I go through Canadian Immigration I get the 3rd degree. Customs can be even worse. When I used to bring my old bike along (the one that doesn’t come apart and live in it’s own suitcase) it got rather comical at times:
“So, what do you have there?”
“My bike.”
“So, what are you going to do with it?”
“Ride it.”
I’m serious, that conversation happened more than once. It’s especially welcome @ 11:30 pm when I’m exhausted from a long flight and just want to get to my hotel. No matter, I get here, pretend to get some sleep, and then go into rehearsal with the CPO.
The CPO inhabits a nice hall designed by the same folk who did the Winspear Centre in Edmonton. Acoustics are good, but I’m having a little trouble adjusting to the sound right on stage. It sounds a bit diffuse but I’m sure I’ll get used to it. On the docket is Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances. This is a fabulous piece of music that is for some reason almost unknown to the public. Every time I perform it the various orchestras say that it has been a long time since they’ve done it. A member of the CPO claims that it has been at least 20 years since they’ve performed it. One reason for this may be that it is a really difficult slog. The strings have a proverbial buttload of notes to get through, and balance, pacing, and rubato are huge issues, especially in the 2nd and 3rd movements. But I really like this piece and I think it should be done more.
The rehearsal goes well. This is my first time with the CPO so I just run through the piece at the top. We only have 4 rehearsals with for this program so it’s important that we all get used to each other pretty darn quickly. Tomorrow it’s more Rachmaninoff, then our soloist Shauna Rolston (cello) joins us. Saint-Saëns and a newer piece that was written for her. More about that tomorrow.
The afternoon is spent studying Porgy & Bess. I’ll be conducting this opera at Opera d’Lyon in May so I’m hip deep into it. The whole “how to put together an opera” is going to be the subject of my blogging in April/May. But that’s in the future.
Time for dinner. Too bad the Calgary Flames aren’t playing tonight.
Will you take the bike to Lyon? Perhaps French immigration will react differently, since biking is more prevalent in Europe. Funny you should mention Porgy–I recently purchased a Decca LP of the original cast of Porgy and Bess, with Anne Brown (my dear friend in Oslo) and the late Todd Duncan. What a treasure. Story goes, from Anne, that she answered Gershwin’s newspaper call for his ‘Porgy’ (not ‘and Bess’ just yet) and Anne won the part. The more she sang, the more George wrote, and decided to add ‘and Bess’.
You’ll be great in Calgary–Michael Wall ED there–great guy–it’s worth doing, and the mortgage will get paid!