Kenneth Woods- a view from the podium

I feel like I must apologize for my unusually long absence from the blog. Of course, the holidays (particularly the arrival of out-of-town family) have played a role, as has the worsening of a long-standing problem with my broadband service. And, of course, I’ve been watching TV.

Christmas week is one of the few times a casual TV viewer in the UK can hope to catch a relative wealth of performing arts programs on TV. I’ve caught a few between rounds of turkey, but by no means all.

Bearing in mind that I’m delighted any time a piece of classical music makes it on TV, I have to say, there has been a rather depressing trend on almost all of the new programs I’ve seen this year. Without going blow by blow through each program I’ve seen, there seems to be a complete loss of confidence among directors and producers of  music programs.

Even the very slickly-produced Doctor Who concert by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales shown on Christmas day was deemed too hard to follow for the average viewer. Each piece of music from the sound track was introduced, then interrupted within just a very few seconds and talked over for the duration.

When I finally came across the classic documentary of Bernstein recording West Side Story, it was like being let out of jail. For once, we are spared the unendurable tedium of constant narration, and the wooden dullness of an instant recap of what we’ve just seen. Instead, we get to watch performances and performers. It’s way more interesting, much more entertaining and much less insulting.

Modern classical filmmakers who want to engage young audiences should remember- these are viewers who are used to the fast paced world of video games and action movies. We worry about their attention span, but stopping the action is no way to keep someone’s attention. Beating them to death with talk is not going to get them interested- especially if the talk is not interesting.
c. 2006 Kenneth Woods

I’ve had some recent Mahler-related changes and additions to my spring concert calendar that I want to share with readers.

I’d like to invite any interested listeners, especially those on the West Coast, to a performance by the Rose City Chamber Orchestra on February 3rd in Portland, Oregon. On the program is the Schoenberg orchestration of Das Lied von der Erde with mezzo Kathryn Alexis Hamilton and tenor Brennen Guillory. Also on the concert is the premiere of a new suite “LA Scenes” by Christopher Thomas. For those of you who don’t know it, this reduction is magical, full of color and completely effective. I’d call it a must-hear for anyone who loves Mahler. Both soloists were my first choices for this- they’re wonderful.

Another recent change/addition to the diary is the Lancashire Chamber Orchestra on March 17. We’ll be performing the Mahler orchestration of the Beethoven “Serioso” Quartet op 95 in F minor. We did the Mahler version of the Schubert “Death and the Maiden” about 18 months back, so this lets us finish the project. That concert is at Christ Church, Lancaster, UK.

Finally, just a reminder that the Oregon East Symphony will be doing Mahler 1 on May 13 in Pendleton- www.oregoneastsymphony.org. I know a few listers are already playing in the orchestra, so come and hear what Mahler sounds like played by what was recently called the “best goddamn redneck orchestra on earth.” I think that just means they’re the only “goddamn redneck orchestra on earth,” but it’s still a point of pride for us.

You can always get updated info about concerts I’m conducting through my website, and the info@kennethwoods.net email address will forward any concert/ticket/directions related questions directly to the relevant orchestra’s office. Just put the name of the orchestra in the subject line followed by “concert info.”

Hope to see some of you at one of these shows.

For those of you who still read those quaint old “magazine” things they print on paper, I’m happy to report that one of the best of them, Gramophone, has seen fit to devote this month’s “Blogwatch” column to “A view from the podium.”

The piece is to be found on page 32 of the magazine, but is not available on line.I had hoped they might choose to feature my ground-breaking essay on podium sex, but instead, they’ve chosen to focus on my post about score marking (albeit in a slightly shortened version).  So- welcome to our new readers who’ve been steered this way by Gramophone and thanks to the folks at the magazine for drawing attention to the blog.  

By the way, we still love Google, as well. kennethwoods.net is back on top as the number one search result for conductor websites, after briefly falling behind New Jersey Semi-Conductors.  You never know who you’re competing with in life.  

c. 2006 Kenneth Woods  

In the months since I started Avtp it has been fascinating to see which posts draw the most interest. It’s quite an understatement to say that there have been a few surprises. 

One of the posts which has had a tremendous readership from all over the world which has stayed high for nearly six months is the one about David Gedge’s stroke, “Thoughts for a friend.” 

My initial description of David as a musician whose work had touched many, many lives through his work has been more than borne out by the many hits and comments that the post has drawn. 

So, today we had our annual Christmas update from David and Hazel, and I wanted to pass on some of their news and offer a quick update on his recovery. 

As you regular readers will remember, David had a stroke on stage while conducting the very end of Haydn’s Creation. In his own words, it was “those who weren’t watching the conductor who were the last to stop.” It has been a very long and hard road to recovery, but he has returned to work on a part time basis, conducting a Gwent Chamber Orchestra concert in late October, and has been taking some recent rehearsals with the Cathedral Choir. He’s now been officially cleared for work, and will begin a gradual return to his regular work before conducting a final series of concerts at Easter, which will be his last as the conductor of the Brecon Cathedral Choir and the Gwent Chamber orchestra before retiring. 

In the midst of his recovery, David and his wife Hazel final received some very, very, very well-deserved recognition from the Church of England for their many years of service to the community. David and Hazel were the first couple ever selected by the Archbishop of Canterbury to receive the Cross of St Augustine. The award celebrates their shared work at Brecon Cathedral, where David is now the longest-serving Master of the Choristers in the UK. 

The first volume of David’s autobiography “A Country Cathedral Organist Looks Back” was released in early 2006- he’s been delaying the publication of Volume 2, but says he keeps having to add to the ending. 

c. 2006 Kenneth Woods 

Truly, the prophet is not recognized in his own land. Re-reading this, I’m amazed at how much his world view (and his take on the recording industry) has stayed with me over twenty-plus years since I first became a listener. Re-reading the book, it’s quite depressing just how little American culture has moved forward in that time

From the chapter entitled “Failure” from The Real Frank Zappa Book (published 1989), which Frank described as “a few excerpts from my own personal collection of crumbled dreams”-

“The next document explains the meeting mentioned above at Rothschild Venture Capital, led in the long-forgotten past, when CD’s weren’t even on the market…

“A PROPOSAL FOR A SYSTEM TO REPLACE PHONOGRAPH RECORD MERCHANDISING

“Ordinary phonograph record merchandising as it exists today is a stupid process which concerns itself essentially with moving pieces of plastic, wrapped in pieces of cardboard, from one location to another.

“These objects, in quantity, are heavy and expensive to ship. The manufacturing process is complicated and crude…

“The bulk of the promotional effort at every record company today is expended on NEW MATERIAL…. the latest and greatest of whatever the cocaine-tweezed r**-****ers decide to inflict on everyone else this week.

“More often than not, these ‘aesthetic decisions’ result in mountains of useless vinyl/cardboard artefacts which cannot be sold at any price, and are therefore returned for disposal and recycling. These mistakes are expensive.

“Put aside momentarily the current method of operation and think what is being wasted in terms of GREAT CATALOG ITEMS, squeezed out of the marketplace because of limited rack space in retail outlets….

“Every major record company has vaults full of (and perpetual rights to) great recordings by major artists in many categories which might still provide enjoyment to consumers if they were made available in a convenient form…

“MUSIC CONSUMERS LIKE TO CONSUME MUSIC… NOT SPECIFICALLY THE VINYL ARTIFACT WRAPPED IN CARDBOARD.

“We propose to acquire the rights to digitally duplicate THE BEST of every record company’s difficult-to-move QUALITY-CATALOG-ITEMS, store them in a central processing location, and have them accessible by phone or cable TV, directly patchable into the users home-taping appliances, with the option of direct digital-to-digital transfer to the F-1(Sony home digital tape), Beta Hi-Fi or ordinary analogue cassette tape.

“All accounting for royalty payments , billing to the consumer, etc., would be automatic, built into the software for the system.

“One advantage of the TV cable is: … a visualization of the original cover art, including song lyrics, technical data, etc., could be displayed while the transmission is in progress… since there are so many consumers who like fondle and fetish the packaging while the music is being played.

“In this situations Fondlement and Fetishism Potential [F.F.P.] is supplied, without the cost of shipping tons of cardboard around.”

I hope his family is getting something from Itunes!

Copyrighted material is excerpted without profit here under the Fair Use provisions of relevant copyright law for educational and informational purposes only, and will be removed on request.

From Gunter Wand’s program note on Bruckner 9- 

“The greater brusqueness of the Ninth Symphony’s sound world, when compared with that of its predecessors, sometimes creates the impression of a conscious aloofness and results from a greater rigour in the polyphonic part-writing, an aspect of the work that puzzles some listeners on their first encounter with it. It is the expression of an inner truth and withdrawal from the world which, after so many ecstatic visions of otherworldly spendour, is also capable of articulating the most unfathomable dissonance. This terrible scream, in which humanity’s lament at the Paradise that is has lost seems to reverberate till the end of time, can find no resolution or release within itself. It is followed by silence, after which the listener turns to the security of faith. Sound seems to disengage itself from matter and between now and the work’s transfigured conclusion, the music’s pulse continues to beat in the certainty of “NON CONFUNDARIN AETERNUM” : “never let me be put to confusion.”

Copyrighted material is excerpted on these page without profit for educational purposes only under the “fair use” provisions of applicable copyright law and will be removed on request. 

“In order to play a pizzicato perfectly together with the entire string section, everyone else must wait until they’ve heard the bass section’s pizz begin to sound, and then play theirs.” 

Walter Weller 

PS- Yes, it works  

 KW

I often get asked “what is the weirdest thing about being a conductor?”

Of course, it does beg the other question- “why does anything have to be weird about being a conductor?”

But, hey, who are we kidding?

So… Here’s an attempt to describe at least one aspect of my job that I still find a bit surreal, especially if I think about it too hard.

Of course, the obvious winner for strangest thing conductors have to do is starting the very beginning of the very first rehearsal for the first performance with a new orchestra.

(Incidentally, Karajan always used to say that all the conductors who died on the podium died in moments of preparation and expectation- just before a big entrance, just before a transition, just before a downbeat.)

It’s intimidating enough starting a concerto as a soloist for the first time in front of a new orchestra, but at least you know before you play the first note something about the instrument you’re playing on (although for pianists, the news is not always good). You might be nervous, but you at least have a certain security in the knowledge that “if I do this, I will achieve this result.”

No such luck for the conductor. You might have been able to listen in as players warm up to get a general sense of the level of the orchestra, but there’s no telling what will happen when you drop your hands for the first downbeat.
What this also means is that in these critical moments, it’s extremely hard to get good intelligence on how you’re doing, especially if you don’t know how the orchestra usually sounds. I remember once when I was covering at a major orchestra when a young-ish guy was in to do Pictures at an Exhibition. He was not someone who suffered from a lack of confidence. After the first read through, he was elated- he thought it was great and was sure the orchestra loved him.

What he didn’t know was just a few months before, at the end of the previous season, the same orchestra had done Pictures with Temirkanov, and it was absolutely mind-blowingly good. In that first rehearsal he thought he was doing great work because they had the piece in their bones, and they thought it was not going well because all those tingly moments they were getting with Temirkanov were missing. You can imagine how the week went- each rehearsal brought the orchestra’s performance closer to his level of conducting, which in his case was not a good thing.

Postulate- Rehearsals always bring the orchestra’s level of performance closer to the level of the conductor, for better or worse.

On the other hand with a less virtuoso band (we don’t like to say “bad orchestras” there are only badly conducted orchestras), it can be just as hard for the conductor to get his bearings in the first rehearsal. Again, I hark back to the soloist who knows- if I do this, I’ll get this back out of the instrument. The conductor might give a beautifully clear upbeat only for all hell to break loose. His or her first reaction might then be to think “Oh God! What have I done here- that must have been a really shitty upbeat!” when actually the problem was that half the orchestra had the wrong piece on the stand. In this case, adjusting one’s technique could be a disaster- should you beat %20 ahead just because the orchestra plays late?

Of course, in between these two extremes is where most of the conductor spends most of his or her professional life, and the more evenly matched the conductor and orchestra are in terms of ability and experience, the harder it gets for the conductor and musicians to accurately diagnose the cause and effect relationships that are going into the product of the moment.

On top of this, when there is a first encounter between conductor and musicians, everyone tends to be on best behavior and a bit more formal in their interactions, which makes it a bit harder for everyone to read each other’s responses. For instance, in my first week with an orchestra at the first rehearsal their might be a little oboe entrance that’s a bit late. When we come back to the same spot later that evening I might just give him a little look and the entrance is fine. It’s possible that my look fixed the problem, but it’s also possible the original problem was caused by the first flute asking him where we had started just as he was about to play. I don’t know, so I may keep giving him a look he doesn’t need or want at the expense of someone else I could be helping. He might be thinking my look was a sarcastic comment on the first late entrance, so every time I repeat it, he’s getting madder and madder.

If it’s my second project with the same band and the same thing happens in the first rehearsal, I might give the same player the same look the second time around. This time he’s watched me rehearse the band for a concert, and maybe we’ve even chatted a bit in the break. This time, when I give him the look he can make a little eyebrow raise which says- “thanks, tricky entrance there- help appreciated.” Or, he might just make a little face after the first mistake and roll his eyes at the flute player, and the I know not to give him the look the second time. Communication has become more immediate and specific.

Finally, there is another, opposite extreme, which is starting a first rehearsal with an orchestra you have a long working relationship with. Whereas with a new orchestra you have no idea what to expect, with colleagues of many years, you might know more than you want to about what’s going to happen. You know so-and-so hasn’t looked at their music, principal serpent won’t know where you’re starting from, and you can absolutely predict that your third horn is going to crack the note in the concert at letter R. On the other hand, they know you’re going to do all the same old rehearsal tricks you always do, that you’re probably going to take the Scherzo too fast and that you’re going to mumble when talking to the percussion, or whatever it is they think you do. Of course, I’ve just listed the negatives- there are huge, huge positives that come with building an understanding and a shared concept over many years, but I think most musicians tend to be pessimistic right before starting a rehearsal…. After all, no performance of a Beethoven Symphony or a Berio Sequenza is ever going to be as good as the piece itself.

Postulate- Rehearsing is something musicians do so we can live with the shortcomings of our performances.

Funnily enough, beyond these first few moves, there is no difference between working with an orchestra you’re in with for the first time and one you’ve conducted dozens of times. There is no difference between rehearsing the Berlin Philharmonic and the East Croyden Street Sweepers Thursday Morning Sight Reading Camerata.

I decided early on, there was only one way to rehearse, regardless of the orchestra.
1-       Let the players play
2-       Listen
3-       Try to identify any aspects of the performance you want to work on
4-       Address the most urgent area of concern. You might do this with your hands, by rehearsing in detail, by breaking things into smaller groups, by rehearsing slowly, by throwing a tantrum (that one really works well). This part of the sequence should be infinitely variable, flexible and always fresh, as the others all stay the same.
5-       Repeat

Eventually, you run out of time and have to put on a concert.

c. 2006 Kenneth Woods

The life of the gigging musician can be pretty tough.

Weddings, parties, receptions, corporate events, muddy field concerts…. All can involve many hours of sight-reading a wide variety of arrangements with new colleagues in adverse conditions. Cramped quarters, dark corners, and, worst of all, outside. Wind is not the musician’s friend!

I doubt there is a musician on the planet who hasn’t at least once seen their music go flying during an outdoor performance when the wind catches it. Players have tried all sorts of solutions- clothes pegs, plexi-glass sheets over the music, stands with little metal arms- but none really work without getting in the way because all of them have to be removed before turning a page and re-set after the page turn.

So…

I thought I would take a minute to call everyone’s attention to a truly useful invention-created by musicians for musicians-
The “Gigclip” (yes, they have patented and trademarked it!)

Gigclips were the invention of two busy freelancers who finally had enough of chasing their music accross the stage at outdoor gigs.

Gigclips fasten at either end to the stand, and between them runs a clear, flexible elastic strand whose length can be adjusted. The elastic’s tension holds the music firmly on the stand, but can stretch without tearing the music for quick page turns.

You, the player, can adjust the length of the strand, thereby adjusting the tension. You can turn the page without removing the clips.

I have tried them outdoors both for chamber music concerts as a cellist and for pops gigs as a conductor, and they’re pretty user friendly and are definitely an enormous improvement over anything else I’ve used. I had no trouble adjusting them to different size scores and parts either- they work with standard size sheet music, huge conductor’s scores and pocket scores just fine. The can be used on either a wire stand or  a proper stand.

I know this sounds like a shameless plug, but I have no interest in the company (and they’re certainly not paying me to say this)- I’d just like to see some enterprising working musicians who’ve shown some great initiative see some success, and I know the product is useful and needed.

Their website is at Gigclips.net. You’ll see it is a small operation at this time, but the clips are properly made and packaged, plenty sturdy and their deliveries are extremely prompt and reliable. $6- try them and tell a friend if they work.

KW

c. 2006 Kenneth Woods

I came across this recent post from Charles Noble a few days ago discussing some challenges currently being faced by the Oregon Symphony.

I would not presume to comment directly on the Oregon Symphony, but Charles’ post did get me thinking about general principles of managing change in an orchestra. Of course, readers are more than reasonable to maintain their skepticism when reading thoughts from a conductor on how to choose a conductor. Nevertheless,  I wade in here with the first of what I think might be a few pieces on this subject….

Limiting the Damage
 
When managing a succession of Music Directors, the institution has to be acutely aware of where the risks are to the organization in the transition. Are there major, long-term donors whose primary allegiance is to the outgoing MD? Are there donors who felt their voice wasn’t heard in the search? Are there subscribers who didn’t want to see the old conductor leave? Are there audience members who felt the orchestra hired the wrong candidate. The same questions can be asked when there is a change in any significant position in the orchestra, including players. In every transition, the answer to all these questions will ALWAYS be a yes. There will always be a negative impact on the organization’s relationship with some donors when there is change. The board and the management need to be award of this and plan for it to minimize the impact on the orchestra. The goal is to make the change lead to a net positive impact- some supporters might be upset, will be upset, by the transition, but the organization has to keep its eye on limiting the damage and maximizing the positive impact of the change. There are ways in which each of these risks can be minimized during the transition, and it’s vitally important that the organization stays aware of minimizing threats during transition. Simply trumpeting how wonderful the new music director is or calling attention to the improved standards of playing is not enough. The organization needs to take extra care with all its external relationships- making sure that personal relationships between supporters and the orchestra are nurtured, encouraged, and, if needed, repaired.
 
Keeping some consistency
 
All organizations are to some extent personality driven. It is personalities that set direction, that make connections, that create interest, solve problems and that set goals. When organizations thrive, it is because they have the right people working for them. For better or worse, in most American orchestras, there are four people whose personalities are the most influential in determining the economic health of the orchestra. These are-
 
The Music Director
The Executive Director
The Board President
The Director of Development
 
When any one of these positions turns over, the orchestra is at higher risk than usual. Big, bread-and-butter major donors nearly all give the money that they do because of their relationship to one of these four people. Having changes in more than one of these positions at the same time, or even in the same era, can be a recipe for financial disaster. These days, orchestras often hire an ED whose primary job is to get rid of an MD who’s stayed too long. That means you’re setting up a situation where there is bound to be too much turnover. The new ED fires the old MD, and all of his friends stop giving money and all his fans stop coming to concerts. The new MD comes in and the old ED leaves saying “my work is done” (or the new MD pushes them out because he can’t trust him/her- they’ve seen them push out their predecessor). All their friends stop giving money. The orchestra hires a new ED, but he/she can’t get along with either the prez or the DD. You see how this goes.

I have come to believe that the best way to minimize the risk inherent in personnel changes (other than avoiding them except where needed) is to bring another player into the game in addition to these four, and that is the orchestra itself. After all, it is among the musicians where institutional stability tends to be highest. I think it is fair to say that many organizations make the fatal mistake of letting the public perceive the orchestra as the machine that executes the artistic vision of the conductor. As a result, any change in conductor, any shortcoming of the existing conductor, unpopular repertoire choice etc will lead to a disproportionately negative outcome.

I think all the organization’s stakeholders- conductors, administration and boards- stand to benefit by recasting the community’s perception of the orchestra with the actual human membership of the orchestra more central. I come back to the question of personality- when the community has a sense of both the overall artistic personality of the orchestra and that of the individual players, I think there will always be more support of the orchestra and that support will be more diversified and stable.  

c. 2006 Kenneth Woods

Check out this interesting piece from Scott Spiegelberg on the state of the classical recording industry. Scott wisely points out that one reason we’re seeing fewer new artists at the major label is that classical recordings were always subsidized from somewhere, and it is that subsidy that has become harder to come by. 

More or less all pop recordings are also subsidized in one way or another, through merchandising agreements, touring, sponsorships, product endorsements, personal wealth and so on. 

Also check out Eric Edberg’s original post here. 

Great post from David Byrne here. He sees reasons for hope as major labels and record stores become less of a factor in the market. Great blog!

Note- rock and pop and jazz and world music are all facing the same challenges as classical artists. Tower sold their stuff too!   

Not to sound cynical, but the giant conglomerates which own the major labels are not interested in music. They don’t hire people who are interested in music. They’re interested in marketing and media, and they hire people who are interested in marketing and media. Funny that in an age when the prime criteria for a record contract is one’s ability to appeal to people who aren’t interested in music, record sales are down…. This is as true of pop as it is of classical music. David Byrne to Brittney Spears is not so different from Krystian Zimmerman to Katherine Jenkins.

The fact is, 25 years ago, to put out a recording, you needed multichannel recording studio with a huge console, huge tape machine and huge mic collection, your own mastering facilities, your own pressing plant, your own printing facilities, trucks to take your LPs to the distributors and so on. The tapes alone to make an album would have cost as much as an entire modern digital setup capable of recording in hi-res multi-channel sound. One needed tens of millions of dollars of infrastructure just to get on the field. Now, with a good computer set up and some excellent mics, you can get on the ground for thousands, and almost all of the costs are for MUSICIANS, which is a good thing!

c. 2006 Kenneth Woods 

I really should have posted the notes to Tommy’s new work before the premiere last week, but better late than never. Hopefully their appearance here helps him snag some more performances with other orchestras
KW
 

Rappezzatura Barocco  (c10m)
Tommy Fowler (b1948)
 

Commissioned by the Kelvin Ensemble to mark its 15th anniversary. 
Dedicated to Paul Middleton, founder member and conductor of the Kelvin Ensemble.
 

The dedication to Paul marks the Kelvin Ensemble concert in February 1992 when he conducted a piece by the then first year B.Mus. mature student Tommy Fowler!
 

The last orchestral piece of mine performed at Glasgow University was a bassoon concerto (1996) which I described at the time as my revenge on Corelli after seemingly interminable harmony exercises.  It is fitting that for this piece I return to the same composer for inspiration.  Arcangelo Corelli’s trio sonatas fascinated me when I met them for the first time at GU.  His style is adventurous yet pristine and my study score of the Joachim edition of the twelve sonatas Opus 1-4 is well thumbed.  This piece takes materials from the F major sonatas in Opus 1 and 2 and after displaying and processing them, stitches them together to form a patchwork quilt.  The orchestration is standard apart from the introduction of a harpsichord into the texture.  The music opens quietly and slowly “with graceful majesty” featuring the lower strings and solo winds.  As the harpsichord becomes more busy and the volume builds the full strings emerge ebbing and flowing “with some intensity”.  The winds and the harpsichord begin to break into the rhythm with a series of quintuplet phrases before the tempo suddenly doubles.  This section follows a strict pattern of simultaneous increasing and decreasing odd and even numbered rhythmic cells (9-2-7-4-5-6-3-8) marked by sharp chords on the brass and harpsichord.  Over that layer there are selected parts of the musical materials as well as some contrapuntal rhythmic gestures the whole being marked to be played “with restrained excitement”.  After some suggestions of a triplet rhythm, the horns begin a gigue-like section but the strings decide to straighten out this rhythm and eventually this leads to a fast, gradual build up towards the end.  Ten bars at a slow tempo marked “Splendid” precedes a brief headlong rush “with undue haste” to an abrupt ending.
 

TF

Tommy Fowler holds a Ph.D. in composition from Glasgow University, is regularly commissioned and performed and his work covers, orchestral, choral, ensemble and solo instruments as well as music for the theatre. His pieces have been performed by the RSNO, the SCO, the BBC SSO, NYCoS, Ensemble Bash, Paragon Ensemble, John Kitchen, Cappella Nova and many others.  Originally from Fraserburgh, he was a journalist for 20 years before taking a career change into music and moving to Glasgow.  Among a variety of projects  since then, he has written music for silent film, collaborated with Edinburgh-based Palestinian poet Ghazzi Hussain and written a piece for four percussionists with no instruments!  He is soon to embark on a theatre-based project to create a score for bicycles.

Copyrighted material is reproduced on these pages without profit for infomational purposes only and will be reomoved on request

UPCOMING CONCERT 

Friday, December 8, 2006
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester  

Lancashire Chamber Orchestra
St. Anne’s Choir

Benefit Concert for St. Anne’s Hospice
 

“Christmas is Coming”

Support the work of a wonderful charity by coming out for an evening of seasonal favorites with the LCO and a choir of over 200 voices at one of the world’s great concert halls. You can learn more about the hospice here

From the Surrey Advertiser,

December 1, 2006   

Surrey Mozart Players/Kenneth Woods   

The small but acoustically favourable Menuhin Hall in Stoke d’Abernon resounded to the music of Mozart and Haydn, as the Surrey Mozart Players under the direction of Kenneth Woods presented another of their enterprising concerts. 

The opening item was adventurous- an arrangement for Harmonie (eight-piece wind band) of some of the most famous music from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, made shortly after the opera’s premiere in Prague by Josef Triebensee. His arrangements brought out the character of the melodies and harmonies, and the humour of the piece. The players brought this over admirably. 

Mozart’s great A major Piano Concerto (K. 488) is renowned as the concerto with clarinets but no oboes, but the writing for the woodwind is no less adventurous for all that, and provides a wonderful foil for the solo piano. Bobby Chen captured wonderfully the varying moods of a piece at once lively and poignant, and the glorious siciliana central movement was particularly fine. If is tone was soft and round here, it was also vibrant and powerful in the humorous finale, and the opening movement’s cadenza was played with consummate skill. 

Mozart’s older friend Josef Haydn wrote so many symphonies that there does not seem to be time to perform all of them: one casualty is the E flat Symphony, No. 99. It is a remarkable piece, with an imposing slow introduction in which the newly introduced clarinet plays a rich low note, a lively opening movement, a wonderful slow movement, a rumbustious minuet contrasted with a genteel trio, introduced by three striking notes on the oboe and a rollicking, humorous finale.

This music brought the best out the players, with great vivacity and accuracy. Particularly notable were the little melodies passed between the woodwind and strings in the finale: the sexagenarian Haydn on his second visit to London decided to have a good joke.
         -Shelagh Godwin    

 

Copyrighted material is reproduced here without profit for informational purposes only and will be removed on request. 

In the last installment of this series, I tried to look at some of the questions that leading musicians of the past may have been asking when they were performing in ways that we might now find foreign. We can’t go back to that old, Furtwanglerian, manner of performance because we’ve found lots of new and interesting questions to ask, but we shouldn’t forget the old questions either.

At the end of the day, the performer, and especially the conductor, has to answer the most basic questions about “how” to play the music, and it is the way we answer the “how” questions that say the most of about us, about our understanding and love for the music, the depth of our research. What comes out of our mouth when we get to “how” tells the world how often we have asked “why.”

The fundamental “how” questions are very, very simple-

Louder or softer?
Faster or shorter?
Longer or shorter?

The answers are even simpler (for instance, “louder”), but reaching those answers should be anything but simple. Getting to “how” means going through all of the “what’s,” then on to all of the “why’s” and being able to discern the difference between different kinds of questions.

Finally, as one gets older and more experienced, perhaps more of the “how’s” become “what’s” For instance, instead of the young conductor who asks “how fast shall I take this movement” the more mature conductor might ask “what is the tempo of this movement?” One might answer that question by looking at the metronome marking, looking at other examples of the same kind of dance or march or by looking at other parts of the same piece.

I believe the tempo of the end of Shostakovich 5, based on the sources we have now, is not a “how” question. To me, a conductor who does the ending in the old, Bernsteinian * fast tempo is not making an informed choice based on what is in the music, or trying to come up with a reasonable reading where the composer’s written intentions were unclear, but is just ignoring a what the composer wrote, and not just ignoring the metronome mark, but dozens of expressive marks, structural clues, tempo relationships and so on. They’re skipping to the “how” based on how they want to do it, or how they heard it when they were growing up, without asking “what” is in the score.

Code of conduct (no pun intended)- You, the performer, can give any “how” answer you want, as long as you’ve answered all the “what” and “why” questions completely and honestly and your “how” is in agreement with your “what” and “why.”

The transition from the third movement to the fourth movement of Beethoven 5 is another example- the last movement has to be slower than the Scherzo, Beethoven says so. Faster is not slower any more than louder is softer. (Interestingly, Furtwangler plays the first 3 notes of the finale WAY slower than the previous movement, thereby honouring Beethoven’s instruction, and underlining connection with the themes of the second and first movements and referring to Furtwangler’s own treatment of the opening of the piece, and then gradually gets way faster. Naughty boy, Furtwangler. It almost works, except he has to slow down for the return of the scherzo. The return of the scherzo should be faster- Beethoven spefically says so. Slower is not faster)

Good conductor (musician): What?= Get faster. How?= from what starting tempo to what arriving tempo over how long? Answer- Why is it getting faster at this moment?

Bad conductor: Wha?t= Get faster. How?= get slower. Answers- Because I like it slower here! Because my teacher got slower here. Because I have a recording that gets slower here.

It’s easy, see.

Just before he died, Solti remarked that he was finally starting to understand the Marriage of Figaro, even though he had conducted the piece hundreds of times throughout his career. Our modern attitude to life values opinion above enlightenment, belief over understanding- if I say to a young musician that as he or she matures, they will get make fewer and fewer choices, they might think that is a bad thing. “Give up my interpolated rit at bar 187??? Never, you fascist!” However, the very word “understand” is so simple we often forget what it means. If I say to an English speaker “faster” it is pretty obvious that they will know to get faster, if I say it in another language, they might not understand, if I write it in non-Latin characters, most of them will be confounded. Once they understand it, though, they know slower is not an option. I now feel that I understand why Beethoven gave the tempo and metronome markings he did for the slow movement of the Eroica, because I have seen someone do a traditional Austro-German funeral march and tried to learn the step myself. I’ve learned and conducted several other examples of funeral marches from the same culture and tradition. I don’t have to decide how fast to take it- I understand how fast it should go (at least better than I did ten years ago).

When a seasoned, thoughtful musician says they’re starting to understand something, what they mean is that they’ve come closer to being able to understand all that is in the score. The how’s become what’s. Our modern world would tell us that this is a loss of freedom, because we’ve been brainwashed into thinking that all opinions are equally valid. In fact, our opinions of today might be more valid than our opinions of yesterday. In fact, this is where freedom begins- the freedom to learn, the freedom to advance, the freedom to develop.

And finally, you have to remember that even Gunter Wand in his 90s had to live with the fact that one day he might learn something about Bruckner that would mean he had to start all over with a whole new approach. The question that destroys everything you know is also the question that gives you new life as an artist. No interpreter can ever know that their view of the piece is “right” or that they really do understand the essence of the music. They can only take comfort in the rigor of the process of questioning and study that got them to where they are today, knowing full well that they will eveuntually know better the truth of the music than they do now. A real artist has to know that the insight that destroys certainty is a gift, because understanding is a greater thing than certainty.

*I’m quite sure LB would not do the fast ending today. His performances of the piece were always amazingly true to the score up until the coda of the last movement (his first three movements are more faithful to the written page, especially in terms of tempi, than Mravrinsky, for instance), which he did fast because he didn’t know what question to ask Shostakovich when the two met. Had he said “is this metronome marking more or less right at the end” instead of “do you like the ending like this (when I do it twice as fast as written)” forty years of confusion could have been avoided. He didn’t understand that both the composer’s personality and the political situation meant there was no way he could get an honest answer to the second question because it would have meant DDS had to disagree with Bernstein.

c. 2006 Kenneth Woods