Kenneth Woods- A View From the Podium

Thursday

On my way to work, I finally had a chance to listen to the CD of last month’s Beethoven 6.

A few years back I had one of those mind-shattering “wow” moments when I heard the Statskapelle Dresden conducted by Bernard Haitink in two concerts at the Proms. Listening to them play, I realized there were sounds they were making that I hadn’t heard in a concert in a long time. It really hit me that we’re losing some essential part of the tonal palette of the orchestra.

Since then, I’ve been trying to understand and describe what quality that orchestra had that I’d been missing. In these last three years, that quest has led me to really study a lot of recordings, and to travel far and wide to find orchestras that still carry that quality I heard.

So, what is that quality that I heard? At first I tried calling it “warmth” later “depth” or “resonance,” but none of those cut it.

In fact, it’s hard to describe sound colors, which is why I think many of the classic orchestra sounds are so hard to understand and replicated. Many orchestras try to recreated the classic sounds of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Berlin Philarmonic, but end up sounding like a Hollywood session orchestra, way too syrupy, tubby, heavy and pot-bellied. Just as many rebel against those classic sounds and end up with playing that’s a bit thin, cold and wooden.

I’ve also tried to go back to my quartet training and my cello studies with sound-guru Lee Fiser, to try to figure out ways to get a more sophisticated palette of sounds. As a result, I’ve gone way past trying to recreate that elusive something the Dresdners brought to London, but that sound has haunted me- like a flavor you rarely taste.

How happy was I to finally hear that very flavor on our CD, in the midst of whatever strengths and weaknesses that performance presented. You see, I think I looked for a while for a sound that went “wah,” but that’s too nasal and doesn’t carry its focus into the note. It could have been something else, like “whom,” but I think a good sound needs a bit of grit in it to tickle your ear.

Beethoven 6, though, has moments of “Szchuohm!” Fantastic- grit from the szch, resonance from the uo, darkness from the h and focus from the m.

Bit of a terrible time to bring a guest conductor. It’s been years since I’ve watched anyone but me really work with the OES- what will happen to the szchuohm? I guess I’ll try to keep it in the cello sound, although the guys in Portland have pretty much- de-szchuohmed me…. Three hours practice time today to come to terms with the instrument and get back in shape after the long journey….

c. 2006 Kenneth Woods

Wednesday 

I have a secret… 

I’m a two cello guy. 

I bought a second cello a few years back when it became clear to me that it was never going to be safe or economical for me to travel regularly with my main cello, which is a nice, old Italian instrument. My goal was to get something playable that could live in the orchestra office in Pendleton for me to use when I’m there, and that I could check on a plane in the knowledge that if it get damaged it would not be a tragedy. 

I bought a standard, Chinese-made student instrument that my good friend and luthier, Ralph Rabin fixed up and customized a bit for me. Since I got it, I’ve played four Bach Suites, two big recital programs, four concertos and a ton of chamber music, as well as using it for teaching. In fact, the sweet letter from Chen-Yi which is quoted on my website where she talks about my sound is in response to a performance on that cello. In other words, it may be a modest cello, but it does the job. 

Over this time, however, the bridge had settled a bit too much, which meant that the strings tended to buzz on the fingerboard if I dug in too much. With Elgar Concerto coming up this week, I desperately wanted it in tip-top shape. 

Of course, getting fine work done on a cello in Pendleton is a non-starter, so I arranged to bring my cello to Portland when I was conducting Rose City Chamber Orchestra last month. I dropped off the cello on the day of my concert and made arrangements to pick it up when I returned today. 

I left my cello with some trepidation. Since I haven’t used this shop since I moved to Britain several years back, nobody now there knows me. When I presented my little cello, the chap I met just saw a guy in his thirties presenting a Chinese-made student cello and immediately assumed I was an amateur. You know the scene…. 

“Hi, how can I help you?” 

“I need a new bridge for my cello.” 

“What makes you think you need a new bridge?” 

“The strings are too low, so the buzz on the fingerboard when I dig in.”  “Well sir, I can measure the strings and see if you need a new bridge.” 

I was, stupidly, too shy or whatever to explain that I’m a professional cellist, although I tried to drop a hint. So, as I said, I left the country feeling a bit nervous about how much care they were going to take with my instrument, even though I felt they were totally overcharging me, especially for the second part of the job, scooping the fingerboard. 

Badly jet-lagged, and still suffering a bad back made worse by a long flight, I rolled up this morning to pick up the cello before driving off to Pendleton. 

The shop only opens in the afternoon, but they graciously made and appointment for me, so I rang the doorbell and was greeted by another kind and friendly employee. She brought me the cello and I asked if I might play a few notes just to see if there’s anything we need to do to tweak the set up before I head out. 

She led me to a room full of cellos with a chair in it, and I was instantly reminded of one of my long-standing pet-peeves with violin shops- whenever you want to try an instrument they put you in a room that is so flattering that anything would sound good. I’m serious, you could play a 3 stringed plywood instrument that had been set on fire in this room and it would sound good.

Sure enough, I tune up and play a few notes and the cello sounds enormous, but my worst fears are realized- the bridge is indeed higher, but the set up is now way too tight. I ask the woman if she could send in the technician, and he and I set about moving the sound post around a bit. Because the room sounds so good, it’s tough going, as there is no audible evidence of the problems I’m feeling. Maybe it will sound good anywhere even if it feels odd? Maybe I’ve just gotten too used the Italian cello back home? Certainly the guy I worked with was really nice, but, like the guy I dealt with last month, he didn’t seem to have high expectations of this cello…. 

Anyway, after 10 minutes, it was clear he was done, so I surrendered while hoping it will sound good in Pendleton, even if it feels good. 

Well, I finally got to town and had 2 hours to practice before having to go and be social. The cello is worse than I feared- it’s always had a nice ringing, open sound and now it’s constricted and stuck and reedy. All I can say after the day, is that I am not impressed. The concert is only 72 hours away, which is not much time to figure out how to work this thing, and I’m now 210 miles from the violin shop. It’s hard enough learning a piece on one cello and performing it on another with just a few days to adapt, but adapting to a failed setup……

Not impressed…. 

UPCOMING CONCERT
March 2nd, 2007

BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Kenneth Woods, conductor
Discovering Music Live
7:30 PM
Broadcasting House, Llandaff

Chopin- Piano Concerto No. 1
Piers Lane, piano
Stephen Johnson, presenter

London-based Australian pianist Piers Lane has a flourishing international career which has taken him to more than forty countries. Following the success of his New York début at Lincoln Center in 2004 Piers Lane was re-invited to Lincoln Center in spring 2006, when he played the mighty Bliss concerto with the American Symphony Orchestra and gave a solo recital; he also took part in chamber music concerts at New York‘s legendary Bargemusic. Recent and forthcoming European highlights include concerto appearances with the City of Birmingham Symphony; London Philharmonic; Hallé and Ulster orchestras; a solo recital at Symphony Hall Birmingham for the BBC and a three concert series entitled Metamorphoses at Wigmore Hall. Festival appearances include Bard in New York State; Elverum and Trondheim in Norway; Llandeilo and Petworth in the UK; Como Autumn Music in Italy; The Ruhr and Schloss Vor Husum in Germany; La Roque d’Anthéron and Paris Chopin in France and Valledemossa Chopin in Mallorca.
  
Five times soloist at the BBC Proms in London‘s Royal Albert Hall, Piers Lane‘s concerto repertoire exceeds 75 works. He has played with all the ABC and BBC orchestras, the Aarhus, City of Birmingham, Bournemouth, Gothenburg & New Zealand Symphony Orchestras; Hallé; Philharmonia; Kanazawa Ensemble and City of London Sinfonia and the London, Royal Liverpool & Royal Philharmonic Orchestras among others. Leading conductors with whom he has worked include Andrey Boreyko, Sir Andrew Davis, Richard Hickox, Andrew Litton, Sir Charles Mackerras, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Maxim Shostakovich, Vassily Sinaisky and Yan Pascal Tortelier.
 

Piers Lane’s extensive discography includes, on the Hyperion label, much admired recordings of rare Romantic Concertos, the complete Etudes and Preludes by Scriabin and transcriptions of Bach and Strauss, along with complete collections of Concert Etudes by Saint-Saens, Moscheles and Henselt, and transcriptions by Grainger. In 2005 Hyperion released the original version of the Delius Concerto, coupled with Ireland‘s Concerto and Legend, as well as Stanford’s Piano Quintet with the Vanburgh Quartet. In 2006 Piers Lane recorded concertos by Alnaes and Sinding with the Bergen Philharmonic, conducted by Andrew Litton and songs by Delius with soprano Yvonne Kenny. He has also recorded for the BMG, Classics for Pleasure, Decca, EMI Eminence, Lyrita and Unicorn-Khanchana labels.
For BBC Radio 3, Piers Lane wrote and presented the popular 54-part series The Piano and regularly presented BBC Legends. In 1994 he was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, where he has been a professor of piano since 1989.

I’ve been following the Joyce Hatto scandal with a sort of horrified interest. I think this will turn out to have been a sad tale born out of horrible personal tragedies, but it is amazing just how audacious they were.Without meaning to offend the sensibilities of any of my friends in the critical establishment (seriously, I love you all!!!!!), I’m not surprised they didn’t catch this. I’m reminded of a set of the Bartok quartets which came out on a major label some time ago. It was a significant release by a great ensemble, and as such, received dozens of reviews from all the major papers and music mags. What none of them noticed (at least none of the many reviews I looked at) was that there was a bad edit at the end of the first movement of the 2^nd quartet, and quite a number of bars of actual music was missing. This is maybe the most important work of the quartet literature in the 20^th century and nobody noticed, even when comparing this set to “benchmark” recordings…

Dear Mr Woods-

I hope you may be able to answer a very general question relating to the
working life of a conductor. I am researching for a screenplay/film project
that involves a character who is a Maestro or high profile conductor.
He is invited to conduct a new symphony in a particular country perhaps
giving five or six performances plus rehearsals.

David

Dear David

Thanks for the note. Funnily enough, I had a rehearsal yesterday when you were writing me this note, and over lunch we were bemoaning the exremely sorry state of film history with regards to performing musicians of all kinds, but especially conductors and composers. Almost all the screen portrayals of either I can think of are so cartoonish and built around the most ridiculous cliches as to make the films that contain them almost unwatchable to the people who should be most interested in them. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.

So, I’m happy to help!!!

Of course, if you get this thing made by a major studio, it would be nice to be a paid consultant….

In your scenario, I would say that 6 performances would be a real rarity. The biggest orchestras would maybe do four, more likely 2-3. Four rehearsals would be typical preparation time for the concert, which would usually include some other music, maybe 1-3 other pieces depending on the length of the new work.

Most conductors travel alone- most of the PR work is done by the local orchestra, and, yes, it would be the orchestra in that city that would be presenting and organizing the event. A very few conductors travel with PAs, but with VERY few suggestions, those PAs turn out to be romantic partners of some kind. In fact, I’ve never known a conductor’s PA who travelled with them everywhere who wasn’t sleeping with the conductor in question (although many conductor’s have a personal secretary or assistant of some kind who they are not sleeping with).

If it is a very major event, the conductor’s agent might well show up. They almost never travel together, however, and the relationship is always complex between them. The agent is basically coming to see how the conductor does, almost like an audition, so there is a certain uneasiness there. If it is a new piece of music, the composer is likely to show up, as is their publisher. Everyone is collaborating and trying to help one another, and at the same time there are many layers of competition, rivalry for media attention and so on going on.

Guest conducting is a funny life, rather different from conducting your own orchestra, because the extremes are even more apparent. One minute you’re rehearsing in front of 100 musicians, the next you’re stranded alone in your hotel room for 12 hours with nothing to do. You might not speak the local language, and if you’re in a place like Hungary where there are no cognates with your own language, you can feel very isolated, and even finding toilets can be an adventure.

You might be asked to do a radio interview or two (not in Hungarian!), or even talk to the local paper. There may be social engagements you’re asked to attend with donors or board members. Almost everywhere I go there’s at least one musician in the orchestra from my corner of the world, or a school I studied at, so you’ll usually have.

Most of your concerns while in town will be practical ones- people will be asking you about your rehearsal schedule (when to the trombones need to come, that sort of thing), and most of the rehearsal work is pratical- louder, softer, faster slower, longer shorter. If it’s a new piece, there are certain to be mistakes in the parts, and often changes are made as things progress, usually at the suggestion of the composer (if he’s there), but also from the conductor.

Some VERY famous conductors (actually only one I can think of) have their own assistant conductor that they travel with. Of course, when you’re in as a guest, it’s assumed their regular conductor is off guesting somewhere else, so you see very little of your peers, but there is often a cover conductor (like an understudy) employed who is at all your rehearsals, and who may be chasing you for career advice and the like, but also is listening from the audience for balance an so on.

Anyway, hope that’s a start. Do let me know if you have other questions.

BTW- one can be a maestro, or be called Maestro, but one would’nt _be_ a Maestro. Conductors are usually called either by their first names, or maestro, but almost never Mr Woods or the like. Just as you might be called Coach or Ditka, but you wouldn’t be a Coach.

Hope you don’t mind if I use this as a blog post in the next couple days…

Cheers

Dear Ken …

I have a question I’m hoping you can answer. I’ve asked this question to several string players, who don’t have an answer. I realized I needed to ask a conductor!

The question is: in contemporary music, why do string sections still follow the conventional 16.14.12.10.8 sizing? If, say, Violin I and Violin II are equal in importance, why not the same number for each? Or, why not even 14.16.12.10 since Violin II is further away from the audience?

I ask this kind of hastily, because an excerpt of an opera I wrote has been accepted into the …………………festival this year, and they’ve asked me to increase the number of strings of my original version, which was for 2 violins and 2 cellos. The violin parts are equal (no dominant melody), as are the cellos. I am adding contrabass. Do you think 10.10.6.6.3 would balance well? I realize that was a second question! ….

Best wishes,

 Chris

Dear Chris

So nice to hear from you.

BIG CONGRATS on your opera breakthrough…

As a matter of fact, I’ve been dealing with this very question for a concert in a few weeks. I’m actually someone who prefers evenly matched violins even in some romantic and classical repertoire. In this case, we’re doing Enigma Variations with the Nottingham Philharmonic. Both Elgar and Mahler wrote with the expectation that the violins would be sat across from each other on the front of the stage, and wrote quite a bit of stereo-effect interplay, which gets totally lost when the seconds sit right behind the firsts. The example in Enigma is the 2nd Variation, where you should really hear the little perpetual motion theme going from ear to ear across the stage. Mahler took the idea much further, and in the 9th Symphony, he really makes the interplay between the 1sts and 2nds a key device, and in much of the piece it is the 2nds who are the prime melodic voice. It’s almost as if he assigns musical personalities to the two violin sections, but both are equally important, and equally strong. Even the beginning last movement of the Pathetique or the introduction to the last movement of Brahms 1 have stereo writing for the violins that would only make sense if the sections are equally strong and sat opposite of each other.

So, we’re actually using 14 15 12 12 6 for the Elgar, with the violins sat antiphonally. We’ve also taken some care to put two very strong players in the last stand of the outside row of the 2nds(when we asked them, the girl sitting on the outside, back corner said “Ah, you want me to sit in the suicide chair!”), since they’re the farthest away from the conductor and the concert master. It sounds silly, and maybe it is, but another consideration that may be important is that in some orchestras, members of the first violin section only play first violin. If the orchestra carries 16 firsts and 14 seconds and you want it the other way around, that means paying two subs to sit in the seconds and paying 2 firsts to sit at home, which may make one unpopular with the management, so it might be worth considering whether it’s better to use 12 and 14, so at least you’re not hiring subs, even though 4 players are still taking the week off. At least you’ll be very popular with the firsts.

Maybe because I’m a cellist, I’ve experimented with a slightly cello-heavy balance of strings in some pieces and in certain halls, and it can work really well. As a ridiculous generality, I find American halls tend to be a little bigger and more bass heavy that European ones, and therefore not so well suited to bigger cello sections and bass sections. I think the “standard” arrangement does have it’s benefits in some halls and some repertoire. I think the key is to think of it as not being a question of more higher voices, but less middle and lower ones. The idea is to have as much transparency of texture in the busiest ranges of the orchestra while still having a well balanced string sound. One is particularly looking to protect the woodwinds, who tend to have most of their material in the same register as the 2nds and violas. Again, if it’s a boomy room, taking away some middle voices might be helpful.

You said you wanted to ask a conductor….. You’ll notice my first instinct was to cite a composer. I think that if you have a concept for violin sections of equal strength, you should go for it, and 10.10.6.6.3 sounds perfectly plausible to me. I would always avoid 2 player sections whenever I can- 1 or 3 invariably sounds better, whereas 2 players always, no matter how great they are, struggle to match both pitch and sound. Without looking at the score, I can only guess here, but to me 6 violas to 10 violins in each section looks a little thin, but if you want more transparency and aren’t giving them tons of contrapuntally important stuff it might be best. As a baseline, I would have gone 10.10.8.7.4, but it really depends on the color of playing you want.

Whatever you decide, good luck with it, and please keep in touch. It would be great to know what you’re writing. …..

Cheers,

 Ken

 UPDATE- Chris let me know that the expanded orchestration quoted is acutally for 2 violin sections and 2 cello sections! GENIUS! Love it- more work for cellists, and days off for violists. I bet it will be a fantastic sound.

Upcoming Concert

Oregon East Symphony

Saturday, February 24^th, 2007

7:30 PM, Vert Auditorium

150^th Birthday Bash for Edward Elgar

Jason Thornton, guest conductor

Elgar- Cockaigne Overture (In London Town)

Elgar- Cello Concerto in E minor

Faure- Elegie (in memoriam)

Kenneth Woods, cello

Elgar-Enigma Variations

Ticket information from the OES office- oes@uci.net , 541.276.0320

I’ve added a new site to the list of composer’s links, that of Joel Hoffman. If you don’t know his music, or that of any of the composers listed, take some time to explore. There’s so much fantastic stuff being written right now.

KW

Absolutely tragic news from Portland. The more hours go by since I found out, the less I can get my head around it. I worked intensively with Angela on one project, which I’ll write about when my head has cleared. She was supposed to outlive us all and end up as president- a real, real force of nature.

Any piece of music worth performing is worth performing uncut.

Any musician perceptive enough to deserve to perform a piece worth performing will know that it is worth performing uncut.

 Put the scissors down….

KW

Real insights tend to be so simple and so blindingly obvious once they’re found….

Elgar Enigma Variations, Variation 2….

A nasty, highly chromatic little perpetual motion study.

Hardest movement in the piece…..

I’ve played it and conducted it many times, and covered it a few others….

Everyone (in my experience), including me, rehearses it the same way. Go slowly, beating in 3 and work it up to tempo, which is in one.

Because the notes are awkward, and they pass back and forth between the two violin sections there is a tendency for each section to rush. This means you get little gaps at the end of each phrase where one section has finished it before the other can beging.

The nasty moment in rehearsal is when you’ve done it slowly a few times and everyone is feeling confident and then you switch into one. Suddenly, everyone freaks out, especially in the first 9 bars, which are the most difficult for the violins.

INSIGHT! As you are reaching the realm of the fast-ish “three” you can simply slip into one maybe a quarter of the way through. That way, when you go back to the beginning for real in one, everyone is used to feeling the larger pulse unit and feels totally secure. No panics!

Okay, I know some of you out there claim that you already do this, but I’ve never seen this movement rehearsed this way- that is to say I’ve never seen that moment of truth handled that way, and I’ve seen a lot of people do it…. I’m  probably  the only person who was there tonight  who is excited about this!

It’s stupid little insights like this that make the long drive home tolerable….

An interesting piece on conductor evaluations. To their credit, many of those interviewed stressed the value of feedback getting to the conductors and not just being kept on file or discussed inside the orchestra.

Like all conductors, I get lots of inquiries every year from soloists, agents and other conductors. I’ll only ever be able to engage the tiniest minority of them, although most people who send me stuff are extremely well-qualified. If we didn’t hire you, the most likely reason is that we couldn’t afford you, and the next most likely reason is that the slot we would have used you in was already promised to someone else.

Anyway…. Over the last few years, people have shifted more and more to email as a marketing tool instead of mailing heavy, expensive and planet-killing press kits all over the world. This is a good thing, except I’m now getting mountains of electronic press kits, bios and cvs labelled in really helpful ways, like

“bio.doc”

“newbio.doc”

“resume2007.pdf”

So, today’s request is—please put the ARTIST’S NAME, and where appropriate the MANGEMENT COMPANY’S name in the title of each document, i.e.-

Joe_Tenor_Bio_2007_All_Powerful_Music_Mafia_Mgt.doc

See, it’s easy!

Same thing goes for applicants to the conductors workshop!

Here endeth the lesson/rant

KW

PS- Two more things. A personal message of about 2 paragraphs is nice- it tells me you actually put as much time into contacting me as I have to put in checking out your stuff. Also, remember, everyone in the business is constantly going back and forth between being a work-giver and a work-seeker. As the work-seeker, it’s your job to respond to emails right away. It is an unequal relationship, but everyone works in both roles, so it all balances out.

I’m happy to let you know that we have finalized the arrangements for the 2007 Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop, to be held from the 24^th-27^th of July, 2007, at Warner Pacific College in Portland Oregon. Faculty this year will again be Christopher Zimmerman, David Hoose and myself.

This is the third year of the workshop, which gives a chance for emerging conductors to work in an intense and supportive environment with the musicians of the Rose City Chamber Orchestra, the Pacific Northwest’s player-run orchestra. 

We have a few exciting additions to the program this year, including a slightly expanded schedule. We have renamed the main program the “Emerging Artists” program. The goal of the Emergina Artists Program is to offer serious, advanced students of conducting and professionals in the early stages of their careers a chance to develop their skills to the highest possible level. This year for the E.A program is-

Beethoven- Symphony No. 7
Stravinsky- L’Histoire du Soldat Suite
Shostakovich- Piano Concerto No. 1, with trumpet and strings
Verdi- Excerpts from Il Trovatore (Part II)
Varese- Octandre for Winds

Brennen Guillory and Alexis Hamilton, who sang Don Jose and Carmen for us last year, will be returning to sing Manrico and Azucena  in Trovatore, and concert pianist Rick Rowley will be playing the Shostakovich.

We have also created a program for conductors who don’t fancy taking on so much repertoire, or who are maybe just beginning their studies. This is a great opportunity for very young conductors who have just caught the conducting bug, music educators who want a refresher course but don’t have time to learn a great deal of repertoire or instrumentalists and singers who are interested in conducting but aren’t yet studying or working full-time as conductors. This is the Discovery program, and the repertoire is-

Beethoven- Symphony no. 1 (piano reduction played by Rick Rowley)
Stravinsky- Soldier’s March from L’Histoire du Soldat (full ensemble)
Haydn- Symphony no. 92 “Oxford” (full orchestration)

We will also be having some technique and score study classes, a discussion of string techniques, bowings and styles and a session on opera coaching and conducting with our soloists and Rick.

We also welcome auditors.

Lots more information is available on our website, www.rosecityworkshop.org. If you apply by February 22^nd, you can save $30 bucks, otherwise, the deadline is March 22^nd. You can make inquiries at the workshop office via email- admin@rosecityworkshop.org .

I hope we’ll hear from a lot of you. Meanwhile, all very best wishes

Ken

Kenneth Woods, director
Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop

Back home after 3 weeks away and happily recovering from the hard work on Das Lied last week (what a piece!), I’ve been looking at my pile-o-scores and it’s hit me that I have a lot of Elgar to do all of the sudden. I’m conducting Enigma Variations, the First Symphony and playing the cello concerto, and my orchestra is also playing Cockaigne (albeit it without me), all at the same time. These are all with different orchestras in different cities, no nobody will be able to hear the totality of this endeavour except me, but in honour of his 150^th birthday this year, I’m having an Elgar festival in my head.

For those of you whose patience is running out, the Kindertotenlieder series is coming back and will finish in style, I promise. I hope to get something out by Friday at the latests. Those are very time consuming!

Cheers

Ken

PS- Of course, some hard-core Elgar nuts may be out buying a used VW bus just so they can hear all these concerts….. Elgar could be the new Grateful Dead….