UPCOMING CONCERTS

Oregon East Symphony Preparatory Orchestra 

Spring Showcase Concert 

7:30 PM, Monday, May 7, 2007 

Regional Schools Tour, Monday, May 7, 2007 

Program to include-

Brahms- Academic Festival Overture

Beethoven- Symphony no. 5

Mozart- Piano Concerto in G Major

Williams- Music from Star Wars

The 2006-7 Season of the OES Preparatory Orchestra, a group made of young musicians from throughout Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington, culminates in a series of challenging concerts which follow the orchestra’s annual spring retreat at the Bar M dude ranch in the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon.  In addition to regular weekly rehearsals, the OES Preparatory Orchestra have always had a number of annual intensive retreats in some of the many beautiful locations around the Inland Northwest, including the Whitman Hotel in Walla Walla, Eagle Cap Challets in the Wallowa mountains and the Bar M. Over the course of the weekend the students have the chance to work intensively under the baton of OES Music Director, Kenneth Woods, and to receive coaching from OES “helpers” who sit in for the rehearsals. There is also ample opportunity for social time and recreational activities, including hiking, horseback riding and swimming.  The orchestra will be joined by pianist Elizabeth Field from Walla Walla, winner of the Junior Division of the 2006 OES Young Artists Competition. The OES Preparatory Orchestra is part of the “Playing for Keeps” project of the Oregon East Symphony. “Playing for Keeps” funds two training orchestras, a children’s choir and a summer camp for young musicians, in addition to supporting private lessons and instrument rental for economically disadvantaged young musicians. You can learn more at the OES website, http://www.oregoneastsymphony.org/

I’ve felt rather intimidated by the prospect of writing something meaningful about the passing of Rostropovich- so many have already said so much, and his career and life are already so celebrated that there is not a need for another summary of his accomplishments.

I’m also not entirely comfortable with trying to summarize the impact of his playing on my development as a cellist- I think it’s more or less a given that most cellists today are consciously aware of what we’ve learned from him. Almost any of us can pick his sound out from a couple of notes of any recording.

Instead, I’d like to talk about one project in Slava’s long and amazing career as a cellist that highlights both the kind of musician he was and the sort of legacy he leaves. We’ll save his storied conducting career for later discussion.
In 1976, Rostropovich hatched a plan to celebrate the birthday of his friend, the conductor Paul Sacher. He had the rather brilliant idea of commissioning a set of variations based on theme constructed from the letters of Sacher’s name SACHER, or, Es (Eb), A, C, H (B), E, and Re (D). *

Rostropovich’s dear friend Benjamin Britten was already on his deathbed and felt too frail to write a variation, and so offered to write the theme, Thema SACHER for cello solo. Rostropovich went on to commission variations from composers as diverse as Lutoslawski, Berio, Halffter, Dutilleux and Boulez, among others (complete list below). All wrote works were for solo cello, except for Boulez, who wrote his work (Messagesquisse) for solo cello and six cellos. Taken as a whole, the “Sacher” pieces represent the most important single contribution to the solo cello repertoire since the Bach Suites, and represent an astounding compendium of 20^th Century styles.

This was a project built on friendship, on open-mindedness, on cooperation and on personality. Were it not for Rostropovich’s friendship with Sacher, were it not for all of these composers’ willingness to collaborate and give of their time and talent to this project, we would not have any of these pieces, several of which are genuine masterpieces.
It is worth remembering that Rostropovich commissioned and performed new works in every conceivable style, and approached them all with the same passionate commitment. On the other hand, nobody ever played the Dvorak Concerto as well as he did, nor the Schumann nor the Beethoven Sonatas- he was a friend to the warhorse and the avante-garde.
It is a personal frustration to often hear programs debated as a series of choices between old and new works, as if Beethoven and Berio were rivals. Rostropovich showed us that one could, and should, embrace the old and new with equal passion- musicians should serve music, not just old music or just new music. I believe all composers and performers ought to learn all they can from the masters of today and of yesterday. I can’t imagine how we could take seriously a composer who doesn’t understand and love the music of Haydn or Beethoven or Debussy or ________ (you pick), (though there are those who don’t, who we still take seriously- such is the privilege of genius). For those not so privileged, we all have something to learn from all great music, past and present.

Many of the works he sought out and championed have already become classics- the Shostakovich concerti, the Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante, the Britten Suites. No other performer I can think of nurtured so many works from premieres to repertoire works. Others pieces written for him are working their way into the repertoire of the new generation of cellists, while others may, sadly fade into history. Rostropovich, who knew many composers and listened a practiced and prepared without prejudice said there were three musical giants in his life- Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Britten. Rostropovich will be remembered for his friendship with them, while other composers will be remembered only for their friendship with him.  So it goes, so it goes.

* These works, and Boulez’s “Messagesquisse” in particular, were the subject of my doctoral lecture recital. If I can find the text of that, I’ll post here. It’s one of those brain-smashingly dense dissections of row permutations that we all love to read- brew a nice strong pot of coffee before reading. I’ve played almost all of the pieces, but have yet to do the cycle in a single show. Aside from being really hard and a massive play, there is also the problem that the Dutilleux, which is wonderful, is for a re-tuned cello. I’ve never been able to get the cello to stabilize quickly enough after this piece to carry on with other repertoire, so I’ve held off until I have two instruments of comparable quality to throw at it. Maybe in my next life.

Compositions commissioned by Mstislav Rostropovich for cello solo
for the 70th birthday of Paul Sacher
and performed by Rostropovich in Zurich, May 2, 1976

Composer                     Title                                     

Conrad Beck                  Three Epigrams for                                        

                             Violoncello Solo                                           

Luciano Berio                "Le mots sont alles..."                                   

                             for Violoncello Solo                                      

Benjamin Britten             Theme "SACHER" for Cello                                   

                             Solo                                                      

Henri Dutilleux              *Hommage a Paul Sacher                                    

                             pour violoncello solo**                                    

Wolfgang Fortner             Theme and Variations for                                  

                             Violoncello Solo                                          

Alberto Ginastera            *Hommage a Paul Sacher:                                    

                             Punena No. 2, op. 45 for                                  

                             Violoncello Solo                                          

Cristobal Halffter           Variations on the Theme                                    

                             "SACHER" for Violoncello                                  

                             Solo                                                      

Heinz Holliger               Chaconne for Violoncello                                  

                             Solo                                                      

Klaus Huber                  "Transpositio ad                                          

                             infinitum" for Virtuoso                                   

                             Solo Cello                                                

Witold Lutoslawski           Sacher Variations for                                     

                             Violoncello Solo           

Pierre Boulez                Messagesquisse for solo cello and   

                             Six cellos                             

* dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich
** Henri Dutilleux later added two more movements and the work is now called Trois Strophes sur le nom de Sacher pour Violoncello Solo
                                                                                                   
c. 2007 Kenneth Woods

Alarm. Snooze. 

And I thought I was done. 

Alarm. Rehearsal. Surrey. Damn. Snooze. Alarm. Damn. Rehearsal.Surrey. Grunting. Moaning. Shoulder-sore. Head- hurts. Back- aches. 

Shower.Grunting. Moaning. Coffee. Grunting. “Breakfast?”

(Say yoghurt, say yoghurt, say yoghurt)

A croaking sound “bacon and eggs…” 

Who said that? Don’t feel up to eating, much less digesting… 

Won’t get lunch today. Won’t get dinner til 10 PM.

 Bacon and eggs it is.

Food- eaten. Yum. Coffee- drunk.

Scores. Batons. Shoes. Pat dog. Kiss wife. Must do these in the right order. Once patted wife before realized who I’d kissed.

Car. Road. Drive. Drive. Drive. 

Gas, coffee. Call dog. Realize dog has no phone. Call wife. 

Car. Road. Drive. Drive. Stop. 

Sit in car. Look at bag of scores. Possible moaning. 

Sit in car. Scores still in bag. Get out. Moaning. Grunting. Back-aches. Shoulder-sore. Head-hurts. Everyone is smiling. Why? Who are all these people? Do we really have to rehearse all afternoon? Smile Ken- it’s not their fault. A= 440. “Beethoven. Allegro.” Sounds good. Balances. Bow strokes. It’s a nice day outside. Lets try the coda. “Schumann.” This is great. I’m thinking in sentences. What a wonderful piece. Band sounds good, we can work on stuff. First movement is just balance stuff to fix, otherwise a joy. Second movement is usually hard to find one tempo for all three themes, but it grooves. Shoulder- fine I’m not queasy. Last movement. Too slow.  Haven’t been queasy in a long time. Slowing down. Head-fine. Slowing down. Get rid of extra accents not in score. Tempo- good. Back- good. Bobby rocks. Bobby Schumann rocks! Out of time. Now who’s smiling? Am I a vampire- they come in fresh and leave exhausted, I come in half dead and leave bouncing off the walls. Bobby rocks. Car. 

Road. Drive. Drive. Drive Home.

More Smiles.

The world just became a duller place. 

Mstislav Rostropovich has died at the age of 80 after a long illness. 

Saturday

Madness

BBC NOW, WSO….

I think all our readers will know there is nothing more maddening than knowing that you’re very, very tired and that you have a very short time to sleep, because you never really sleep, but lie half awake all night checking to see if you’ve already overslept. When the alarm finally went of at 7:30, I think I felt more tired than when I got home from Friday’s WSO rehearsal.

One thing I hadn’t done is organize myself for both concerts, so it’s a frantic dash around the house trying to find a couple of clean and ironed concert shirts, then a careful check that I have all the scores I’ll need for the two concerts today and the rehearsal tomorrow, as we’ve decided not to come back to Cardiff tonight.

Dump the coffee in a travel mug and scarf down a bit of yoghurt, then it’s off to Newport for the BBC NOW shows. There’s concern about parking- the artist parking slots are gone for now while they undertake a large construction project, so the best the orchestra can do is block off a bit of real estate by the stage door, so I need to find a corner there where I can get out quickly after the second concert.

It’s a funny gig for me. The idea of the day is to get young players and amateurs who’ve not taken their playing very far excited about playing and excited about orchestras. The first part of the session is basically a showcase of the orchestra, conducted by me, then the clinician/presenter takes over and teaches the participants an improvised piece based on the themes in the showcase piece, which they play in a super-sized orchestra with BBC NOW. See, sounds easy. What, you’re already lost? Wait, did I mention there’s a choir led by the BBC Singers? An a giant percussion section?

We get started a little late for the first concert as the registration process has a few kinks, but the first performance and demos go really well. However, we’re a little nervous when I’m done, as the process of getting started and through that part of the workshop took about twice as long as it was supposed to. No worries, though, the BBC NOW’s education expert and I have a quick pow-wow and figure out what needs to be done to keep the afternoon on schedule.

Once the thing gets going without me, I have a bit of time to look at Elgar and Khatchaturian (at last!), and to see some of the lovely, human side of the orchestra. As the session proceeds, there is a steady stream of members of the orchestra taking the time to offer a little one-on-one coaching backstage to a participant who might be feeling a little out of their depth. It might be an exaggeration to say orchestras look forward to days like this- it’s not playing Mahler 6 at the Proms, but a keen observer can always see how incredibly generous the players are in these sessions. Everyone is happy to show a fingering or explain a technique, or just to offer a word of encouragement.

Finding lunch in Newport on a Saturday proves to be something of a challenge, made worse by a power outage downtown, but we finally find an Italian place with a gas stove. Back at the hall, my colleague and I have a quick chat about the timing for the afternoon session. As I have a sound check and concert on the far side of Wales, I need to leave as soon as my part of the performance is done, so it’s important not just to me, but to the 86 musicians in Wrexham that the musical trains run on time. The registration kinks are sorted, and the presentation problems are resolved, so all is looking good. I get packed and ready to go before the concert starts.

Moments before show time, Suzanne from the orchestra (not my wife, Suzanne), comes over with a worried look. Bad news- there’s been a huge accident on the M4 and few of our participants have arrived. People have been calling in and it looks like most will be 20 minutes late. Holding the concert that long will make things very tough for WSO- really too tough, as we only have 45 minutes of sound check time scheduled with me- we could lose half our time, and there are some players who are only coming for that session (harps!). As it turns out, the BBC NOW players can’t wait that long either- it’s already a long day, and pushing it back that far would put them into overtime. We agree to hold off for five minutes and hope for the best. I walk off just twigging that I have to drive off along that same M4 that everyone is stuck on. Argh….

Miracle! Just at the last moment, everyone pours into the building, and we’re off. I go on, we play, we demonstrate, we crack a few jokes, I exit. I feel like the third trumpet who gets to leave after the overture abandoning the band for the rest of the session, but I’ve got to fly. Suzanne (orchestra Suzanne again) and I race for the exit (me still in concert clothes, no time to change), picking Mark, one of the stage managers on our way out. Mark kindly moves the barriers to the parking area and I shoot off for Wrexham, hoping I can bypass the traffic jam.

I did miss most of the traffic jam, and make good time all the way up to Hereford, before getting stuck in a long queue behind a caravan (camper trailer for US readers) for over 30 miles. I really, really think Britain would be a saner place if there were minimum speeds as well as maximum speeds on highways. When someone is tootling along at 30 in a 60 zone on a two lane road where it is all but impossible to pass, tempers (not only mine!) fray quickly.

Still, but the time I get to the hall, I’m only five minutes later than expected (here’s hoping no tickets show up in the mail)! We check a few spots, then adjourn as they open the house. I have time for a quick bottle of water and a black banana before the downbeat.

If I got off a bit easy with BBC NOW, I’m doing both endurance work and heavy lifting with WSO. The Khatchaturian is such a long hall, although I enjoy performing it much more than listening to it. It’s not a piece to experience on paper- there’s not much to discover in studying it, but it’s great fun and the audience love it, and Bethan’s playing. As we’re going on stage for Elgar I feel like I’ve not sat still since I conducted it the previous night—wait, I haven’t sat still since….

I’ve always loved the piece, but in developing a performance of it, I’ve spent long hours trying to solve some of the tricky corners of it- to find a path through the entire work where the performance can have a sense of wholeness and completeness. What I’ve finally realized is that the shape of the entire symphony is the shape of the long theme that opens it- if you can build and sustain that first arch, you can build the longer arch from there to the last statement of the theme in the finale. I suggest to the audience that they might find echoes of The Odyssey in it- the Elgar gives us that first statement of the theme as the poet tells us that this is a story about trying to get home, and that from the D minor Allegro of the first movement to the end of the symphony, it is a voyage back to that theme, and to the A flat that began it.

The orchestra had played very well on the concerto, but the Elgar felt special to me from the downbeat. It’s a huge piece, and difficult in every bar, but in the rehearsals it’s always been the slow movement that posed the most problems for us. Not so tonight. It had already started to settle on Friday. Tonight, it’s not just settled, it has reached that point where we’re really in the moment and the orchestra plays with incredible flexibility and imagination. It’s the heart of the symphony, and, forgive the cliché, it’s a broken heart. After the show, I kept hearing the word “longing” over and over. I can’t think of a better word to describe that movement, or a better movement to describe that word.

Elgar 1 is one of those pieces like the Mahler and Sibelius symphonies- if the conductor has any energy left at the end, they’ve cheated the audience and the music, but I’m not sure I’ve ever been much more tired at the end of a work. Still, it’s sad to finish a piece like that- maybe that’s why we like applause, it softens the blow of saying goodbye to a great project.

We’re all headed to the pub for a quick beer afterwards, but for the first time in my career between the fatigue, dehydration and lack of anything more than old bananas since noon, I nearly threw up in the car driving over. A Guinness and a big glass of water is the perfect cure.

Finally, it’s off to Hereford to spend the night at my in-laws’. It’s closer to Wrexham and Guildford than Cardiff, so it saves me about 3 hours of driving time over the weekend. The two-hour-plus drive there, however, is still hell, but I’ve never been happier to eat a microwave dinner at 2 AM and have a cold, quiet beer with my wife.
 c. 2007 Kenneth Woods

UPCOMING BROADCAST

BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Piers Lane, piano

Stephen Johnson, presenter

BBC Radio 3

Chopin’s Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor
Sunday 29 April 2007 17:00-18:30 (BBC Radio 3)
Stephen Johnson joins pianist Piers Lane and members of BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Kenneth Woods for an investigation into a distinct genre of concerto.
Duration:
1 hour 30 minutes
 

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.

Read more about the recording here and here.

C. 2007 Kenneth Woods

UPCOMING CONCERT 

April 28, 2007
Surrey Mozart Players
Electric Theatre, Guildford
Beethoven- Leonore Overture no. 3
Prokofiev- Violin Concerto no. 2 in G minor
Alexandra Wood, violin
Schumann- Symphony no. 3 in E-flat, “Rhenish”

Friday, WSO

I’m determined to save the morning for score study.

Between Friday night and Monday night, I’m conducting four different programs with four different orchestras in four different cities (none of which are home), including the epic Elgar 1, Bruckner 4, Schumann 3 and a couple of tricky concerti. I’m also very determined to have a bit of time every day for Mahler 1, which is coming up fast. It’s not music I want to bullshit my way through. 

However, the morning begins with a phone call from the kitchen people- they want to deliver the kitchen at 10 AM. Great- installers are coming on Monday at 8 AM, so this is just in time. Ten AM, and the knock on the door comes. Our kitchen is here. Wait- make that our kitchens. Two giant trucks have arrived at our door at the same time from opposite ends of Britain with identical loads of goods. Two fridges, two sets of cabinets, two sets faucets. The two teams have a brief and vigorous discussion about who unloads and who gets to drive all the crap back to the depot (knowing they’ll have to work around it for the rest of their deliveries). An hour on and they’re gone, and one kitchen is piled in our living room. Minutes later the phone rings- same company telling me the fitters aren’t coming on Monday, they’re coming in late May. I’ve wasted all my study time dealing with people dumping a bunch of crap in my house which will now sit here for a month. It finally looks like I’ll have an hour or less to myself when another truck shows up at the door. They were scheduled to come Saturday, but were “in the neighborhood.” In a moment of madness I take the delivery, although I have to send back the bathtub as it’s been destroyed in shipping. What a waste of a day. Is this how Simon Rattle gets ready for a concert?

The normally lousy drive up to North Wales is even worse on a Friday. I leave the house 90 minutes earlier than usual, all of which I lose back sat behind an accident 10 miles from my house, so the rest of the drive is a white knuckle affair instead of the leisurely cruise I had planned. We start again with the Khatchaturian. It’s all fine except for one little rhythmic problem that has two string sections completely stymied. Both sections are full of talented and able people- it shouldn’t be an issue to do a simple 2-against-3 thing (granted, it does go by at quite a tempo), but it is. If young musicians just had to spend a tiny bit of time learning basic rhythmic skills like how to count cross rhythms in addition to learning their solo pieces, life would be so much easier for them and me. Cross rhythms are not hard at all, one only needs to learn the very simple, logical tools of how to decode and count them; they’re just hard to learn in a rehearsal with 100 other people watching and the clock ticking. Undeterred, we run the concerto and the symphony both again. The symphony is incalculably better than two nights ago, even though all we’ve done is run it through and then run it again. Sometimes it’s good to be reminded that often the players need to play the music, and that any other fancy rehearsal technique may sometimes be beside the point. It’s a longer rehearsal, we get out at 10 and everyone, including me is knackered, but once again, it’s back to Cardiff through the usual late-night construction crews. I arrive at my front door sweaty, sore and tired, just hours before I have to leave for the next gig…

Thursday, BBC NOW Strangely tired Thursday morning. “Strangely” tired until I realize I had conducted an Elgar 1 run-through the night before with lots of in-flight coaching and made it back to Cardiff after 1 AM. House issues pre-occupy much of the morning- never replace your kitchen if you want to have any time for work. Early afternoon and I’m off to Studio 1 to see the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. I arrive as they’re finishing another rehearsal with another conductor, Edwin Outwater, who is conducting their Friday night film music concert. It feels a bit surreal- Edwin and I go back about 14 years to many summers at the Round Top Festival in Texas, where we were always the two young conductors. We’ve followed each other on and off the podium countless times, but it feels weird doing it 5000 miles from Texas. My rehearsal is as laid back as a rehearsal with a world-class band can be- the music is fun and familiar to them and we all know the performance is a low-key one. Still, I have to be just as prepared and focused for this as I would for a Prom, and time to prepare and energy to focus are in short supply. Nonetheless, the play through is a blast, and we have a short, productive session before Sue and I head off to dinner with Edwin.

What a weekend. Wednesday, WSO….

Long drive up to Wrexham after a busy day in Cardiff.

It was concert week at the WSO, and we’d had a funny run up to it. We’ve been working together over many weeks on this program. I usually dislike weekly rehearsals, as I feel so much is forgotten in the long and busy days between rehearsals… The run up to the concert week has been less than ideal- Sue and I had been off for a week on a much-needed Easter break, so the orchestra’s leader and sometime conductor Mark took that rehearsal, then the next week (that is the week before the concert) I arrived to find that all the orchestra’s many young members (who make up a large and vital portion of the string section in particular) were off on their spring youth orchestra course. Rehearsing Elgar 1 with a string section more appropriate to an early Mozart symphony the week before a concert is not a confidence builder for anyone.

However, there I was Wednesday, with the young players back and with a number of well-chosen extras on scene for the first time, as well as our young soloist (fourteen year-old Bethan Morgan-Williams). In a two hour rehearsal one doesn’t have a lot of room for choice in planning a rehearsal if you have two very long works to rehearse (there was about an hour and 40 minutes of music on the program). I did feel that the concerto needed some detail work with the soloist, particularly in the last movement, so work we did, then took a break and ran the entire symphony with me trying to sneak in a bit of feedback along the way. It’s a risk- there’s no time to stop and point out mistakes unless they’re huge- you have to completely trust the musicians. Terrible construction delays on drive back to Cardiff. Driving after Elgar= yuck! Driving into the wee hours of the morning after Elgar…

UPCOMING CONCERTS  

BBC National Orchestra of Wales   

Saturday, April 21st, 2007 

10:30 AM, 3:00 PM  

Newport Leisure Centre Newport, Gwent  Workshop and Concert Day for “Play it Again”   

From the BBC NOW Website-  

Play it Again events are an exciting opportunity for budding musicians aged 8-80 to come and play alongside members of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, regardless of experience or ability. 

“You can now register online at bbc.co.uk/playitagain to take part in one of the two half-day workshops taking place on each date.  

“Play it Again events are all about having a go at making music. They are for everyone from people that play (or who have played) instruments or would like to sing or try their hand at percussion. If you’re an absolute beginner or haven’t played in years, come along and join in the fun!  

“You’ll get lots of support and the chance to play or sing with BBC musicians. Events are free and open to adults and children over eight. You can even have a free online music lesson with musicians from the orchestra.  

“The events are linked to a BBC television series called Play It Again which follows the musical journey of celebrities such as Aled Jones, Frank Skinner and Jo Brand. BBC One, Sundays at 8pm from 25 March – 29 April. “  

Note-  Yes, these concerts are the same day as the WSO Elgar 1 concert on the other side of Wales. Fun, fun!  

UPCOMING CONCERT 

Wrexham Symphony Orchestra   Saturday, April 21^st,  20077:30 PM 

William Aston Hall, Wrexham Khatchaturian- Violin Concerto  Bethan Morgan-Williams, violin

Elgar- Symphony No. 1 13-year-old prodigy Bethan Morgan tackles Khatchaturian’s epic Violin Concerto, a massive work dripping with the evocative sounds of Armenian folk-music- proud and soulful music of a great people. Presented in celebration of Elgar’s 150th birthday, his First Symphony is finally being recognised as one of the great works of the symphonic repertoire, worthy of comparison to contemporary works by Sibelius and Mahler. Every bit as British as the Khatchaturian is Armenian, it promises to be a memorable evening with the Resident Orchestra of William Aston Hall.  

I’m happy, but not surprised, that Peter Maxwell Davies is speaking out again on the state of arts and art funding in Britain in the Telegraph. He has long since reached that place in his professional life many of us are looking for- the place where you are famous enough, respected enough, powerful enough and old enough that you can actual say what you mean in public. 

On the other hand, I was pretty surprised and impressed to see in the same article and actual arts administrator (sorry guys) speaking his mind as well. I quote- 

“Peter Hewitt, the chief executive of Arts Council England, has warned that arts groups could withdraw their support from the 2012 Olympic Games if the Government does not increase funding…. 

“Anything less and the arts sector may, sadly, have no choice but to tell the Government that it is simply not able to deliver a large proportion of the much-vaunted cultural Olympics.” 

He claims the Arts Council is being asked to help pay for regional Olympic project co-ordinators and spend £5 million on a new trust for cultural schemes linked to the games, despite losing out on lottery money to the games, but may not be able to afford to do so. 

Mr Hewitt said: “Recent events and the impact on our funding programmes mean that we are now having to consider these decisions carefully. After all, what is the point of having people at local level develop projects when the money to realise them has gone?” 

It’s well said, but more power to him for saying it. 

KW 

Given some of the writing on Elgar lately, I thought I would try to improve the calibre of discourse. 

From the man who wrote the book on The Symphony, my dear friend Michael Steinberg, who offers two quotes of his own discovery.

First from David Cairns-

“a hypersensitive, touchy, moody, at times almost suicidally unhappy genius with small nervous hands: and English eccentric who loved fishing, Bradshaw, dogs, recondite information, and bonfires, who practised chemistry and patented the Elgar Sulphuretted Hydrogen Apparatus and who nursed within in a wound that never healed.”

Second from Elgar himself- “An Englishman will take you into a large room, beautifully proportioned, and will point out to you that it is white- all over white- and somebody will say what exquisite taste. You know in your own mind, in your own soul, that it is not taste at all—that is the want of taste—that is mere evasion. English music is white and evades everything.”Finally, from Michael-

“One hesitates before a phrase like “Elgar is the English Mahler.” It is too pat as a “placing” of Elgar; besides, to provide such a pigeonhole is always to invite a reader to stop thinking. Still, an affinity exists between these two great symphonists of the century’s first decade. Gloom pleased (Keats’s wonderful adjective), life loving, incorruptible, tactless, they were pursued by similar demons, they relished their sense of exile even as they suffered under it, they had religious feelings at once intense and ambivalent, they were exceedingly dependent husbands, they were intellectual musicians who revelled in the popular touch. Both detested white rooms, both took what their censorious contemporaries saw as an unholy delight in orchestral virtuosity, and Elgar’s injunction to conductors that he wanted his music played “elastically and mystically” applies equally to Mahler. Mahler looked and behaved like and exasperated genius; Elgar had correct English manners, an unabashed sense of humor, and he took pains to disguise himself as Colonel Blimp. Elgar and his music fooled a lot of people with that disguise.”                     

KW will conduct Elgar’s Symphony No. 1 in A flat on Saturday, April 21st at 7:30 in William Aston Hall, Wrexham with the WSO.

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