by Kenneth Woods | Feb 22, 2009 | A view from the podium
“The Scherzo is a damnable movement. It will have a long history of suffering! Conductors will take it too fast for fifty years, and audiences—Oh heavens—what sort of faces will they pull at this chaos…..” (Gustav Mahler, speaking of his 5th Symphony before the 1904...
by Kenneth Woods | Feb 22, 2009 | A view from the podium
The day, as a professional event, almost didn’t happen. Between rehearsal Thursday evening and lunch Friday afternoon, I went from “down” with the bug to “down, out and defeated” by the same bug. It’s amazing how debilitating something can be...
by Kenneth Woods | Feb 19, 2009 | A view from the podium, Mahler
Well, in just a few hours, I’ll be in Pendleton for our first rehearsal for this concert cycle. Like many rural orchestras, we have a couple of rehearsals with just our local core musicians, then bring in the rest of the orchestra for the weekend of the concert. In a...
by Kenneth Woods | Feb 17, 2009 | A view from the podium, Haydn
I’m in the midst of packing for a busy trip to Oregon, but I really wanted to share a couple of thoughts about our concert this past weekend with Lancashire Chamber Orchestra. It was great to see the hall so packed! The orchestra has been improving consistently since...
by Kenneth Woods | Feb 17, 2009 | A view from the podium
There was a great piece in the Feb 15 New York Times on the recent drama surrounding a proposed $50 million increase to the National Endowment for the Arts in the stimulus package. In the end, the Coburn Amendment, which I discussed here and here a few days ago,...
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