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H.C. Robbins Landon

Musicologist and Haydn scholar H.C. Robbins Landon has passed away at the age of 83. He was a man so prolific as author, editor and broadcaster that I long suspected there must be six of him. I probably have more scores edited by him in my library than anyone else,...

UW Weeks- pre first rehearsal thoughts

In about 2 hours, I’m going to start rehearsals for my concert next week with the UW-Madison Symphony. There are gigs, and then there are gigs- this is really a gig of gigs  for me. I’m a Madison native and a faculty brat (my dad is still teaching from the same office...

Finally getting it

We had our first rehearsal last night of Mozart 40 with the SMP. Wow. Is it his best symphony? His best piece? Is this the greatest symphony ever written? Is it the greatest piece of music ever written? Whatever it is, it makes you feel like it must be all those...

Terrorists

“The piccolo player seemed to be having a rough night. I might even go so far as to call her a terrorist.” With this remark from a colleague in one of my orchestras to a recording of one of our recent performances, a new term entered my musical lexicon. I’d never...

Teach them to finger themselves

I’ve been delighted to see how many responses I’ve had to my last post on fingerings and bowings. By a complete coincidence, I found this morning I have another comrade in arms, Alban Gerhardt, who writes – I don’t know how it sounded out there in the hall...