You know it’s going to be a great week when instead of
“Hi Ken, I do the standard cuts * in the last movement of the Tchaikovsky. What time is rehearsal?”
I get….
 

“Glad to hear that the barometer is reading well for the program. I have felt like a climber going up the sheer cliff for sometime now, but Elgar has been training my steps and I guess the time is nigh to cut loose. There are a million things I would like to say before we launch so I hope we can talk lots between now and then. I will pass on one friend’s comment to me about performing the piece, and this is coming from someone who knew Boult, “keep it moving!”. The things is, there are so many dream moments, halting moments, sometimes quite gently, sometimes quite grandly, but the motion always commences after these so the affect does not get laden but more conjectural or gestural, even recitative-like. The cadenza is of course another string of thoughts and musings and will take all of us being in the ultimate state of reminiscence (emphasis added)….”

People, get your butts to this concert, and colleagues- let’s practice hard….* FYI- there are no standard cuts in the Tchaikovsky. Doing the wrong thing over and over does not make it right….

PS- Did you really think I was man enough to get through this concert without at least Jorja/Georgia pun?