by Kenneth Woods | Dec 20, 2009 | Repertoire Reports
David from Cincinnati has kindly taken up my suggestion, and collated Paavo Jarvi’s repertoire for 2009 based on the listing of programs on his website. David writes that after watching Paavo’s work for many years with the CSO he considers him his favorite conductor....
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 20, 2009 | Repertoire Reports
With Friday night’s Mahler 1 rehearsal done, my work year for 2009 is now complete. Actually, my conducting year is now complete- there are countless little admin projects to get to, bowings to do, programs to confirm, contacts to chase, soloists to engage and letters...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 17, 2009 | A view from the podium
Okay- our webstats here at Vftp show a sudden flurry of hits from a reader or readers obsessed with Pierre Boulez’s Messagesquisse for Solo Cello and Six Cellos. Written at the request of Mstislav Rostropovich as a birthday present for the conductor Paul Sacher,...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 17, 2009 | A view from the podium
Sad news from Madison, courtesy of Jake Stockinger and the Well-Tempered Ear (read more here). Charles S. Lunde, the longtime and beloved record seller at Victor Music and then the Exclusive Company, has died. Charles passed away quietly on Dec. 13 at age 86. Charles...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 16, 2009 | Nuts and bolts
I’ve had so much to say about Elgar 1 lately in the run up to my recent performance of it with the UW Symphony that I haven’t been able to channel it all into readable form, especially while continuing to travel. Finally, with a slightly calmer schedule, I thought I...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 15, 2009 | A view from the podium
https://www.conductorsguild.org/main.asp?pageID=158 My colleagues on the board of the Conductors Guild have been working very hard to put together the best Guild conference ever. It just got better- Two new reasons you absolutely cannot miss the Copenhagen...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 14, 2009 | Nuts and bolts
Not long ago, the IMSLP (International Music Score Library Project) had to go offline under legal threat. For those of you not in the know, the IMSLP is a library of scanned music in the public domain, uploaded by volunteers and available for anyone to download and...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 4, 2009 | Music and Media
I had a nice chat with long-time Madison music and arts critic and reporter Jakob Stockinger today, which has been posted on his excellent blog, The Well Tempered Ear. Jake’s blog is a fantastic musical resource for the city, and Madison is very lucky to have someone...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 4, 2009 | A view from the podium, Mahler, Nuts and bolts
Interestingly, what we know as the “Ruckert Lieder” by Mahler were conceived as individual songs, rather than as a cycle like the Kindertotenlieder or the Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen. Mahler orchestrated four out of the five songs, which he conducted once on a...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 2, 2009 | A view from the podium
Well…. What an interesting afternoon. Those of you who have read the last installment here on Vftp will know that my master plan for world conquest today involved stretching out our time on two Mahler songs that use few or no strings to maximize time for sectionals. I...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 1, 2009 | Mahler, Nuts and bolts, Performing Life
It’s been a quiet couple of days here at Vftp- these silences are sometimes the result of not having anything to say and being wise enough to recognize it, sometimes the result of having something I need to say and not knowing how to say it or having too much to say...
by Kenneth Woods | Nov 25, 2009 | A view from the podium
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,...
by Kenneth Woods | Nov 24, 2009 | A view from the podium
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...
by Kenneth Woods | Nov 23, 2009 | A view from the podium
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...
by Kenneth Woods | Nov 20, 2009 | A view from the podium
“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...
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