by Kenneth Woods | Nov 19, 2009 | A view from the podium, cello
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...
by Kenneth Woods | Nov 15, 2009 | cello, Nuts and bolts
I suppose on of the main perks of a blog, for some the raison d’etre, is having a forum in which to rant about one’s little pet peeves. Given this facility, it’s a small wonder that I have not yet had a good little rant about one of my pet hates- fingerings in music....
by Kenneth Woods | Nov 15, 2009 | A view from the podium
Chamber music played with passion, coached professionally, in a truly stunning Mediterranean setting May 8-15, 2010. The Location The fabled southern Italian isle of Ischia – dreaming with Capri in the timeless blue waters of the Bay of Naples, is home to the...
by Kenneth Woods | Nov 14, 2009 | A view from the podium
I’ve conducted a lot of youth orchestras in my career, and being a member of a youth orchestra was, to say the least, a turning point in my life. Youth orchestras are not just wonderful musical organizations, but serve a profound social function, transforming the...
by Kenneth Woods | Nov 10, 2009 | A view from the podium
While in that fertile last hour of morning sleep before the alarm went off th other, I had strange and troubling dream. I’ve been trying to allow a bit of time lately to go back through pieces I’ve conducted this year using my own parts and make some small revisions,...
by Kenneth Woods | Nov 5, 2009 | A view from the podium
A symphony supporter in Pendleton emailed this morning and asked me to reprint the little farewell essay I wrote for the OES program last week- To my Pendleton friends- I know it is the most obvious cliché one always hears at these times, but I honestly can barely...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 30, 2009 | A view from the podium
On the one hand, it may seem like we had a little mini-onslaught of blog posts last week, after a fairly quiet summer. On the other, I continue to feel like there is a huge backlog of things I want to write about, but that I still am working to recapture a sense of...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 29, 2009 | A view from the podium
From the East Oregonian Maestro Kenneth Woods’ Swan Song Seven years after moving to Wales, Kenneth Woods conducts the Oregon East Symphony in his farewell performance By KATHY ANEY The East Oregonian Conductor Kenneth Woods lives for those moments when he and...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 23, 2009 | A view from the podium
“The Coffee Hour.” It’s a Pendleton institution that needs no further introduction. I suppose most small and medium sized communities have a program with a similar mix of current affairs, cultural news and community discussion. I’ve done radio sit downs all over the...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 23, 2009 | A view from the podium
Many folks have raised an eyebrow when I tell them I have chosen the 2nd Symphony of the great Bobby Schumann to end my run at the Oregon East Symphony. “What,” they say, “no Mahler 9, no Beethoven 9, no Bruckner 9?” No, no 9ths! Here are Five Easy Reasons why I’m...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 22, 2009 | A view from the podium
Every concert has its drama. Not long ago, the drama was a plague of flies, which, last I heard, were still annoying the citizens of swish Altrincham. As I drove into Pendleton yesterday, I was struck by the vast devastation of the outer reaches of the city. The whole...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 22, 2009 | A view from the podium, Nuts and bolts
For some strange reason, my blog post “Haydn-More Talented Than Mozart” has left some readers with the impression that I somehow don’t get or don’t like Mozart. Far from it- in fact, those who pay attention to these sorts of things will no doubt have noticed that...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 22, 2009 | A view from the podium
Mozart’s Paris Symphony was the first work I conducted with the Oregon East Symphony. Here is a somewhat pained description of the difficulties of rehearsing what I had thought was a relatively straightforward classical work- “I was exceedingly anxious at rehearsal,...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 20, 2009 | A view from the podium, Repertoire Reports
With my OES tenure now in its final week, I wanted to take a look back over our work together and see if we’ve accomplished anything. It seemed a good time for a special edition of the Repertoire Report- in this case, a complete listing of every work I’ve performed...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 13, 2009 | A view from the podium
“I like/dislike the leaner textures of the new Urtext edition of the Beethoven Symphonies by Jonathan Del Mar, and loathe/prefer the more robust sound of the old Breitkopf edition…” This quote is typical of many reviews I’ve come across recently, both favorable and...
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