by Kenneth Woods | Oct 13, 2006 | A view from the podium, Music and Media
I would like to call your attention to a post from A.C Douglas at Sounds and Fury. I think this is part ofa very, very important question, and we’d be smart to think through the wisdom of the path towards a multimedia concert experience before it becomes an...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 10, 2006 | A view from the podium, Performing Life
I’ve had a few email requests for a post-mortem on my concert/recording project for Discovering Music with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales last week. It’s nice to know readers are paying attention, and it was a project that left me with a lot to think about. It’s...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 9, 2006 | A view from the podium
If you go into a coffee shop and order your latte or cappuccino, and they ask you “would you like any flavor with that?” decisive action is called for. You have two honorable courses of action. 1- Leave 2- Politely and calmly inform them that….COFFEE IS A...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 9, 2006 | A view from the podium, News and Reviews
Upcoming Concert- October 14, 2006 Oregon East Symphony and Chorale Annette Vogel, violin Gershwin- An American in Paris, Rimsky-Korsakov- Capriccio Espagnol, Ravel-Tzigane, Sarasate- Zigeunerweisen From the official OES press release- Oregon East Symphony Opens...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 9, 2006 | A view from the podium, Favorite posts
Almost all composers tend to get misrepresented by history in one way or another. The great modern example is the “debate” about Shostakovich, in which many American academics continue to promote a portrait of the man at odds with descriptions of him by all his...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 7, 2006 | A view from the podium, Performing Life
I’m heading into the back country this morning. Twice every year we take the youth orchestra here on a weekend retreat. Instead of heading for a private school built around an ancient mansion (as we have in Kent), the OES Prep Orch heads into the nearby mountains,...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 6, 2006 | A view from the podium, Nuts and bolts, Performing Life
I’ve been thinking this week about the whole question of the conductor’s bedside manner. It’s always been my belief that a conductor should choose his or her tone and approach and not let their way of working be too influenced by their work situation. I remember...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 5, 2006 | A view from the podium, Performing Life
We’ve thought from time to time about moving to Portland, Oregon. It’s a famously nice place, and it would be very convenient for my work with the Rose City Chamber Orchestra, who are based here, and the OES which is not exactly next door, but Portland is the nearest...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 3, 2006 | A view from the podium, Performing Life
This post from Helen Radice is a nice post-script to my piece last week on the rhythms of work. I’m afraid Allan Bennett has it completely wrong. There are always maybe one or two cancers in an orchestra who will exploit every possible loophole to get out of work. I...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 2, 2006 | A view from the podium, Performing Life
What makes sense about conducting is that you are really in the best position to evaluate what the musicians are doing as they play. What doesn’t make sense about conducting is that you are in the worst possible position to evaluate what you are doing as the...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 28, 2006 | A view from the podium, Performing Life
Work loves work. Since I set out on the road to being a full time free-lance conductor some years back, I’ve become exceptionally sensitive to the rhythms of work. This experience and the careful study of my own situation now brings me to my new “special theory...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 25, 2006 | A view from the podium, Favorite posts
I was almost content to let the 100th birthday of Shostakovich pass without comment. Just think, though…. Already, just a few years after his death, we’re beginning to see his body of work recognized as the single most important contribution to Russian culture and...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 25, 2006 | A view from the podium
A sign of truly great music is not just the extent to which it pleases the listener and satisfies our expectations and predilections, but the extent to which it irritates, confounds, frustrates and repels the listener, but keeps them listening anyway. ...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 24, 2006 | A view from the podium, Nuts and bolts, Performing Life
When we think of rehearsals, we tend to think in terms of two main goals- improving our technical standards, and developing our shared vision of the music. There’s another less obvious process that can take place in rehearsals, which, when it happens, can be more...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 23, 2006 | A view from the podium, Performing Life
I have to admit that I’m surprised not even any of my friends who read this blog regularly pointed out how completely crap my recent concert announcement for the September 30 Surrey Mozart Players concert really was. I was appalled at it even as I wrote it, but...
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