{"id":2956,"date":"2011-06-28T16:29:42","date_gmt":"2011-06-28T15:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/?p=2956"},"modified":"2011-06-28T17:31:38","modified_gmt":"2011-06-28T16:31:38","slug":"summer-2011-re-boot-and-re-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2011\/06\/28\/summer-2011-re-boot-and-re-charge\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer 2011: reboot and recharge."},"content":{"rendered":"

A little over a week ago, I conducted the last concert of my 2010-11 season. In most years, I would now just be charging ahead at full speed into summer festival season, but this year, after a couple of projects fell victim to the economy, I\u2019ve decided to allow myself a bit of a break. The last few summers have been wonderful but extremely intense. After a year as demanding and busy as the one that ended last Saturday, I thought it might be time to spend some time with my family, but also to do a bit of general refreshing and renewal of body and mind.<\/p>\n

As someone who is essentially a freelancer, there is always a degree of pressure to stay as busy as possible, but dashing from one gig to the next can take its toll physically and musically. Somehow, I have more or less managed to maintain my study habits as I\u2019ve gotten busier, but there comes a time when you don\u2019t always<\/strong><\/em> want to base your choices about what to study and practice on the simple calculus of what you are scheduled to perform next week. There are still several projects and deadlines to deal with this summer. Already, we\u2019ve started a good spring clean on kennethwoods.net<\/a>, and set up a micro-site within the blog for the Bobby and Hans recording project<\/a>. \u00a0There are podcasts to record and edit, articles due, brochure blurbs to write, rehearsal schedules to organize, bowings to mark and so on. Hmm\u2026 this is sounding less and less like a break. At least I don\u2019t have any concerts to worry about.<\/p>\n

So, in the next couple of months, I\u2019ve got the best chance to recharge my batteries, mentally, musically and physically that I\u2019ve had in several years and that I may have for several years to come.\u00a0 So, what is on my agenda?<\/p>\n

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1-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bach Cello Suites. Back about 2001 or so, I had a my last similarly quiet summer, and kept myself busy by working through\u00a0 a different Bach Suite every day. I also learned Mahler 3 and 7 properly. I can still feel the benefits of that project, so I\u2019m doing it again. I\u2019m about a week in, and am now thinking about striking a balance between my Bach-a-day regimen and digging in to one Suite in deeper detail for a week or two at a time. My trio<\/a> is going to be busy in the Fall, and I\u2019m doing a run of cello recitals in the UK in September and October, and I know all the work on Bach is going to help.<\/p>\n

\"Ken's<\/a>

Ken's cello practice is heating up (photo- Travis Sipher)<\/p><\/div>\n

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2-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Finish some reading projects. Volume IV of de la Grange\u2019s Mahler biography, all 1400 pages of it, is sitting partially read by my sofa. Likewise John Worthen\u2019s Schumann biography, nearly finished and looking at me all the more accusatorily as a result. I\u2019ve just finished David Levy\u2019s study on Beethoven 9 and Walter Frisch\u2019s book on the Brahms symphonies- those were nice easy reads, but perhaps not as revelatory as I had hoped they\u2019d be (especially since Frisch\u2019s book on Brahms and the Principle of Developing Variation is one of the best books on music ever written).\u00a0 I\u2019ve just been handed a good-looking book on Brahms 2, which I\u2019m returning to next season, by Reinhold Brinkman,\u00a0and I\u2019ve been wanting to read Daniel Jaffe\u2019s promising looking book on Prokofiev since I met him at a party in London. I\u2019ve really enjoyed G\u00e1l\u2019s book on Brahms, and am hoping his Schubert study is just as good. Last year, I read most of Janacek\u2019s published essays. I fear it may be some years before I come across anything as inspiring as those again. Maybe it\u2019s time to read a couple of novels?<\/p>\n

3-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Playing some piano. As conductors go, I\u2019m not much of a piano player- real practice time, scarce as it is, has always gone to keeping my cello skills at a level where I can perform and record for as long as possible. However, I love sitting at the piano and playing through things, even badly, and although I can read and hear things in my head way faster and more fluently than I can play them at the keyboard, I always learn new stuff by making my fingers put the right keys down for even a familiar piece. What I’d really like do now is actually use the summer to play some real piano music, rather than bashing through Shostakovich and Brams symphonies. I’m told there is some very nice music acutually written for the piano.<\/p>\n

4-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Learn some scores that aren\u2019t in my calendar, and may not be for many years to come. Five years ago, I was getting seriously worried that I would never get another chance to conduct a Mahler Symphony unless I forced the issue a bit. So\u2026. I forced the issue a little bit, programmed the 2nd<\/sup> Symphony in the most unlikely place on Earth, started writing this blog about the experience<\/a>, and, well, life changed. Now you can buy my first Mahler CD (see how I worked that in?). What is the lesson? Maybe there are other issues that need forcing? Bruckner is one. I\u2019m finally getting to do the 5th<\/sup> Symphony next year. I\u2019m going to take that as a sign that now is the time to create opportunities to explore Bruckner the way I\u2019ve been exploring Mahler. Just wait for the first Bruckner disc- I\u2019m aiming for 2 years. First, though, I need to learn the works I don\u2019t know except as a listener- the first 4 symphonies (Zero-3) and the 6th<\/sup>. In much the same vein, it\u2019s time to start pulling opera back into my life. Since I don\u2019t have an opera gig, and don\u2019t have to worry about what to do with a run of Boheme\u2019s (which I already know, anyway), I can learn a few pieces I\u2019ve always wanted to study. This summer, I hope to work through one Wagner, one Janacek, one Prokofiev and one Berg. Hmm, that is a lot of notes…. And words…..<\/p>\n

5-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Practice my languages. Being in an English-speaking country is no way to maintain and improve one\u2019s French, Italian and German. It would be great to work on any of those outside the context of a libretto or song setting.<\/p>\n

6-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ride my bike. This picture brings back a lot of good memories- climbing Mount Evans on 2 wheels was a great accomplishment for me.<\/p>\n

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Ken feeling smug on the summit of Mount Evans, el. 14,264 feet above sea level<\/p><\/div>\n

Right now, I could no more do it than I could grow an extra kneecap. And that beautiful white Trek got fried on the fire that devoured the offices of my old orchestra<\/a>. However\u2026 I\u2019ve got a beautiful new<\/em><\/strong> Trek, and somehow, whatever it costs me in childcare, I\u2019m going to ride it this year. 50,000 odd miles driving since last September has been tough on my back and general fitness level. Now\u2019s the chance to get back in fighting shape.<\/p>\n

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My bike tech is a real prodigy<\/p><\/div>\n

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Will I manage to get it all done, or will I, as one great conductor friend once so aptly put it, just let the time “f*ck away without doing anything worthwhile?”<\/p>\n

I wonder what\u2019s on readers\u2019 agendas for the summer? Is there a book you\u2019ve been dying to read or a score you\u2019ve wanted to learn? Maybe you\u2019ve been meaning to listen to that whole box set of Hummel someone gave you? Let us know.<\/p>\n