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2-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Earlier that day, we\u2019re having a little party to launch the second volume in the Orchestra of the Swan Schumann\/G\u00e1l series. The disc is on sale from March 19th<\/sup>, but you can already pre-order it<\/a>\u00a0(if we don’t sell these discs, we can’t keep making them). This recording combines the Schumann\u2019s Symphony in C major (the third one he wrote, but they call it No. 2) with G\u00e1l\u2019s Fourth, written in 1973, a moving and virtuosic sinfonia concertante<\/em> for violin, cello, flute and clarinet and chamber orchestra. We recorded the disc in December, so we\u2019ve all been burning the candle to get it ready- a special thanks is merited for our producer Simon Fox and the four wonderful soloists: David Le Page, Chris Alan, Diane Clarke and Sally Harrop<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Last week, as part of a cello\/piano recital in London, \u00a0I played a new arrangement of the Mahler Adagietto from the Fifth Symphony for cello and piano made by the great American pianist, Howard Karp<\/a>. My duo partner, pianist James Lea, and I are both keen Mahlerians, so we thought we would give the new arrangement a shot. It is not easy- the cello gets all of the tunes, which sounds like a \u00a0great deal until you realize that even if you play sehr langsam<\/em>, there\u2019s not a lot of time to jump from a low cello part to stratospheric first violin line. Still, it was very rewarding and challenging to play. Howard\u2019s arrangement doesn\u2019t change a note of the Mahler\u2019s original. I\u2019m a big fan of artistically-minded arrangements that give us a chance to experience \u00a0familiar works in fresh ways. Now James and I \u00a0just need to perform it 50 or 100 times until it feels completely natural.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mendelssohn\u2019s Third Symphony (actually his fifth- he and Schumann were close, and apparently none of these guys could keep track of how many symphonies they\u2019d written at any given time) is a mind-shatteringly great piece of music. I\u2019m getting rather desperate to record the Mendelssohn symphonies. After Bobby and Hans, I hope we can \u00a0move on to Felix and ________ (suggestions welcome. A composer named Oscar would be ideal). Anyway, I absolutely loved rehearsing and conducting the piece last month, and had all sorts of discoveries I wanted to share, but suffice it to say, you should spend more time with Mendelssohn- he was truly touched by the divine spark. A good intro is the fantastic new DVD of Charles Munch<\/a> conducting the Boston Symphony.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 5-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Next week, I\u2019m conducting my first Bruckner Fifth. This is up in North Wales with the ever-bold Wrexham Symphony (How bold? We\u2019re doing Bruckner 5 as an intermezzo<\/em> in the midst of a complete Mahler cycle. Mahler 3 is to follow in November). I\u2019ve been dying to do more Bruckner for many years, but it\u2019s been a hard sell. However, once this Fifth went in my calendar, the Bruckner problem was simplified (that’s a musicology joke for those of you not in the know)- I\u2019ve now also got a 2nd<\/sup> and a 7th<\/sup> planned for next year. That means for the first time, I have 3 Bruckner symphonies in my schedule, but only for about 10 more days, so if someone could please engage me for another Bruckner symphony right away, I can keep the mojo rolling. I would really like to do the Ninth, which is where my Bruckner path originated<\/a>– especially with the new Finale. Bruckner 9 remains the piece I’m most likely to blow a speaker listening to.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 6-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There are some absurdly good scores on my desk right now. Let\u2019s face it- in this business, the hours suck, the travel sucks and, unless you\u2019re Simon Rattle, the pay sucks, but it\u2019s still a great job. I\u2019m looking up at my \u201ccurrent programs\u201d shelf and seeing Mahler 6, Tchaik 6, Brahms 2, Dvoark Symphonic Variations, Cello Concerto and the Water Goblin and many other goodies. When you can sit down and ask yourself \u201cMahler 6 or Bruckner 5? Which should I start with?\u201d you really shouldn\u2019t be bitching about anything else.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 7-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dvorak\u2019s Water Goblin needs a good blog post sometime before the concert next week (we\u2019re doing it before the Bruckner). The question is whether you can build a great piece from an intentionally lousy and irritating theme? Dvorak has, but how does the performer keep the audience\u2019s interest in material that is calculated to annoy?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 8- \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I hope that I can get some proper Bruckner blog posts written before or around next week’s concert. I’ve celebrated my recent Bruckner-boom by going out and buying a whole stack of studies and biographies that I never got around to reading before. What have I learned from all this research? Well, I have learned that Bruckner scholars are, almost without exception, even nuttier than Mahler scholars. \u00a0If you know anything at all about Mahler scholarship, you know that is a very, very scary thought with which to end a not-very-substantial blog post.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/AV2231-300x297.jpg\" "\\"AV2231\\"")
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