{"id":817,"date":"2009-05-02T17:56:19","date_gmt":"2009-05-02T17:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2009\/05\/02\/live-blogging-from-the-electric-2\/"},"modified":"2009-05-02T17:56:19","modified_gmt":"2009-05-02T17:56:19","slug":"live-blogging-from-the-electric-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2009\/05\/02\/live-blogging-from-the-electric-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Blogging from the Electric 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dress rehearsal is done and there\u2019s now a bit of peace and quiet before showtime. <\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

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It seems an article of faith (or just a deeply ingrained part of their training) among British orchestras to \u201csave\u201d a little in dress rehearsals. I suppose everyone with a brain saves a bit in a dress, but I\u2019m often stunned in this country by the difference because of the ways in which the dress is different to the concert. <\/span><\/p>\n

On balance, I think the Ives is really starting to gel, although it needed a fair bit of proper rehearsing today. It is a completely new language for this orchestra, and it\u2019s a more complex and elusive language than say Copland or Shostakovich for that matter. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Likewise, the Shostakovich mostly is feeling pretty good, and the 2nd<\/sup> movement is going to be very moving. Our principal oboist sounds stunning on the opening solo. I still don\u2019t know what to expect of the last movement- I don\u2019t think people realized I was serious when I told them to go home and listen to Fiddler on the Roof the other night. Shostakovich loved Fiddler on the Roof, and wrote- <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“The last time I was in <\/span>America<\/span> I saw the film Fiddler on the Roof and it astounded me: its primary emotion is homesickness, sensed in the music, the dancing, the colour. Even though the Motherland is a so-and-so, a bad, unloving country, more a stepmother than a mother. But people still miss her, and that loneliness made itself felt. I feel that loneliness was the most important aspect\u2026.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the run through, it was all still sounding pretty waspy. Maybe I\u2019m conducting it a bit waspy. Probably, in typical Brit fashion, everyone will bring their soul to the concert. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It has been lovely to return to the Mozart Paris Symphony, which I had some traumatic memories of in my last experience with it (the concert was a miracle, but the rehearsals were terrifying and torturous). It\u2019s interesting all the ways in which it points to later Mozart- the opening is so Haffner-esque, but maybe better, and the Finale is a crazy contrapuntal tour de force, clearly the work of the composer-to-be of the Jupiter. It\u2019s wonderful show-off music for the young composer. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I think the Schumann will be excellent, although by the time we started it, everyone was tired and thinking about dinner. Great horn team. Amazing piece!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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