Thursday, July 9

10-12:30 Rehearsal
Ravinia B
Conlon, DeYoung, Skelton
MAHLER

bird above the stage
singing with the orchestra
this year - still not deaf

Wednesday, July 8

day off

lengthy Adagio
right on time – the train whistle
never so welcome

Tuesday, July 7

2:30-5 Rehearsal
Ravinia A
Conlon, Bronfman
MENDELSSOHN
BRAHMS

8:00 Concert
Ravinia A
Conlon, Bronfman
SMITH
MENDELSSOHN
INTERMISSION
BRAHMS

parking lot soliloquy

slow people walking
right in front of my bumper
what if I nudge them?

Welcome Back

Ravinia week 1

Concerts this week

A Tuesday July 7, 8 PM
Mendelssohn Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 11
Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 83
James Conlon, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano

B Friday July 10, 8 PM
Mendelssohn - Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90 ("Italian")
Mahler - Das Lied von der Erde ("The Song of the Earth")
James Conlon, conductor
Michelle DeYoung,mezzo-soprano
Stuart Skelton,tenor

C Sunday, July 12, 5 PM
Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35
Tchaikovsky - Nutcracker Suite No. 1
Tchaikovsky - “1812” Festival Overture, Op. 49 (with live cannons)
James Conlon, conductor
Miriam Fried,violin


Monday, July 6
2-4:30 Rehearsal
Ravinia A
MENDELSSOHN
BRAHMS

I'm off concert A. Also, since I'm quite busy these days with non bass blog activities, I'm going to have to limit the amount of writing I do. With that in mind, all posts about this season at Ravinia will be in Haiku form.

first day

thrumming cicadas
heat waves on asphalt – the guard
wary of my bike

In the beginning...

Bernard Labadie, conductor
Benedetto Lupo, piano
Haydn - Symphony No. 94 (Surprise)

Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 18

Mozart - Chaconne from Idomeneo
Mozart - Symphony No. 39

Wordy conductors arrive at our concert hall carrying their verbiage like the penitent's burden. Already looking at an uphill trek to Golgotha, the early music specialist ascending our podium might fair better lightening his load a bit. While it may be possible to teach an old dog new tricks, it is probably wise not to talk to him about about it.

Bernard Labadie brought with him some good ideas and a different viewpoint than we are accustomed to. Less vibrato, more open strings, holding off on the sostenuto, among other things, are IMO valid suggestions. I have no problem with trying to play something differently. In fact I think playing it the same old way causes me more heartburn these days. Unfortunately, the preponderance of instructions, suggestions, reminders, admonishments, notifications, rejoinders, talking points, etc. etc. began turning the music into a bit of a minefield.

The Kapellmeister more adept with the word than the baton is a phenomenon I've come across a number of times, especially in the early music realm. There, I have no problems with it. Most of that music is not conductor dependent anyway (possibly why I enjoy it so much), predating the rise of the stick waving, tyrannosaurical conductor of the modern era. The period instrument players also, not subjugated by constant baton beating, have a different approach to holding an ensemble together.

The Mozart/Haydn concerts began showing a few cracks in the ensemble which only grew more serious with repetition, as if the fragmented assembly in rehearsals came unglued under the pressures of performance.