What Allan is playing

[karlhenning]

The orchestra members just received an email from Stefan giving us many thanks for what he considers one of the best concerts he's conducted with the orchestra.  Really makes me want to get that recording now to compare heat of the moment vs actual sound coming across.

Outstanding, Allan!

[Cato]

Cato,

The house was packed as has been the case for all of the Bruckner we've presented in the Rosary Cathedral.  Even the choir loft looked to be full.  It was good to see people out,  the Peristyle attendance has been off the mark even with some great programs, so I was wondering what the turnout would bring.

Allan

Great to hear!  I wonder if the difference is that the Peristyle is still seen as an "upper-class" thing, for the "stuffed shirts" to use the old slang term from the early 20th century, while a cathedral is more inviting, more "proletarian" or "leveling" (I feel like Chris Farley)even to non-Catholics?    0:)

To clarify something: when you wrote about "hearing the recording" are you talking about a commercially available CD, or did somebody record your performance in Toledo?

I assumed you meant the former, but now I am not so sure!

[toledobass]

Cato,

The concerts for the main series are recorded for in-house archives. These are the same recordings for the WGTE radio broadcasts.  Musicians of the orchestra are able to get a copy for listening. (not the case with all orchestras)

I don't know how many musicians actually do listen to the concerts, but I've always enjoyed hearing how we sound as just a listener.  I find it very interesting to compare what actually comes accross to the way it felt as the concert was being played. 


Allan

[Cato]

Cato,

The concerts for the main series are recorded for in-house archives. These are the same recordings for the WGTE radio broadcasts.  Musicians of the orchestra are able to get a copy for listening. (not the case with all orchestras)

I don't know how many musicians actually do listen to the concerts, but I've always enjoyed hearing how we sound as just a listener.  I find it very interesting to compare what actually comes accross to the way it felt as the concert was being played. 


Allan

Thanks for the response!  I had no idea WGTE did that for the musicians: yes, you must give us a review after you have heard the CD!

What is the quality like of others you have heard?  Would they be good enough to hit the general market?

[karlhenning]

(Nothing to add, but I always read with pleasure.)

[toledobass]

Hi again Cato,

It's actually our TSO managment that is generous with the in-house archives, not WGTE.  We simply give WGTE the copy of the concert we want them to broadcast and they hit play.  I've heard some great things musically and I think the concert recording are satisfying for the general TSO audience as some sort of gift (which we've done before) but I certainly wouldn't want to charge or pay for a recording from the less that ideal acoustic of Peristyle .  The Rosary Cathedral concerts might be ok.  

An idea like that is somewhat the opposite direction of our managment's philosophy though.  We are more interested in using our resources to expand our local/regional audience.  We try and keep things close to home trying to enrich our local culture.  That's why you won't see us doing one of those one off tours to NY to play Carnegie or whatever.  The numbers don't really add up and it isn't that helpful to what we are trying to accomplish in our region.


Hope that makes sense,
Allan

[toledobass]

(Nothing to add, but I always read with pleasure.)

Thanks Karl,

I'm never sure if I'm the only one clicking on this post!!!!

Allan

[Cato]

Yes, certainly the Toledo Symphony is much better these days than some of those e.g.  Eastern European orchestras one hears on the discount labels.

So it would be nice to get some exposure - and maybe some extra "Geld" for the players - e.g. through a NAXOS CD now and then.

Again, glad to hear that the cathedral was filled, including the choir loft!   0:)

[bhodges]

Yes, certainly the Toledo Symphony is much better these days than some of those e.g.  Eastern European orchestras one hears on the discount labels.

So it would be nice to get some exposure - and maybe some extra "Geld" for the players - e.g. through a NAXOS CD now and then.

Again, glad to hear that the cathedral was filled, including the choir loft!   0:)

I agree, and based on what I've heard, I could easily see the Toledo group on Naxos.  (Or on any number of other small, high quality labels.)

Bruce

[toledobass]

Howdy,

This week brings Classics Concert 3.  Stefan will be conducting the program.  Our guest soloists are Kirill Gerstein playing piano and S. Wayne Foster playing the organ.  This is something of an unusual week as we get 4 performances of this program.  Thursday will be a performance in Corpus Christi church who have been friends of the orchestra for a long time.  We also tag on the Sunday matinee for this concert.  Very unusual for us to do both a matinee and Corpus in the same week.  I think it'll be interesting see what happens to the program over those 4 performances.

Adler Lux Perpetus

Mussorgsky/Ashkenazy  Pictures at an Exhibition

intermission

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto no. 3


Schedule is as follows:

Tues 3-5:30 Mussorgsky
       7:30-9:30 Alder-Mussorgsky

Wed 3-5:30 Rachmaninoff
       7:30-9:30 (dress rehearsal) Adler-Mussorgsky-Rachmaninoff


Concerts: Thursday 8
              Friday     8
              Sat         8
              Sun        3


Allan


 

[karlhenning]

What a blast to play the Rakhmaninov Third Concerto, Allan!  The Musorgsky is fun, too, though to me it feels like, you just get cooking, and it's time to turn to another picture . . . .

Is that Adler as in Sam Adler of the Eastman School?

[toledobass]

Yo Karl,

It seems not too long ago that we played all the piano and orchestra pieces over a subscription weekend.  Still,  I'm looking forward to it.
And to answer your question regarding the Lux Perpetus, yes it is Samuel Adler. 

Allan

PS it's spelled Rachmaninoff   

[bhodges]

Yo Karl,

It seems not too long ago that we played all the piano and orchestra pieces over a subscription weekend.  Still,  I'm looking forward to it.
And to answer your question regarding the Lux Perpetus, yes it is Samuel Adler. 

Allan

PS it's spelled Rachmaninoff   

I would be very interested in your comments on the Adler, once you get going with it!  Know his name, but not much of his music.

--Bruce

[toledobass]

The Adler was commissioned by the Dallas Symphony and Andrew Litton in 1997.

Honestly, I'm not really sure what to think.  Last night's rehearsal seemed like a hot mess.  I think it will come across fine but there were a few problems that didn't lead to all that smooth of a rehearsal.  There is an introduction which went fine then a fast part which we spent the bulk of our time on.  Its a fast steady pulse but going through alot of the 8th note time signiture. 3 4 5 6 7 & 8/8. The pattern is never the same for the odd meter stuff either.  So we begin the fast section and it doesn;t sound as bad as I had anticipated.  I think people actually looked at it which of course always helps.  We had to slow it down for rehearsal reasons but the soloist also made the comment that the overall tempo could be slower at which point Stefan replied "really? you've just made a whole orchestra worth of new friends."  To which of course there was laughter. 

We sort of got it together by the end of the rehearsal, but a major problem is that the organist can't hear himself and also because of the placement of the instrument, he can't see Stefan.  The sight problem will be rectified with a mirror tonight so that will tidy some stuff up some. 

It will come together but I'm not sure how great the interaction between soloist and orchestra is gonna get.

Adler was in attendence last night and only had a few comments of the on the string here, accent here different sound here type. 


On Pictures:
I've seen a few advertisements for performances of the Ashkekenazy Pictures orchestration over the past year.  Cleveland did it recently, Detroit as well and now the TSO.  I wondered why all of a sudden it was being played more often and last night Stefan gave us the information that good parts have been generated and are now available and why it's getting more performances.  He also said he knew of at least 23 other orchestrations of Pictures!!!!

One last funny bit:
Before our second rehearsal, our director of development asked us for help in thanking our generous donors.  The voluntary task is to get one of the packets they've put together for us.  In these packets contain a few addressed envelopes to donors and some blank TSO stationary in order for us to write a simple thank you for the generosity.  At this point the Director of Development is explaining that you may write whatever you'd like, but then holds up a note and says "or we've crafted a sample....."  and before she can finish her though  Stefan starts laughing and says "oh yes I've seen this before in Germany...." then adds sarcastically while pretending to hold up a piece of paper "what we suggest...." 

Not sure if that is translating well, but it was a funny moment.

Allan

[Cato]

One last funny bit:
Before our second rehearsal, our director of development asked us for help in thanking our generous donors.  The voluntary task is to get one of the packets they've put together for us.  In these packets contain a few addressed envelopes to donors and some blank TSO stationary in order for us to write a simple thank you for the generosity.  At this point the Director of Development is explaining that you may write whatever you'd like, but then holds up a note and says "or we've crafted a sample....."  and before she can finish her though  Stefan starts laughing and says "oh yes I've seen this before in Germany...." then adds sarcastically while pretending to hold up a piece of paper "what we suggest...." 
Not sure if that is translating well, but it was a funny moment.

Allan

(My emphasis)

Yes!  I have seen similar moments among faculties at schools in Germany, where the principal will "suggest" that everybody write the same thing on a form.

I have read this also happens in Detroit, when the faculty of a school "checks" the answers of students on national or state tests!       But that is another story!   0:)

[bhodges]

On Pictures:
I've seen a few advertisements for performances of the Ashkekenazy Pictures orchestration over the past year.  Cleveland did it recently, Detroit as well and now the TSO.  I wondered why all of a sudden it was being played more often and last night Stefan gave us the information that good parts have been generated and are now available and why it's getting more performances.  He also said he knew of at least 23 other orchestrations of Pictures!!!!

Thanks for the Adler info, very interesting.  Hope the piece comes together as time goes on. 

There are quite a few versions of Pictures; Leonard Slatkin is a champion of a number of them, and used to perform an entertaining version that uses (almost) a different orchestrator for each section.  I recall especially liking those he chose from Lucien Cailliet and Sergei Gorchakov.

--Bruce

[toledobass]

Adler came together much better on Wednesday.  Many of the problems were smoothed out at the rehearsal and that mirror sure helped a lot.  I commented in a previous post that I wasn't sure how much interaction would come across between organ and orchestra, but I'm now thinking that it isn't really a piece with all that much room for that kind of thing anyway.  You kinda just have to stick to staying on top of the pulse and making sure your rhythm is coming across evenly over the mixed meter stuff.  It's more of an interaction of rhythmic support.

Last night's program was abbreviated and included Pictures and the finale of the Rach.  Before we began Pictures, a pianist played it in order to show what the material actually is for the orchestrator.  Stefan also spoke about a little Mussorgsky/Pictures history.  One of the things that stuck out in my mind was his statement that with the Ravel we have an intensely Russian piece with a french orchestration and with Ashkenazy we may have something more along the lines of the piece being closer to it's russian heritage. 

A tad bit of a dress rehearsal feel to the concert, some things going very well and some things taking me totally off guard.  Playing in a different acoustic is also a strange thing.  The orchestra is set up differently so it takes a little more effort to decifer where the instruments you are relying on for cues are coming from. The overall articulation we play in the Peristyle works there but I thought things sounded a little thick and bogged down last night.  Not a whole lot of adjustments by the orchestra there. 

I'm looking forward to the full program tonight.

Allan

[toledobass]

Great night of music making tonight....

more later,

Allan

[karlhenning]

Excellent!

[toledobass]

So sorry I'm a little late with my updates here.  This weekends concerts were all uniformly excellent.  It's the first series that seems to have clicked as an orchestra for me.  Friday night, in particular, was one of the funnest nights of playing music that I've had in possibly a few years.  We have a new concert piano in the Peristyle that sounds amazing.  A marked sonic difference and I'm sure a difference in playability for the artists as well.  Our old piano got nothing but complaints about the action from every single artist that came to visit us.  Gerstein's inspired playing recieved such an warm enthusiastic response from the audience.  I kind of felt bad that they wouldn't let him get away without an encore after that beast of a concerto, but at the same time I don't think I've heard such a heartfelt applause for a soloist.  He ended up giving us Earl Wild's arrangement of Gershwin's Embraceable You.

Blade Review

Next week is a week with CityMusic Cleveland.  I'll post the program and schedule shortly.


Allan