If Music be the Food of Love .........

 

Orquesta Sinfonica de Trujillo bajo la batuta de mi amigo Maestro Alvarez

Two weeks in three halves …..... rehearse, sneeze and teach.

The last two weeks have been wonderful, emotional, exhausting and as in music a gradual crescendo of effort. By a happy coincidence instead of having just five days of rehearsals Maestro Alvarez kindly gave me two weeks 10 rehearsal minus the day off for “workers day” - May 1 – the day of course when no work is actually done!

So, I decided to use the first two days as capacity building, playing some pieces of music that would not be part of the concert but through which the orchestra and I would learn how to work together. (As it happens these works were included in the programme - they played them so well!)

Kathryn, an Otra Cosa, volunteer and violinist, was deputizing for one of the second violins, and was playing for me, and was a useful link for me to know “how I was going down” with the players. Orchestras are famous for being able to bring a conductor "to their knees", when the vibes are not good.

I had prepared a short speech to say how happy I was to be working with them and also to lay down a few ground-rules for the next two weeks. The majority of the orchestra players have been playing together for may years and Maestro Alvarez has been their resident conductor for over 20 years.

Getting the cellos to sing!

They were nervous and a little bit afraid, but I am happy to report that once they got used to my style of conducting rehearsals, the level of behaviour I wanted in the rehearsals and my general idiosyncrasies everything soon settled in a very happy and productive routine. I had divided up every morning int o four sections so that I could rehearse the orchestra as a whole, or just rehearse the strings, woodwind, brass and percussion, separately or in different combinations. This was in an effort to enable every player not to have to waste tiem simply sitting around, sadly, as they are all government employees, they had to attend for their contractual hours whether or not they had rehearsal time, so my plan to give them time to be elsewhere “practicing” was slightly blown out of the water.

I used Facebook to record the passage of these rehearsals and here are some extracts from my postings (these were posted in both English and Spanish)

April 29. First rehearsal completed, the orchestra are delightful, and seem very keen to do some hard work - I hope so, because the programme for the concert on May 10 is quite demanding.

For me it is good to return to the "driving seat" with a professional orchestra. I hope they will enbjoy working with me as we try to find out what the true intentions of these composers were.

I hope we have some fun at the same time, I don't want to appear to be too strict, although I like a high level of professional behaviour. But I am happy as the orchestra responded very well to my suggestions and the language barrier did not seem to be a problem. 

 

April 30. Thankfully we have a holiday tomorrow, my back and arm muscles are aching from two strenuous rehearsals, conducting the orchestra. But, the pain is worthwhile! I am so excited and happy, as the orchestra and I are starting to work so well together. If we can maintain the momentum, then I think that we (and the audience!) will have a really enjoyable concert!

If only ..........

May 3. If only it was that simple, but, each day my respect for these players increases. I know I am making demands on them and that rehearsals are harder work than usual, but the hard work is starting to make a real difference.

I am having to be very physical in my conducting, which results in my being exhausted mentally and physically at the end of each rehearsal, but the end justifies the means. It is a long while since I have enjoyed myself so much working with an orchestra.

If things continue like this next week, we will have shaped and prepared the music to a level that I hope will do justice to the original intentions of the composers. That is a great privilege.

May 4. Me siento muy honrado por esta oportunidad de dirigir la Orquesta Sinfónica de Trujillo, es lo que espero que sea una noche más emocionante, la orquesta están trabajando muy duro en este programa. Espero que usted venga y disfrute de este estudio de 19th Century grandes románticos! 20:00 El Teatrin, INC, 10 de mayo. (I feel very honored for this opportunity to direct the Trujillo Symphony Orchestra, and I hope that this night is exciting, the orchestra have worked very hard. So I hope you will come and  enjoy a programme of 19^th century romantic composers)

May 8 ….... 2 days to go …...La orquesta parece estar tocando a un punto álgido - es tan emocionante - la articulación, la atención al detalle - muy mejorado conjunto - y una pasión por la música - las cuerdas están haciendo un sonido tan maravilloso en el Elgar - ¡No puedo esperar para el concierto . La música es su propia recompensa - y el trabajo duro es recompensado. Espero que todo el mundo pueda disfrutar de los frutos de nuestro trabajo el viernes por la noche. (The orchestra seems to be coming to a head - it's so exciting - the articulation, the attention to detail - very improved ensemble playing - and a passion for music - the strings are producing a wonderful sound in the Elgar, complete with portamento - I cannot wait for the concert. Music is its own reward - and hard work is rewarded. I hope everyone can enjoy the fruits of our labor on Friday night. )

May 9 …. Del la tarde cada dia mi gripe regresara!!! (every afternoon my cold comes back)
Necesito mucho panadol y tiempo en mi cama ... ( need a lot of panadol and bedrest)
necesito mi salud 100% para mi concierto manana en la noche! (need my health 100% for tomorrow nights concert)

I am a very physical conductor, I need to convey the emotion fo the music to the players and it pays dividends, but it comes as a cost ….... sorry but, when conducting I "sweat like a pig!" OK, more politely, I am drenched in perspiration and I leave the rehearsal and either go out into blazing sunshine , or into chilly winds, (the weather is so changeable at the moment) but the result is the same …. a persistent cold and flu like symptoms. So sadly this has wrecked what remained of my teaching schedule in the conservatoire as I need to rest every afternoon …..... but that is life.

Of course there have been low points during this two weeks, but I am happy to say that non of them has been with the players ….. but, the administration of this concert has been a nightmare. I was denied a rehearsal in the theatre as it was booked for another event (except on the day – it was actually available!) there was little or no publicity for the concert and what there was was either wrong or too late. The department for the Promotion of Culture I renamed the depart for the Ruination of Culture, I had written to them with a simple list of things that would greatly improve the concert, lighting, raised seating for the wind players, curtains, notices about no cell phones or photos …... all ignored. And after “venting my spleen” at the Director of culture … I calmed down realised that Rome wasn't built in a day and gave myself over to making the best of what was (not what could have been) …......

In the event by the time everybody actually arrived the hall was full, which meant attendance was up by around 300% - thank goodness for viral internat marketing – I only embarrassed one member of the audience into turning off her phone as she held a conversation 6 feet in front of me in the front row!

I had written copious programme notes in Spanish as the concert was carefully constructed in terms of music and the order of presentation, here's an extract:

Romantic Nationalism: 1860 - 1899

Sir Edward Elgar - we played his Serenade for Strings

Opening Chords of Sibelius Finlandia

All the music in tonight's concert was written in a period of 40 years and represents music which comes under the general title of 19th century romanticism. From what you will hear tonight I think it will be obvious that the Romantic ideal had very different presentations depending on the country. Cultural and historical influences are clear to hear and just a few short years after the last of these works Sibelius – Finlandia the whole of Europe would start the terrible turmoil of revolution ending with the first world war and nothing, including music, would ever be the same again.

Tonight's programme is presented in chronological order (a happy accident) and I hope it not only shows the variety of ideas, but also is an excellent vehicle to put the various sections, and soloists of the orchestra in the spotlight.

I then wrote notes about each piece. We played music by Bruckner, Bruch, Faure, Elgar, Tchaikovsky and Sibelius (and an encore by Meyerbeer).

Guillermo - my magnificent soloist! Amazing tone and a
pleasure to work with.

These notes got left off the programme!!!!!! And the programme was a  photocopied sheet of paper with the biographical details of myself and the violin soloist and a list of the pieces to be performed. The Director of Culture was embarrassed - the programme was a truly horrible piece of paper! On the plus side I had managed to get the Director of Culture to attend the concert, or rather as I put it on her facebook page to "honour and grace the event with her presence" ...... well .... (a bit greasy..... but), it was important for the orchestra (it was her first visit in years!)

But good comes out of bad, so I had the opportunity to inflict my poor Spanish on the audience as I explained each piece of music to them – actually I think that it is always good to talk to the audience as it builds a link and I can engage them more actively in the concert. And also shout at phone users!

Performing the Elgar - for me the players gave me 150%  I was astounded by their performance of this work

Anyways, THE CONCERT

After a brief rehearsal in the hall, all was ready.

I finished the dress rehearsal with a short speech, thanking the orchestra for its hard work and giving that necessary motivational final push, it was a genuine expression of my feelings and I knew it would be the final key to a potentially exceptional concert….

Not the most beautiful of venues!

The concert was a dream, the Violin concerto astoundingly well played and the orchestra responded to every gesture of mine and except for a bit of a mess of the last 8 bars [the only hiccup of the entire concert] sounded like a completely different orchestra.

Even when half the stage lights went out, and despite my perspiration dripping of the end of my nose I (unbelieveably) "remained clam  and carried on" and I think everybody had a great time.

I had been interviewed by a local TV station before the concert and they stayed and have recorded the entire event (so I hope it will eventually find its way onto YouTube.)

Pro. Carlos, Kathryn, Nick, Maestros Mott and Alvarez, with Prof Francis (Principal Cello and Asst.conductor)

My special invited guest – Nick, Maestro Alvarez, Profs. Francis and Carlos, Kathryn and (eventually after another event prof. Vicky) all retired to the Cafe Metropolitan for a glass of wine and a slice of pizza, the conversation flowed, Nick and I “came out” as a couple {warmly received} and ….. 6 bottles of wine, a jug of sangria, rum shots, three gigantic pizzas and a whole heap of Pancakes later we said our fond farewells at 2:00am after a pretty amazing 2 weeks.

Maestro Alvarez -bon viveur

Maestro Alvarez and I share the same birthday, the same outlook on music and are firm friends as well as professional colleagues and he has already offered me one or two more concerts this year …. “If music be the food of love, play on” [William Shakespeare] ----- I hope to have along love affair with the Trujillo Symphony Orchestra.

And now, where's the Paracetemol?

Nick in full flow after just a few glasses ......

Kathryn demonstrating her passion for food! "Get off this is mine!"

We were joined by Vicky (married to Francis) and another good friend

Th,th,thats all folks!