David – Trombone Concertino

David? Who he?

Yeah, me neither. Ferdinand David’s Trombone Concertino (op 4) on imslp. Screengrabs are from the first set of parts on imslp, as that’s the edition we’re using.

There are some awkward bits of printing on this edition, which sometimes makes bits a little bit less than entirely legible when sight-reading… or, indeed, when you’re rehearsing for a performance.

First Movement

For example, the bar at letter B:

The spacing makes it look shorter than it is – the second crotchet is on the third beat of the bar… This problem occurs multiple times.

The bottom two lines of the first page look OK at first glance:

But, here are the pain points:

The bar marked “Arco” – those are two beats of triplet quavers. The subscript “6” is very small, and smeared into the ff dynamic marking – helpful.

The other bars – the third beat (crotchet/quaver in triplets) tends to drag, so that the (2/3rds) crotchet becomes a full beat.

Again, these are repeated

Next, this passage:

The dotted quaver / semiquaver running into triplet quavers. The dotted quaver/semiquaver tends to turn into triplets…

Oh, and the last bar of the first movement seems to be meant to be a pizz rather than arco.

Second Movement

This doesn’t start well, from a printing clarity point of view:

Pizz, and then Arco – different locations, again, badly printed. And, guess what? This happens again…

Third (Final) Movement

Yes, I bang on about dynamics in rehearsal. That’s because they’re important. Consider the first two lines of the final movement of this concertino:

Yes, it looks like a nice gentle crescendo for the first 12 bars, BUT… the cresc doesn’t start until the third bar, meaning the dynamic at this point is meant to be pp still. You could be really mathematical about it, and run something like this:

…but that requires everyone else to do the same. Don’t rush the dynamic – or the notes…

The triple f(!) fff passage on the final page:

Just sit on the tempo a bit – don’t rush, just because it’s getting louder. Watch the conductor – that’s what he’s there for!

So, yeah. Usual mix of dynamics, tempo, rhythm, and just plain watching – the notes themselves aren’t that difficult… Where have I heard that before? It’s a good fun piece, would happily play again. And I really need to get a new set of specs.

What I Did On My Holidays – 2023

What? Again?

It’s been a busy summer – a mixed Septet session at the end of July (Beethoven, Blanc, Kreuzer), followed early August by a day of Nonets (Martinu, Rheinberger, Spohr). And then there was the Largo music course (it’s a wind course, but they get a few string players and a pianist in to provide a bit of variety). Then an evening of Brahms sextets, and finally my normal week of fun.

Largo Music Wind Course

This was a first for me – being involved for the full week. The format is a little different to my main music week, so I’m not going to break it down by day, but just list the pieces I’ve played:

• Quintets
  • Reicha – Horn + String quartet with extremely optional double bass part.
  • Strauss (arr) – Till Eulenspiegel – Einmal Anders! Also great fun. Feels as though someone lost a bet to arrange this mahoosive bit of Strauss for the minimum forces – being violin, double bass, clarinet, horn, bassoon. Not at all easy.
• Sextets
  • Beethoven Sextet Op 81b. Yes, this is normally a string quartet + two horns, but Verlag have an edition which adds in a double bass part, and it is much more interesting than that of the Reicha, above. I enjoyed that one so much that I went out and bought a copy.
• Septets
  • Beethoven – three sessions / different sets of wind players in two days…
• Octets
  • Schubert – of course it’s on the list
• Nonets
  • Farrenc
  • Lachner
  • Martinu
  • Spohr
• Decets
  • Francaix – needed to make some corrections to the part. Movement two has a particularly annoying bit of typesetting where they use the tenor clef for a passage that’s lower than the previous passage in bass clef. Movement 3 has a “Dal Segno”, but without a sign… Should be in bar 7. Other than that (and some really dodgy / impossible page turns), it’s great fun. Much horn blarting to be had.
• Bigger groups
  • Borodin (arr. someone) – Polovtsian Dances
  • “Pantomime”, by Gary Carpenter. For the Mozart “Gran Partita” group – 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 clarinets, 2 basset horns, four horns, double bass. The title age says 13 winds. It’s wrong. This is not a contrabassoon part – unless you can find a contrabassoonist who can do glissando, pizzicato, and double stopping. Third movement is much fun for the bassist. Again, enjoyed this one so much that I’ve just ordered it… This is getting to be an expensive habit!
  • Dvorak – Serenade for wind ‘n’ strings. I first played this in 198-mumble, and it’s always nice to see it again.

The Main Event

New year, new home. After 10-ish years in our previous venue, we’ve found a new home – and there’s significant improvement in accommodation, food, and some of the facilities (the bar area was a definite step up. Or, rather, not many steep steps down into the basement…) Oh, and the week ran Sunday->Sunday this year, and I had a good mix of cello and oboe/cor anglais to go in with the double bass.

Sunday

Arrival at the new site was interesting – this time, there were two distinct ways in, and I chose the wrong one – the one where there was no welcoming party. So I pottered around the site a while until I found some friendly faces who pointed me in the right direction to unload before relaxing with a drink and a meal, and then making a start on the music with two sessions in the evening:

Orchestra – Mozart, Mozart, Mozart. Hurrah. Overture for “Marriage of Figaro”, Sinfonia Concertante, and Jupiter Symphony / #41. A happy start.

Nonets – Well, just the one nonet, actually… Farrenc. First time for at least one of the group playing any sort of larger-scale wind/string mixed chamber group.

Monday

First full day kicked off with some double viola quintets – Dvorak op.97 and Mozart K516. Then over to the oboe for a wind quintet session (Haydn, Holst (too difficult for the group), Poulenc Nouvelette, and, erm, Cambini – who?)

The afternoon was off to a good start with the Schubert Octet, and then followed up by a choral session.

The day ended with a Mendelssohn string quartet (op. 13) – new to me. Not easy. And then a Beethoven Septet session, before bar & bed.

Tuesday

Normally the day off, but as we started late, that was reserved for Wednesday. So Tuesday was another full day of playing, starting off with wind Decets – Raff “Sinfonietta” (an old friend), followed by the Francaix “Sept Danses” – fun – and Gipps Seascapes, which involved a cor anglais solo. No pressure, then.

And then, after coffee… onto the Schubert Double Cello quintet, playing cello 1(!). An, after lunch, more Schubert quintets, in the form of the Trout, and a barbershop / male voice choir session.

The evening was dominated by another wind decet session.

• Poulenc – “Music pour faire plaisir”. Arranged by Francaix. Fun. Would like to do this aain.
• Dvorak – Czech suite. This is the reason I wanted to buy a cor anglais…
• Enescu – Dixtuor. Not enjoyable. Needs to be led through by someone who knows it, and to have an MD waggling a stick.
• Brauer – “Pan” suite. This should have also had a double bass, ironically…

And so to bed for an early-ish night.

Wednesday

The usual day off, but obviously a day later than usual…

The evening was packed with music, though, to make up for th elack of playing during the day:

Francaix – Dixtuor – see gripes above. Going directly into…

Orchestral session – Mozart Cosi Fan Tutti Overture, Mozart Horn Concerto 4 (singing along internally with the F&S words, and getting confused when our soloist did a different cadenza), and Brahms Serenade 1. That was a big session.

And the evening wasn’t over, with a mixed septet/octet session:

• D’Indy – Suite dans le style ancient. Not good.
• Hummel – Military Septet – for, erm, trumpet, flute, piano, clarinet, violin, cello, bass…? Much better.

All that in under four hours. No wonder it’s a tiring week…

Thursday

This is where the week starts to bet a bit less like note-bashing / rep-reading, as we go into a string workshop that ran through the Delius Deux Aquarelles and Elgar Elegy, before working on the RVW Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis. Frankly, we should have dumped the Delius…

After a coffee break, a baroque string & trumpet session of, erm, no, I’ve forgotten the details.

Another choir session in the afternoon, and another orchestral session in the evening, doing the Haydn Trumpet concerto followed by Beethoven 5. And a late late night of nattering and beer.

Friday

Friday started with a bunch of string orchestra stuff:

• Bach – A Minor Violin Concerto was the main event,
• followed up by some film bits:
  • Hans Zimmer – Now we are Free (from Gladiator)
  • Titanic – Nearer My God To Thee
  • Ennio Morriconi – Fistful of Dollars – Sundown (with trumpet)
  • Lord of the Ring medley
  • Pirates of the Caribbean Medley (these last two felt a bit “junior” compared with some of the earlier sessions)

The morning ened with a session of Octets. Well, almost entirely the Mendelssohn (first cello? yikes). And a stab at the Spohr op.65, but we had taken our time over the Mendelssohn, so didn’t get far with that.

The afternoon was dominated by a special Requiem that had been written by the late husbnd of one of our number. She had been asking for it to happen for the last few years, so it was good to finally be able to deliver.

The evening session was taken up with a string orchestra session, running:

• Britten – “Simple Symphony”
• Grieg – Holberg Suite
• Dvorak – Serenade for Strings (op.22

And after that good stuff, we started a full run through the Brandenburgs (not in numerical order), but all of them. For a change, I got to do the 3rd oboe solo in the first one before moving over to cello for one of the others, and then bass for the rest… This session was longer than sometimes, as we were using it as a training zone, introducing some younger players to the rep. More players, more stands, less focus… A late night, once the post-playing drinking had happened.

Saturday

And so into the final day of playing – and a good day it was too, albeit rather short, as the evening was taken up with a barn dance / ceilidh sort of thing, led/called by one of our cellists. But there was playing beforehand…

An actual workshop session, working on just one iece for the whole morning. Bartok Divertimento. Hard. And my bass was not being cooperative – it slipped, somehow managing to cut my forehead with one of the tuning pegs. I have no idea how, and I was there.

The afternoon had one of my all-time favourites, the Mozart so-called “Gran Partita”.

And the playing ended with an orchestral session, running Mozart’s 3rd violin concerto, and finishing us off with Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll.

I don’t think we managed to drink the bar dry (we had taken two extra top-up deliveries during the week), but the last I checked, we were down to the last dozen beers and maybe 3 bottles of wine…

Sunday

Breakfast, load out, home, laundry, more laundry, and a sense of confusion that we have to do cooking again…

All considered, an excellent week, and a much improved venue. I’m already plotting things to try to get onto the schedule for next year.

And I’ve got to do some practice! Francaix “Mozart – New Look” is looming.

It’s the time of year

now that spring is in the air…

No, wait. Not that. I apologise for the earworm (if you got earwormed).

Four weeks, Four groups, Four gigs

That’s what I means to say.

The last few weeks have been, unsurprisingly, busy for music – it is, after all, that time of year.

Gig 1 – West Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra (WYSO)

The first of this run was a good mix of Holst, Gounod, Mozart, & Haydn. No real surprises, but it was nice to not have to play (or, rather, count) my way through the Gounod. The full programme:

• Gounod – Petite Symphonie. Y’know, the wind thing. I’ve played second oboe in it a few times; it was nice to be able to sit back and leave it to real wind players for a change.
• Mozart – Piano concerto #23.
• Holst – St Pauls Suite
• Haydn – 104.

And that last piece was the fun, in terms of having to fix a timpanist at veeeerrrry short notice. Huge thanks to Clive for coming out of retirement.

Gig 2 – LUUMS String Orchestra

Half a gig, really, as they shared the event. First outing for this group – previously, LUUMS had a symphony orchestra and a chamber orchestra; now they have the Symphony orchestra and the string orchestra. The full programme:

• Anderson – Plink Plank Plunk – a new one on me
• Finzi – Prelude for String Orchestra – ditto, I think
• Ben Frampton (one of the double bassists, a student at the University) – a new composition whose name I’ve forgotten, so – ditto. Definitely.
• Tchaikovsky – Serenade for Strings – ah, no, this one I’ve definitely played before.

Good fun, and hopefully the orchestra will go on

Gig 3 – LUUMS Symphony Orchestra

This was the big one, and included:

• Bizet – Carmen Suite #1 – got flashbacks to my youth with this one, having played for LYOG’s production of Carmen back in the day
• Copland – Rodeo Suite – all four movements. Some tricky bits, and one movement where the basses play for two lines, and that’s it.
• Vaughan Williams – London Symphony.

Now that was a gig. Hard work. But it was good to be at the back of a section of four bassists, for a change.

Gig 4 – CLYO

Joining CLYO as an adult player to help beef up the bass section, for a short programme of what they’ve been working on recently. Included:

• Smyth – Wreckers overture (well, chunks of it – a mahoosive cut in the middle, for reasons.)
• Grieg – Norwegian dances (the first three)
• Kreisler – Praeludium and Allegro in the style of Pugnani – for strings & violin solo (the leader is stepping down this term)
• Borodin – second symphony, fourth movement.
• Selection from “Polar Express”
• Anderson – Sleigh Ride

I dunno, you play no Anderson for *years*, and then two come along at once…

/

I think that’s it for the year, for playing. There’s not much chance of fitting in any more, given that I’ve got a couple of singing things lined up. I’ll have to remember how that works.

What I Did On My Holidays – 2022

Crikey. It’s that time of year again. Forces were, once again, reduced, but we still had some good music-making opportunities. For me, these were mainly on the double bass, but also some cello, singing, and a little bit of oboing.

Saturday

Arrival day. And in a return to normal programming, a full orchestral session, with young Long John conducting three works:

• Mozart Bassoon concerto
• Haydn symphony no 104 (London)
• Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll (which I reckon is better as a one-to-a-part thing, rather than a full band)

A good start to the week.

Sunday

The morning started with a quintet session – Dvorak (obviously), and the Glazunov quintet (so over to cello for that). Good stuff – don’t think I’ve done the Glazunov before, and would happily play it again.

The quintets were followed by a sextet session – with both us regular double bassists playing cello parts (on cello). Brahms – so, some good low down stuff and no need to hold back on behalf of the viola section…

The afternoon sessions were not too busy for me; however, this was one where I did have some fun in the Spohr octet (Violin, 2 violas, cello, bass, two horns and clarinet). There oesn’t seem to be anything else available for that combination on imslp, but it’s a big enough work that it takes a full session on its own.

Some choral stuff – doing a bunch of silliness from Encores for Choirs vol 1. Don’t ask me which ones, but I remember there being too much Chilcott.

For complicated reasons involving an absent doctor, the evening trio session planned for me was cancelled, so we had a natter, and an early(ish) night.

Monday

At last, the oboe got its turn – with a decet? dectet? double wind quintet session involving a dodgy Bflat clarinet, so we did Caplet’s Suite Persane (very odd, lots of chromatics, and, unfortunately, not on imslp), and we made a start on Bernard’s Divertissement, which we enjoyed so much we decided we had to book some time later in the week to run the whole thing.

I was aiming to have a quiet afternoon, but got a call “our bassist hasn’t turned up, come and play nonets”. OK. Rheinberger and Rota it is, then. Great fun, and an unexpected bonus session.

By way of light entertainment, some barbershop / male voice choir stuff in the late afternoon, and then a string orchestra session in the evening, doing (among other things – there was a lot of paper flying around that evening):

• A new work by one of us – Aeron Preston’s “Fantasia on Welsh Folk Tunes”. His parents turned up to watch.
• Elgar’s Serenade
• Vivaldi – concerto for violin and cello in B flat, RV 547
• Mozart – divertimento K133
• David Marsh (previously one of us) “Show Some Pluck” – a great little encore style thing

Tuesday

The day of rest, that never ends up being that…

…ending, as it did, with an orchestral session. And, for the rest day, of course it was a nice, light programme…:

• Mendelssohn’s overture for Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Mozart Piano concerto #24
• Beethoven Symphony #8

Wednesday

The day started off with a full workshop session on Elgar’s introduction & allegro for strings. Great piece of music, but possibly not one I would have chosen to do for that length of time.

Some fun string quartets followed, with Haydn’s “Sunrise” (op 76/4), and, for free choice, Puccini’s “Crisantemi” (I’ve never played this before, but I was aware of its existence). A good session.

Unusually, we had a harpist, Olivia Jageurs, come in for the rest of the day, so there was a lot of stuff aimed at keeping her occupied, but we also snuck in a Vivaldi Gloria in D before the main orchestral & harp extravaganza, which included:

• Strauss – “Morgen”
• Elgar – Sospiri
• Debussy – Danses Sacres
• a violin thing from Schindler’s List (John Williams)
• Mahler – Adagietto for strings & harp from his 5th Symphony
• Mozart – concerto for flute & harp. This was the big one for the night – and a very good show. I’ve not played it since 1990, in a student orchestra.

Hopefully, Olivia will be back, as I want to have a crack at Ries’s Sextet for clarinet, bassoon, harp, horn, piano, double bass.

Thursday, already?

Thursday kicked off with the Dvorak serenade for wind (and cello and bass), followed by Max Brauer (me neither)’s Pan suite (for double wind quintet and double bass). Fortunately, no malfunctioning clarinets today.

This was followed by a rather unsatisfactory string quartet session, during which we attempted to play Brahms, and failed. Not good, and I’m not entirely sure why we failed. Maybe we just didn’t gel as a group.

In the evening, after a power cut, we had our most ambitious event for 30 years – a run of Mozart’s Requiem. Almost entirely authentic, the basset horn parts were played on clarinets, and the trombone solo from tuba mirum was done on French Horn. (Does that mean it should now be corno mirum?) Oh, and yr. humble servant was, erm, tenor solo *and* chorus? Really? No wonder I couldn’t speak much the rest of the day.

And after that (yes, really), a late-night emotionally-charged Brandenburg session (not a full set, merely 2, 3, 4, 5).

Mind you, there’s a vicious suggestion that I should learn one of the oboe solo parts from Brandenburg 1 for next year. Urgh.

Friday

The final day of playing? Nooo! But much to do today, starting with Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” music, in the original small form, and a similarly small version of Stravinsky’s “Dumbarton Oaks”.

The final orchestral playing of the day was another bunch of light classics:

• Rossini – “Thieving Magpie” overture (with me slumming on the snare drum before going back to my bass for the other pieces)
• Beethoven – Coriolan overture
• Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony (#3 in A)

Nothing too lightweight there.

The evening was mostly taken up with a Ceilidh, with one of our cellists being the caller for her band.

Musically, we (were) finished off by doing a final chamber one-to-a-part rendition of Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, forming a pleasant symmetry to the week.

I guess now’s the time to fill out the feedback forms, and hope that we get invited back for next year.

Elgar – “Polonia”

All very Elgarian, until, wait, what?

That is not what you want to see at the end of a long week…

In other news… I have a gig next weekend. It includes the above. I think I need to do some practice, if only to remind myself of how to play double bass – it’s been a long time.

What I Did On My Holidays – 2021

Reduced forces this year, for various reasons, and the timetable was much more dynamic as a result of the challenges of people having to cancel at short notice, so, even though I was the only double bassist present, I was also getting more official time on cello and even on oboe. Scary for all concerned.

Saturday – Arrival

In a departure from the normal kickoff with a big orchestral session, this year started with chamber music all round, with me in a string quartet session – Beethoven Op. 18 / 3, and Schubert’s string quartet D32 (very early stuff).

Sunday

Starting off the day by propping up the bass at the back of a String orchestra, with Long John conducting / workshopping us in the Frank Bridge Suite for Strings (H93, 1909-1910)

Next up was the first appearance of the Oblow, playing 2nd oboe in the Raff Sinfonietta, and Emile Bernard’s Divertissement. (I was prepared/forewarned of the Raff, but was sight-reading the Bernard – apparently it wasn’t too traumatic for the rest of the group.)

The afternoon was marked by a return to the bass for the Schubert Octet.

And the evening was a massive string orchestra session, with Colin behind the stick, running us through:

• Mozart – Divertimento 3, K138
• Elgar – Serenade (Op.20)
• Dag Wiren – Seranade Op.11 (Doctor Finlay’s Casebook theme in the last movement, whatever Doctor Finlay’s Casebook may be…)
• Telemann – Viola Concerto (Andrew soloing)
• Walton – two pieces from the film music for Henry V
• Delius – Deux Aquarelles
• Svendsen – Two Icelandic Melodies
• Holst – St Paul’s Suite.

A lot of music to cram into two hours!

And then some time in the bar catching up with friends. Hurrah.

Monday

Started the day with another shock to the system – more oboeing. This time, Dvorak’s Czech suite. The problem here being that the second oboe part has a cor anglais solo for the 4th movement, and I have no cor, and neither did the other oboist. Fortunately one of the clarinettists had a bassett horn, and there was another clarinettist walking past, and so a substitution was made. We finished off that session with a spot of sacrilege – an arrangement of Brahms’s 1st Sextet for strings (op 18) reduced to a wind decet, sorry, double wind quintet.

Next session was spent taking a few younger/less experienced players through some string quartets (Mozart, Haydn), with varying degrees of success. Moving on…

A busy afternoon, with a couple of impromptu snippets (a trio by Vanhal for violin, viola, double bass), and then some flute duets(!) with an optional cello part by someone whose name I’ve forgotten.

And then a teatime rendition of Beethoven’s Septet. Fabulous piece of music.

…and straight into a choral society session (some singing, some bassing, because why not when there’s a string bass part at the bottom of the score?)

…and that little lot was just in the afternoon.

The evening saw a symphonic session – Haydn 49 (“La Passione” – not the most inspiring bass part), and Mozart 38 (“Prague” – now we’re talking)

And a late night Mendelssohn Octet, a beer, and sleep.

Tuesday

The Day Of Rest.

The evening, though, that’s another matter – Schubert string quartets (No 10 / D87 / Op.125#1, and the Quartetsatz). And a bit of Purcell (“Fantazia – three parts on a ground” – Z.731). Fortunately, rather more interesting a bass line than certain other groundworks I can think of *cough*Pachelhell*cough*

And, as if that wasn’t enough, a late night nonet session – revisiting the Martinu and Rota nonets.

Wednesday

A busy morning – workshopping the Dvorak serenade for strings, then over to the cello for a Mendelssohn quintet (the first one), and then back to join a beefed-up wind dec(t)et for Strauss op.7 in memoriam of a previous horn player.

A quiet afternoon before the evening orchestral onslaught.

Full orchestra doing a brace of Beethoven’s Big Bangers – “Egmont” overture (not “Egbound”, Mr T…), and Symphony 7. Fast. Great fun.

…and then a Brandenburg session, doing 4, 6, 5 (in that order). Many emotional overtones this week, and this was one of the worst sessions for that.

Thursday

A chamber music morning – Brahms sextet #1, this time with the right instruments rather than that wind decet arrangement from the other day. And then Dvorak op.77 (double bass quintet) paired with Onslow’s 8th quintet. The bass part, sorry, second cello part, needs attention if done on the bass.

Again, a quiet afternoon, but the evening promises and/or threatens more chamber music: Mozart string quintet K593, and some late Beethoven quartets, for fun. Fun? Are they mad? Yes. Almost certainly.

Addendum: Beethoven op.135. Not as bad as I had feared, based on previous experience of other late Beethoven quartets…

Friday

The final day? Already? The morning began with a pair of cello sessions – an early Haydn quartet (more coaching), and then a definitely-not-for-the-kids session on Schumann’s first string quartet, with a bash at some of Dvorak’s Cypresses (new to me).

The afternoon was very busy, and included (on various instruments):

• Beethoven Septet (round 2, all different players apart from me…)
• “Junior Wind” (after junior strings, but I wasn’t involved in that)
• Dvorak wind serenade (definitely *not* junior wind)
• Mozart – piano concerto #25
• Brandenburg 3
• …and a bit of barbershopping.

…and some speeches (by others) and photography and other stuff.

And so to the final officially-scheduled session, which is not the usual big symphonic farewell, but something rather smaller – a clarinet quintet / string quartet session.

And then a final off-piste session while getting piste, sorry, having a beer or two while playing Glazunov’s string quintet, which was surprisingly playable.

Saturday

…and back home, with an enormous pile of laundry…

What I Did On My Holidays – 2020

Oh, wait. Covid. No holiday – it got cancelled back in May…

…and yet I’m still knackered. Oh well. Here’s to next year.

Musical Things To Do While Self-Isolating

As you might have noticed over the years, I spend quite a lot of my playing hours in amateur opera pits / orchestras. My next two productions have just been cancelled thanks to Covid-19, and I’m wondering if the one after that is heading the same way…

Anyway. As the advice for slowing the spread of this thing includes staying home, here are some suggestions of cheap things to do over the next few weeks if you find you have to self-isolate for a while, or just feel like getting away from the hideousness of reality:

• Practice. Bit dull, though.
• June Emerson Wind Music’s facebook page is highlighting profiles of teachers that do distance / remote learning – maybe have a lesson or two? And, if you’re a wind player who doesn’t know the June Emerson Wind Music shop, where have you been? It’s possibly the best wind music shop in the world, and usually soooo fast to respond.
• Sort out your piles of music so you know what you’ve got – maybe that’s just me, as the stuff is everywhere…
• Listen to things you’ve not heard before – this could be something to do while sorting stuff out, I suppose, and you might find something that you want to play, which means you then have the fun of buying music and finding somewhere to put it… and, indeed, finding a few friends to play it with once this crisis passes
• Try your hand at composition. Musescore is free if you’re into traditional notation software. For those of you into sampling, sequencing, and whatnot, I have no idea – recommendations welcome. Later: A friend recommends REAPER for sample work. It appears to be $60 for personal use, but a 60 day free trial.

Things to listen to. No, I’m not going to make suggestions of what to listen to, but I am going to keep a list of sites to go to for stuff…

• My friend Ellie Watts is doing a live recital over Twitch, at 7pm this Friday evening (20th March). She says: “A live-streamed vocal recital featuring Handel, Tchaikovsky, Bolcom, and much more! The concert will last approximately 45 minutes with a five minute interval. Simply go to twitch.tv/eleanormezzo at the date and time of the event to watch.” Or click here for the Facebook page for the event
• Ellie is now planning an assault on the G&S repertoire, one act at a time, self-accompanied, with props… I have the fear for her sanity, but, if you’re interested, details will surely be on Ellie’s facebook page
• Berliner Philharmonker Digital Concert Hall – there’s a free 30 day subscription available only if you sign up in the next two weeks (by the end of March).
• New York Metropolitan Opera House is at the start of a two week closure. Each night during that fortnight they’re streaming a previous production.
• Similarly, the Opera de Paris is streaming operas on a weekly schedule until early May.
• Local to me, Opera North has their recent semi-staged concert series of Ring Cycle available for viewing. That should take a day or two to watch!
• Leeds University’s Livestream page has an archive of some of their old student recitals and lunchtime concerts and things. If you’re really keen-eyed and/or unlucky, you might even spot me there.
• imslp – that provider of out-of-copyright music, if you stump up the £20-ish subscription, provides access to the Naxos library. Thousands of CDs to listen to, recordings of over 25000 different works. This is my go-to during work to drown out the cow-orkers.
  And if you’re a user of imslp, but don’t subscribe – why not start now?
• Run by an old bandcamp friend, the series of concerts from St Mary’s in Perivale. A lot of pianists, soloists, and a few chamber ensembles.
• If you want a Bach-fest, try “All of Bach” from the Netherlands Bach Society. They’re aiming to record, erm, all of Bach (JS)’s works in time for the centenary of the Society.
• There’s the World Concert Hall twitter stream, which gives notices of gigs that are about to happen and be broadcast / webcast.

What I Did On My Holidays – 2019

Here we go with the annual roundup of what I played on my holiday.

A bit different – due to various people being ill, busy, retiring, and generally unavailable, I found myself being programmed for bass, cello, percussion, and the oboe. Not something I’ve had to do for a while. Fortunately, I had a few weeks’ notice, so was able to spend a little time trying to remember where the notes are. I still can’t do it reliably quickly, but… yeah. Excuses.

The sessions have also been a bit less programmed this year, so the smaller groups have more choice over what to play, and bigger groups can work on a work rather than just play through.

Saturday Evening

Big orchestral opening – with me on oboe. Which was a bit of a shock, particularly for the others.

• Mozart – Overture to Marriage of Figaro. What did I say about fast notes?
• Beethoven Symphony 8. More fast notes!

And off to the bar.

Sunday

Start the day with a gentle Dvorak Serenade (on bass, thankfully). This was the Boychild’s first outing as a hornplayer – he’s been having lessons this year, and has been scheduled to play a few sessions here – partly because of that, and partly because of the aforementioned illnesses/absences/etc. He’ll get there.

After coffee, orchestra. And relegated back to ob2 for Schubert 5 & Haydn 101/Clock.

A quiet afternoon off, and then a Beethoven Septet session in the evening (back on bass. Hurrah.)

Monday

A sextet session to start – second cello in the Dvorak and Tchaikovsky “Souvenir de Florence” sextets. Coffee was followed by a Schubert double bill – the Trout quintet, then, after a couple of instrument changes (but the same people), the double cello quintet.

This afternoon was, again, quiet, apart from a bit of spotting for a team putting together the instrumental accompaniment for a rendition of Schubert’s work for lower strings & lower voices “Gesang der Geister über den Wassern” (give or take an umlaut). This is another new one for me. 2 violas, 2 cellos, double bass, four tenors, four bass voices.

And then, shockingly, I had nothing programmed for the evening session… I have lodged a complaint.

Tuesday

The usual day off, followed by a rather hair-raising oboe session, playing Mozart Symphony 40 & Prokofiev’s Peter & The Wolf. Yikes. But a last-minute reprieve in the form of a better oboist meant I was relegated to the safety of Percussion 2, playing snare drum, castanets, and bass drum (which we didn’t have, so I biffed a table instead, which was deemed an adequate substitution).

Wednesday

A chamber music start to the day, playing bass in the Dvorak quintet op.77, and then switching to (thankfully) second cello for the Boccherini “Black Lace”. I used to be able to do first cello in that – these days, I need a good run at it…

…and then some bigger chamber stuff, with a brace of nonets – Spohr and Onslow, which has a few moments (for example, a couple of bars of fast-moving quavers in four flats in the first movement)

The afternoon session was the proper run of Schubert’s “Gesang der Geister über den Wassern” – set for four tenors, four basses, and accompanied by two violas, two cellos, and double bass. Gloomy? Possibly – Goethe isn’t necessarily the most cheerful of chappies. But rather pleasant to listen to.

The evening was a very relaxed string quartet session, doing some Schubert (op 125 No 1, and Op. 29 “Rosamunde”). Much nattering and amusement.

…and then some late-night Brandenburgs. Oh yeah. Numbers 3, 4, and 6. Not in that order, though. Possibly the highlight of the week – a very tight group, just one to a part, and some cracking tempi.

Thursday

The day was back-to-back orchestral sessions. Firstly, a string orchestra, doing:

• Mozart – Divertimento K136
• Warlock – Capriol Suite
• Holst – St Paul’s Suite
• Pachelhellbelend Canon & Gigue

…and then a full orchestra, where I was relegated to the timps to biff my way through Gounod’s first symphony (a new one on me) and Mozart 41.

The evening, though, was a wind session – second oboe in Gounod’s Petite Symphonie (which I have played before, decades ago), and then one of our hornists dropped out and we did the Stieber wind octet (not on IMSLP, as the piece was only written in 1953).

And the late evening was a long octet session – Mendelssohn & Bruch (which swaps a bass in for a cello). Note to self: learn these parts! Particularly the Bruch.

Friday

Another set of orchestral sessions. First up some baroquery – Albinoni Sonata a 5, and a couple of bits of Bach, including orchestral suite number 2 (the one with the flute).

The body of the day was spent on Strauss’s Duetto Concertino for clarinet, bassoon, and strings (a sextet of soloists and an orchestra behind). There were some trickier moments, the big one for me being page 42 of the score on IMSLP.

Final orchestra session – Beethoven 1.

And the week ended with the traditional Mozart quintet K515 (two cellists, so we split the parts – I did the first two movements, and G did the other two), followed by a Brahms sextet (2, op36, in G).

And then beer, wine, conversation, sleep, and back to reality in the morning.

Same time next year?

Rules for Playing Opera

It’s taken me far too long to write my list of rules for playing opera, despite having talked about them many times. Given I’ve just got in from the dress rehearsal for an opera which includes some newbies in the pit, I probably should have written this some time ago. Oh well.

The material in an earlier post (about rehearsal discipline) applies, but here we have the added fun of not just worrying about players, but also singers that are well separated from the orchestra, and busy worrying about their own things…

Anyway. Rules. Always useful. Just ask The Transporter. Or Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Not that you can, because, fiction, but… (I may be most of the way through a very large G&T after a long rehearsal…) Bear in mind I’m not a professional – I suspect their rules are more complicated.

Rule 1: Watch.

The conductor is in charge. They are best placed to influence what’s going on, they have the full score, they can see the stage, and the pit, and should be being watched by everyone, so if (when) things go wrong, they can get it back on track.

Rule 2: See Rule 1.

Seriously, it’s important. If you can’t see the conductor and your music at the same time, then adjust your stand and/or position so you can.

Rule 3: If you don’t know what a marking in your part means, it means “Watch.”

Not just for basic speed, but expression and, if the MD is properly in control, dynamics too. The singers are going to be pulling things around, even if they don’t mean to. You watch, you can keep in time with everyone else.

Rule 4: Know your part.

This is the one I have the most problems with, due to not really having enough time to practise… But, again, rule 1 overrides what you think you know. If you’re not in the right place, you’re definitely wrong. If you’re in the right place, but on the wrong note, well, mistakes happen – but at least you’re not lost. If you know your part, then you’ve got more time to follow rule 1. And to make corrections, when things go wrong. Speaking of which…

Rule 5: Be prepared for things to go wrong

“A catastrophe curve, Mr Bucket, is what opera runs along. Opera happens because a large number of things amazingly fail to go wrong.” – Terry Pratchett, “Maskerade”. Ties neatly back with Rule 1. Something musical goes wrong, watch the MD, as it’s their job to bring everything back together.

Rule 6: There is no rule 6.

Rule 7: Try to enjoy it.

After all, if you’re not enjoying it, why are you doing it?