Fugue State

The Vivaldi begins

Don't get me wrong, the Bach Suites are a love and I will no doubt play them for the rest of my life, but I needed a little break from JS. He can be a tad unrelenting, if you know what I mean.

So onto some Vivaldi.

I know this era pretty well. As a flautist of the pretty-good-but-didn't-go-to-music-college variety, you ended up playing either lots of Telemann or lots of Debussy, depending on your inclinations or teacher. Early twentieth-century French flute music is not my deal as a general rule (Debussy's Syrinx an exception of course), so I ended up with Telemann. And boy were we good friends by the time university claimed all my time.

So I approached Vivaldi with some friendliness, and sure enough, the patterns are ones I know and love. The phrases, the echoes, the repeats. I get this stuff.

I'm working on Sonata No.5 RV.40. Entire movements are in tenor clef which is stretching my turkey-fugged brain cells, in a good way.

New reading material

A few other blogs to ruminate over as I re-accquiant myself with Bach after a mad orchestral month of concerts, and frantically practising for concerts.

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment's blog. One of my favourite orchestras ever started a group blog this month. Not just by musicians, but by the staff behind the scenes as well which is a good move I think. Us lot back of house are entertaining as well!

Felixcitation, Jessica Duchen's Mendelssohn blog for BBC Radio 3. Celebrating two hundred years since his birth, Jessica is blogging a year of Mendelssohn fun. Not sure what form it will take yet, but it's worth keeping an eye on.

Southbank Centre's classical music blog. It's gathering steam now, so another one to keep on your Google reader for the near future.

Happy reading.

Thwarted, slightly, by a chair

There are times when adrenaline works well for you, your fingers feel like oiled machinery on a track. That was last night for me. The Beethoven went like a dream, all the little runs slotted in and I nailed all my entries. The bits in Don Giovanni that felt shaky before, even still in rehearsal in the afternoon, somehow worked out.

I was terrified in the Sinfonia Concertante as I didn't feel as confident about the part but I acquitted myself well, despite my chair.

You see, in the church we were performing in there was a distinct lack of single chairs, and because I wasn't playing cello full time, my chair kept disappearing as other orchestra members suddenly needed one. Just before the concert started I had to run around looking a spare one. I finally found one in the front foyer and put it in my place, telling my cello section-mates to stab anyone trying to take it with their bows.

But when I walked down to the cello section and sat in it before we started the piece, it made an ominous cracking sound. I dared not move a muscle in my lower half for the whole performance in case my chair disintegrated. I shifted once, and the chair complained with another crack. At interval, two audience members, who were sitting right next to me in the first row, mentioned it to me so I didn't come back and truly fall on my rear end. When I thanked them and said I did know the chair was broken, one woman said 'I know! I could see it in your face!' That was probably the panic then.

The extra elements of stress we don't need right in the middle of a concert! Whew.

Starting in January: Mendelssohn 1, Barber of Seville overture (oooh so glad I'm not playing flute now!) and Saint-Saens' Morceau de concert for solo harp.

Concertante concert

The Chamber Academy Orchestra concert is tonight. I should figure out what I'm going to wear and iron my concert skirt. Because of my recent move and the inexplicable nature of rail schedules, it will take me about an hour and a half to get there today, including a 20 minute walk with my cello, flute, stand and assorted other stuff. I should really pack a lunch as the eating options around the church are terrible, but I can't bear to carry anything else.

Making the leap

I've mentioned before how I think my personality changes when I'm playing flute in an orchestra and when I'm playing cello. So when I decided to play only cello next term in the Chamber Academy Orchestra, I felt a pang for my woodwind self, which won't get any orchestral outings for the next while.

I love playing my cello, and I love the orchestral parts - I love listening to the interplay between the string sections and concentrating on underpinning the melody, and even occasionally getting to play it myself. It's all about blending with your section though, and playing principal flute, is, well, not particularly. So going from the centre of attention (sometimes) to back desk in a small cello section. I want to do it, but it's taking a bit of an attitude adjustment.

So. I will get over it, it just took me a bit by surprise how much I will miss the flute playing.

YouTube Symphony Orchestra

I might not be quite ready for this... but some of you are! Go forth and record yourselves!

Sitting on the accordion and other tales

I've spent a long time on the Bach Suites now. Not in a 'I'm all finished' kind of way, more like nothing but Bach kind of way, excluding orchestra parts.

 

So it was with a craving for something a bit flowery, a bit more dramatic and less measured I asked Pete for some music reccommendations - and he suggested the Vivaldi cello sonatas. I've got the Barenreiter edition winging its way to me in the post now. I still have a bash at the Breval now and again, but it's not holding my attention. Any other suggestions for me? I'm around a grade four or five level now.

 

And apologies for the blog silence, I was moving house and playing a concert. I've still got the performance of the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante coming in a couple weeks, and I've made the leap to focus on that orchestra only, and play only cello next term. It's causing all sorts of conflicting feelings for me, about losing my membership to the woodwind club in the back and everything. But I'll expound on that later. And my lack of a chair to play cello on in the new flat... so I've been using my accordion box. I'm not sure my accordion is very pleased about it.