Slowly But Surely...

Sweeney Todd preparations continue apace. Sondheim’s score is a major character in the musical, the style of which calls to mind Britten, Puccini, and Orff at various points. There is very little in the first 15 minutes or so to suggest that this is not an opera. Whereas Mozart’s music in Amadeus was something we all kind of knew already, this score is more closely tied to the action and vamps (indefinitely repeated phrases of music) are abundant, requiring a careful knowledge on Maestro Richman’s part of the tendencies of the actors, and a watchful eye on the stage vis-a-vis things that could go wrong or differently. It is an unenviable task in which he is, fortunately, very well-versed.

Sondheim’s musicals are some of the most widely known, and as regards to living composers, the most respected. His most well-known work, A Little Night Music, with its signature tune Send in the Clowns, was performed in the fall of 1996 at UT’s Carousel Theatre, with Picardy Penguin’s sidekick Katy Wolfe Zahn in the lead. Katy returns in this production as a beggarwoman; a less glamorous role, but when all is said and done, a character that is only slightly more vile than Night Music’s reprobate dragon lady, Desiree. Her costume (and her hair- YIKES!) in Sweeney will render her unrecognizable as anyone you may be used to seeing. Another crowd favorite participating in the show is baritone Perry Ward, appearing as Mr. Fogg. He has been heard previously with the KSO in Amadeus, in our most recent Brahms Requiem, and with the Chamber Orchestra in Mozart’s The Impresario.

Dale Dickey is proving to be a joy to work with, making a point to put faces with the names of everyone in the orchestra. As if she didn’t have enough on her plate already...

Ahh, So That's How It Goes...

I have to admit, I’m a relative newcomer to Sweeney Todd, but I’ve heard enough to know what to expect. I’ve had the book for a few weeks now, put bowings in it, played through some of the numbers, but they really didn’t make much sense without the rest of the orchestra and cast. And these song titles... A Little Priest? The Worst Pies in London? At our first rehearsal yesterday it was a relief and a joy to hear all the parts, to discover where on stage we would be situated, and above all, to get a taste of the leads. As in Amadeus, the orchestra is literally on the stage, with action happening behind, above and in front of us. 

I couldn’t help but notice that the distribution center for Music Theater International, source of parts to this and other musicals, is in New Hartford, Conn. It should be known that New Hartford is nowhere near Hartford, nowhere near anything, in fact. It lay between Barkhamsted and Collinsville and is about one-half state forest land. It’s a clean, piney rural town we had to travel through to get to our favorite lake growing up, the romantically named Compensating Reservoir, on weekends and after half-days at school in June. In terms of towns near here, I’d say it’s an Oneida kind of town. Which reminds me very little of a story maestro Kirk Trevor once told some of us over beer, wherein we learned that the distribution center for books for all of the Disney musicals is somewhere between here and Sevierville. I wonder what possesses the publishers to choose such sites for their library? I just don’t get it.

Anyway, enough about me! Do make plans to see Sweeney Todd, running from August 30th to September 16th  at the Clarence Brown Theatre. 

Remembering David Wells (1927-2012)

Every classical musician needs someone to take the raw materials and spin them into a finished product, or at least a more-finished product. A teacher who is not necessarily spanning the globe with world premieres and guest appearances, but who takes the bus to your town, week after week, puts in a 14 hour day and some the next day shepherding you and your classmates, then travels to another city to do the same. A mentor who, note by note, étude by étude, concerto by concerto, burns the bourgeois out of you by lighting a fire under your muse and converts you into a “practicer.” Just such a person in my life has recently passed, David Wells; a dedicated educator with many years of tenure at the Hartt and Manhattan Schools of Music, and New England Conservatory

Probably his most notable contribution to the musical world is the Yellow Barn Music Festival, which he founded with his wife Janet in 1969. NEC violin professor Eric Rosenblith soon joined forces with the Wellses, and chamber music training comparable with Meadowmount, Chamber Music West and Kneisel Hall has happened every summer since. Over the years several KSO members, most recently Gordon Tsai, can attest to the high intensity and quality of growth occurring there.

My favorite lessons with him had “yoga cello”as a focal point. Avoiding repetitive motion ailments and the like was a major focus in masterclasses, and yoga was a tool of his trade. On the other hand, his boisterous coaching style was as dynamic a musical experience as you could ever hope to receive. Mr. Wells could call upon such sundry sources of inspiration as Segovia or Shakespeare, Maria Callas or Björn Borg to guide the way to interpretation of a phrase or technical triumph. Through him I learned that there was more to beautiful artistry than just playing in tune.

You won’t likely find a YouTube video nor buy cds of David Wells playing the cello, but you will hear his influence in a great many chamber, orchestral and solo musicians. (Actually, the Yellow Barn Music Festival has released a recording of a Wells Duo recital from 1976, a couple of tracks from which can be heard here). I channel his love of music and his teachings every time I rosin up my bow or greet a student.

The Three B's and More

To prove that not all of us have been sitting on our behinds all summer doing nothing, violinist Ilia Steinschneider will be giving a recital with comrades Eunsoon Corliss, Ihsan and Karen Kartal, and members of the Son Trio at Westminster Presbyterian Church. Music of Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert and Telemann will be performed. Westminster Church possesses a grand acoustic which really flatters instruments from the string family. (6500 Northshore Drive, 37917, 7:00 pm). Brahms’ Piano Trio No. 1 in B, a Telemann Canonic Sonata, Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 2 in A, and Schubert’s masterful Cello Quintet. Some serious chamber music here

But Ilia will not be done when he returns home from his recital Sunday! No, far from done, as he will be soloing in Bach’s Double Violin Concerto with the Oak Ridge Community Orchestra.
Community Orch. This concert will be at 2:00 next Saturday at 1st Baptist Church of Oak Ridge, at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Lafayette Drive in Oak Ridge. Bree Miller will be his solo counterpart in the Bach, in a concert that will also feature Brahms’ Tragic Overture and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. The concert will be under the direction of William Burkhardt.

Dog (and Pony) Days of August

The 2012-13 season is practically upon us! The Sweeney Todd run has the rehearsals starting a full two weeks earlier than any KSO season has ever started before, so it is hard to believe that we will be reconvening in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!! When I moved down here in 1986, I was quite shocked to learn that the schools started in mid-August (as opposed to after Labor Day most years in Connecticut, from whence I hail). That is a mystery I still have not solved; something about late spring being too hot to be productive? Every year it seems like August is hotter than May, so I’m thinking that’s not the reason. Maybe someone out there can supply me with the logic behind that scheduling.

Almost too late to mention are the upcoming auditions for the KSO’s Youth Orchestras, taking place on August 24th-27th. The first rehearsals for all five of these groups take place on Monday, September 10th, and most Monday evenings after that, at West Valley Middle School (9118 George Williams Rd.). Repertoire (excerpts) and other info is available on the KSO website, although I will reveal that the Youth Orchestra proper consists of excerpts from Wagner’s Prelude to Die Meistersinger and Smetana’s The Moldau, both of which will be performed this season. It is very encouraging to see that the excerpt pdfs are taken from the actual orchestral parts, and not from the IMC excerpt books, which are hopelessly riddled with misprints.

Pops Memories from YouTube

I can’t remember the year, they have all seemed to blend together into puddles, like “the 80's” or “when Thomas was watching Lambchop,” but somewhere back there we had EmmyLou Harris as a Pops artist and I couldn’t believe I was going to share the stage with her. She is the only artist I have both paid to see AND played with. One song I remember vividly was Rose of Cimarron, but I really wish she had done this Beatles tune. I love her description of it: "Way more than three chords".

Rosemary Clooney came to Knoxville in 1999 in the twilight of her career, but it was such a joy to hear her sing Tenderly,  a song I am trying to convince my band(s) to do.

Spring of Y2K sported  probably the most power-packed Pops line-up that I can remember. The artists that year were Monica Mancini, Ben E. King, Doc Severinsen, and the Smothers Brothers. Ms Mancini’s voice was a breath of fresh air, proof that she was not merely riding on the coattails of her ultra-famous father (who, by the way, was a Pops artist a couple years prior). Ben E. King was a perfect gentleman as well as an engaging performer, Doc Severinsen was entertaining in many ways, (catch him back with us on April 13, 2013!!), and the Smothers Brothers were just plain ridonculous.

Today happens to be violist Jennifer Bloch’s birthday! In her honor I have selected a blast from the past, via a forgotten Pops act. (This particular Youtube video has the fewest "hits" but IMHO it is far and away the most honest and entertaining version). A Stephen Sondheim song whose lyrics just, umm, drove us crazy.

Art Garfunkel was maestro Trevor's final Pops artist, and I was thrilled to accompany one of "America's Beatles." While it was an absolute hoot to hear his 12-year-old son (who was a viola student of a very good friend of mine in NY) sing "Feelin' Groovy," flutist Cynthia D'Andrea and I struggled to find the point of doing a Randy Newman song entitled "A Real Emotional Girl." Inasmuch as Randy Newman's voice is an acquired taste at best, the song was somewhat improved by Garfunkel's ethereal voice. I would have just died if he sang "99 Miles from LA," but he didn't, and I didn't.

Two Wildly Divergent Events From Earlier This Month

On July 6-8, the Calvin Smith Brass Festival took place at Oak Ridge High School. A good example of the festival’s popularity and draw can be found in the list of winners in the Brass Quintet Competition: the first three prizes went to groups from Lexington KY, Fredonia, NY and Clarksville TN. Word has it that a group from Hungary had applied, but couldn’t come up with enough funds- maybe next year!

A feature of this festival was the world premiere of a work composed in memory of Calvin Smith, entitled FECHOPS! by Ed Morse. The title refers to the license plate that Calvin had on his car which, translated from the table of elements, means “iron chops.” The performance of this fanfare, with tubist Sean Greene conducting, can be heard and seen here. The memory of a fine musician is well honored with such a quality festival, which I am told will be an annual event.

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As I mentioned in a post from last year, a number of members of our orchestra play other genres of music. You may recall that a band called the Akashic Mysteries counts among its members oboist Ayca Yayman. On July 15, at the Preservation Pub on Market Square, the Mysteries played their first show in almost a year, accompanied by the projection of films by the Brothers Quay. In a sort of random way, their performance was fitting accompaniment to several essentially silent stop-motion animation Quay films (LINK) produced since the 80's. With an eclectic instrumentation including electric mandolin, (any band fronted by an oboe is eclectic, IMHO) my ears were reminded of the music of King Crimson and Camper Van Beethoven. The films were real eye-openers, with their surrealist and Dada influences. Although it was no surprise to me, having heard her often singing karaoke, Ayca sang on a couple tunes, (one song was Fascination Street by the Cure) and it was really quite captivating. After laying the oboe aside first, of course...