Classical Records

Check me out! I'm in the second row from the top, all the way to the left.


PIEDMONT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA!!!!

A Rush Of Blood To The Head

Pollen got the best of me last night. After paying our respects and saying goodbye to Serena's Sidekicks (more on this later) out in nature, I was done for. Drinking beer seemed to help a little, but once I left Allie's I was miserable from the constant feeling like I was going to sneeze. I hate to sneeze.


It has also left me with an awesome headache. I am hoping it goes away by 3pm, which is when my orchestra concert is. At least the concert is not in nature, eh?


XO,
SVR

Everything In Its Right Place

When there are certain things you hate, like Sousa marches and hot weather, it is amazingly refreshing to have a moment where their first cousins combine to create what can only be described as perfection. After an intense orchestra rehearsal that began with me going through the motions and ended with me ready and willing to play beyond our 930pm stop time, I headed outside to head home.

Dvorak's New World Symphony was still occupying my brain as I checked my phone for new texts and saw the first droplet of rain plop down on my phone. I may loathe summertime because of the intense heat, but oh how I love its nights when it's both warm and cool at the same time. Tonight there was a breeze and I wished to be sitting on a porch at the beach. Then the rain started plopping down with a higher frequency and, despite my hair getting wet, I slowed down to enjoy it. There's something so great about cool rain when it's warm.

Then I got to my car, only to be welcomed by the song I had been listening to just two and a half hours earlier: Radiohead's "Motion Picture Soundtrack".....I think you're crazy...


Talk about perfection.

The Conductor

I got pissed in orchestra tonight. Visibly annoyed. Except for my text messaging habit in between movements, my rehearsal behavior is impeccable. I am attentive, I always have a pencil, I listen, I don't talk when not playing, I glance up more than most players, and I nod my head to direction. I make up for any mistakes I may make by being good in other ways. So tonight, when Maestro scolded me and Clarinet Dude for talking when he was trying to tell us something, I was livid.

1) Do not "scold" me. We're both adults and even if I think you're an amazing conductor, I don't "owe" you any respect that results in me being talked to like that.

2) Clarinet Dude and I were talking about the music. We were quietly figuring out a tricky rhythm* and why we had messed it up. Maestro made it sound like we were discussing Amazing Race or something.

3) Work on your selective hearing, buddy. Maybe you should say something to the bass player who never stops playing or the french horns** who don't even whisper when talking.

And then later you said something to the Woodwinds about dragging the tempo. Then, a few measures later I barely knew where I was because the annoying strings were sucking at life and...oh yes...dragging the tempo. And maybe check on their intonation as much as you check on our notes. Mmmhmm.


Yeah, so I was pissed when he told us to "not talk" so we can hear what he's trying to tell us. To this I said in quite the snotty tone, "We were talking about the music." I should have added an "ass" onto that: "We were talking about the music, ass!" Oh, I was so angry. I then proceeded to give him my patented "Scarlet Look" each and every time he told us something. I hope he knows he pissed me off.


XO,
SVR


*Seriously...it's the new e-g-y-p-t
**I love you guys because you're hilarious, but you do talk A LOT.

Motion Picture Soundtrack

I am totally in love with one of the pieces we are playing in my next orchestra concert. Hebrides Overture by Felix Mendelssohn, a piece inspired by Fingal's Cave off the coast of Scotland. Now, I know what you're thinking: She likes it just because of the Scotland thing, but no. I loved it before our maestro told us anything about it.

It begins with low strings and the bassoon that quickly becomes the entire orchestra playing at forte. The entire piece is a study in dynamics, each one extremely important. When we first started rehearsing it, we would stop countless times to observe the markings of pianos, fortes, crescendos, and sforzandos. I have never seen a piece dictated so precisely for dynamics.

The music makes me feel as though I am on a small boat, rocking on the waves as I travel through the caves. There are times when the feeling is almost one of being seasick. The piece is not technically difficult, but making it sound cohesive and dynamically correct is what makes it a challenge. I spend much of the work memorizing short passages so I can watch the conductor and listen to those around me.

Then, about 2/3 through is the clarinet duet part I am a part of. The introduction to this section is perfect, with the strings backing away dynamically and the oboe giving way to the first note by the clarinet. It is so simplistic, yet gorgeous (as most things played by the clarinet are.) If this were a movie score, this would be the romantic goodbye as the man heads off to fight the monster in the cave. Or the opposing army. Or whomever. As the music speeds up I can just imagine the scenes as the man fights his enemy with a sword, while the woman, still rocking on the waves in the boat laments his absence and prays for his return.

And I'll be honest with you. I've been sitting here listening to the last 30 seconds of the piece over and over again, trying to decide how the story should end and I just don't know. There is strength to the ending, with the entire orchestra playing, but the last thing heard is a leftover flute fading to nothing. So how does the story end?