Klarinet Archive - Posting 000204.txt from 2005/02

From: "rien stein" <rstein@-----.nl>
Subj: [kl] That was hard work!
Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2005 16:57:37 -0500

Last Tuesday night I discovered a project ("Spring wind 2005" it is called)
on internet. This is was a project from a very high level amateur windband.
They had asked three Dutch composers to write a new work especially for this
project. Besides the band had studied another work of each of these three
composers, thus today altogether four works would see there world première,
one work would have its Dutch première. The band would study yesterday from
10.00 till 16.00 o'clock, and as I had understood it at first also today
would be a day of rehearsing with a final concerto. The project was also
open to people not member of the band. Of course the enrollment was closed
already several weeks, but I asked whether I could not as yet be enrolled:
One of the brand new works was a claribass concerto. Next day I got a
telephone call: "Do you think you can sit first chair?" Confidently I said
that I thought I might do the job. Of course in a wind band are four first
chairs, otherwise I certainly would have said "No", but since about a year
now I am convinced I am not a mediocre, but a good amateur, and my teachers
have always said that I am very good at prima vista playing, so now I said
"Yes".

There was no use shipping the parts to me, as there would not be time for me
to study them, so when I came yesterday in the rehearsal room the pieces
were really brandnew to me. The band and the "guest players" were rehearsing
the works already some time, so everything now went in tempo, and that often
was a high tempo, but somehow I managed.

Today we started at two -- actually a quarter before, as everyone was
already present --, not with rehearsing, but with recording a cd. It was in
a church, and in Amersfoort and nearest surroundings it had been made known,
that public was welcome to the recordings, the church was about half filled
with listeners.
The claribassist was ill, already yesterday, this work was postponed. The
session had been planned to finish at five, but it was later, when we had
finished the recordings of four works. The conductor asked, whether people
were in a hurry to go home, or whether it was still time to record the fifth
work in one run. We did so, and I think this work too got a very good
recording. Of course there are so many details the composer or conductor
wants to be more perfect, and here "details" really means "details", details
so small the conductors in both bands I play with wouldn't even think of
talking about. At 17.45 we could go home.

But boy, that was hard work! You have to read very fast, and there are quite
a lot of notes in these pieces (to be honest: I playbacked a few bars), you
have to watch the conductor, you have to listen to ... well, I guess most of
you will know what it is like. I think it is more the concentration that
makes me feel worn out, than anything else.

But it was a really beautiful weekend. I had for the first time in many,
many years the feeling I played in an orchestra of my own level.

Hope you will not be bored by this long e-mail, you could have skipped it
anyhow.

Ciao

Rien

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