 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: diz
Date: 2003-10-01 22:18
Hi, after seeing an excellent documentary on SBS television (Australia's free to air special broadcasting service station) about the Australian Chamber Orchestra. I was pondering Richard Tognetti's (concertmaster and artistic director) rehearsal style. He emphasised extreme fine tuning of each phrase of any work they rehearse to the point that they almost only ever play a piece straight through at the last rehearsal or, sometimes, at performance.
His colleagues commented about how this challenging because, come the performance, they have to be more than the usual 100 percent on their toes. I'm a huge fan of the ACO (not just because I'm Aussie) but because they are have NEVER let me down at any performance I've heard.
There is a lot to be said for fine tuning and this documentary cemented a point.
The flip-side of this is orchestras who are brilliant enough to just have a score plonked in front of them (I'm thinking the London Symphony or Boston Symphony who are famed for their sight-reading) and then play brilliantly.
How then, does a conductor work on the fine details? Are fine details lost for the "quick" visit of a super-star maestro?
I've worked with some famous conductors (Charles Mackerras springs to mind) and he was very demanding in rehearsal - including scheduling an extra strings-only rehearsal for the (horrendously difficult) Bachanale (pardon my spelling) that comes at the end of Tanhauser's French-version overture.
What have your experiences been when working professionally?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Pinner
Date: 2003-10-03 08:03
Didn't you use the same approach with the Mikado? We nearly got through most of it at the dress/ only rehearsal. " Don't worry, its a piece of p*ss" I think you said at the time. Spontaneity is a wonderful thing.
I know what you are getting at. Cilario was fairly scary to work with. He had a habit of taking up whole rehearsals with one or two sections of an opera and sometimes not even running the whole thing at the dress rehearsal. He never seemed to have control over anything until the performance.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2003-10-03 10:45
To misquote the USMC, "You will descend to the level of your training."
Perhaps the presumption is that those passages were essential to the work
and the remainder was within the scope of your band to play as written?
******
I'm on the other extrema of the playing ability named, and practice like the devil just to keep up. I can't imagine what it must be like for top pros to handle some of this stuff.
Still, the results must be worthwhile.
******
About string sections (and only as a member of the audience);
A string section that plays with committment and unison really makes the core sound of bands around my home.
If they're off, or have 20-odd concertmasters, they can suck the air out of the room in a hurry.
I just don't know how the viola section can keep sawing away on some of their parts... the writing is less than inspired in most Viola 2 parts!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: diz
Date: 2003-10-07 01:07
Mark,
The Mikado orchestra was exceptional!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Pinner
Date: 2003-10-07 14:38
So the Mikado is a piece of p*ss then! I thought the strings were excrement, sorry I mean excellent.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: BobD
Date: 2003-10-07 22:43
View the vhs docu. "The Art of Conducting". Conductors have even more opinions than clarinetists. That's one of the things that keeps music alive.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
