 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2005-10-06 22:50
before taking off for our tour to New York with two concerts in the Carnegie Hall and one in the UN building.
I’ve never played in the Isaac Stern auditorium before. What is there to expect? As I understand it it’s a very big hall but is the acoustics just “perfect” or is it on the dry side or on the “over acoustic” side?
(Is Mulligans bar near the Carnegie Hall still going? Best Guinness in N.Y.C. as I remember it.) ![[toast]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smiley15.gif)
Alphie
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Author: larryb
Date: 2005-10-07 03:49
I played Carnegie Hall last year with my "community orchestra." It was great fun.
The things I remember most: you can really hear yourself and the rest of the orchestra; it actually seemed a lot smaller sitting on stage, as opposed to being in the audience; better Guiness is to be had at PJ Carney's on Seventh Avenue between 57th and 58th Street (west side of Seventh Avenue). It's one of the oldest bars in the City, though recently refurbished. Here's their website:
http://www.pjcarneys.com
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2005-10-07 13:29
How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
/waits for jokes to pass
What I mean is, how does your community orchestra, chorale group, etc., get a Carnegie Hall engagement? Invitation, win a competition, sell the most magazine subscriptions? I know someone who sings in a local choral group that sang there this summer, and after hearing the stories I got the impression the CH folks know they've got a good thing going and run sort of an assembly-line process where they bring several groups in per day, put 'em on stage, give them their official "I Performed at Carnegie Hall" videos and rush 'em off to haul in the next group. Now I just know that can't be the case. Can someone fill me in?
________________
Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.
- Pope John Paul II
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Author: LarryBocaner ★2017
Date: 2005-10-07 14:12
Alphie,
You are in for a big treat: Carnegie Hall (newly renamed Isaac Stern auditorium) is one of the World's truly great concert venues. Although it is a large hall by European standards, projection from the stage is easy and unforced, there is good resonance in all registers, and aural communication between orchestra sections is as good as any hall I've played in!
I don't know about Mulligans, but the food at the Carnegie Deli (just a little south on 7th Avenue) is echt New York, and my wife's favorite restaurant in the whole World is the Thai place about 100 meters east of the stage door.
Talking about gourmandisierie (assuming from your address you are from Sweden) were you with the Stockholm Philharmonic in Tokyo in 1995? I have fond memories "sharing" the Le Meridien Pacific Hotel with that orchestra, plus meeting a number of players for egg McMuffins at breakfast down the street at McDonalds! Helped stretch the per diem as apposed to the $25 breakfasts at the hotel.
Bon voyage!
Larry Bocaner
National Symphony Orchestra (retired)
Post Edited (2005-10-07 14:13)
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Author: larryb
Date: 2005-10-07 14:49
Ralph G:
there are two ways to get to Carnegie Hall:
1) be a member of a top ranked, prestigious orchestra, or a top soloist, etc. and be selected by Carnegie Hall to participate in one of their reknowned programs; or
2) pay the rental fee for the hall on those days/nights that are otherwise not booked.
Playing at Carnegie Hall under #2 does not necessarily mean you're a high quality orchestra. But you can fool some of the people all of the time.
By the way, the Thai place down the block is called "Topaz Thai" - good cheap eats.
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2005-10-07 16:35
Larry, I remember very well the Pacific Meridian Hotel as well as the McDonalds down the street. We must have stayed there at the same time.
That hotel usually has a lot of orchestras from all over the world staying there. I remember the first time I stayed there in 1988 with a period instrument orchestra. At the same time there were 600 people from the Met Opera, The Bavarian Radio Orchestra and a chamber orchestra from the Berlin Philharmonic.
Thanks for the recommendation on the thai restaurant. I’ll definitely go there. I love thai food.
About the acoustics in the hall, I guess it shouldn’t be too difficult to pick the right reed then. It sounds very promising.
Alphie
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Author: vin
Date: 2005-10-07 19:29
If you like coffee too, the latte stand in the lobby of the Le Meridien serves danesi coffee- highly recommended.
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Author: allencole
Date: 2005-10-09 21:30
Regarding Carnegie Hall available for rent: Here in Richmond, our Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts is often a venue for high school band concerts (thanks in part to grants from a local grocer), while the Richmond Symphony Orchestra gives concerts in suburban churches.
This seems to be where the music biz has gone.
Allen Cole
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Author: LarryBocaner ★2017
Date: 2005-10-25 12:07
Well, they made it, and according to the Times did very well indeed!
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/25/arts/music/25stoc.html
I hope Alphie will favor us with his take on Cernegie Hall!
Larry Bocaner
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2005-10-25 13:41
So was it Mahler's 5th or Prokofiev's 5th? Sounds like the reviewer got a bit confused!
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-10-25 14:13
Mahler. The Prokofiev 5th isn't 70 minutes long, doesn't have an adagietto movement and, at least for me, doesn't have "vast spiritual ambitions."
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2005-10-26 13:58
We did Mahler 5 at the first concert on Saturday and Prokofiev 5 at the second concert on Sunday. The adagietto for strings only is the 4th movement in Mahler, very often played as a separate piece. The review is from both concerts. On Monday we did the annual concert at the UN building with Anne Sofie von Otter as a soloist and bits and pieces from both programs.
Alphie
Thanks LarryB and larryb for the Topaz Thai recommendation. I went there twice. Very good.
Post Edited (2005-10-26 14:08)
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-10-26 14:27
Alphie -
In the printed edition of yesterday's NY Times, there was a photo of the orchestra taken over the conductor's shoulder. In the center was a handsome clarinetist, his head cocked slightly and obviously playing a solo.
You?
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2005-10-26 17:26
Looking at the picture I'm sitting to the left of him in the same row, on his right side, partly covered by the music stand.
Alphie
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-10-26 22:05
I thought that to get to Carnegie Hall one took the BMT Line.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: larryb
Date: 2005-10-27 14:53
Alphie:
The R-line is the BMT.
In the good old days, the NYC Subway System was built, owned, operated and maintained by several private companies. The most prominent were:
Interboro Rapid Transit (IRT) - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 42nd St. Shuttle
Independent (IND) - A, C, E, F, D, B, G(?), V
Brooklyn Manhattan Transit (BMT) - R, N, Q, W
(Not exactly sure where the M and J trains fit in, or the Franklin Avenue Shuttle)
Long after they were consolidated under one City-owned system, the lines retained their original nomenclature. That's why old-times, like Terry and myself, still use the term "BMT" when refering to the R Train. It's also a fun way to totally confuse out of towners and newcomers.
Next time you're in the City, you should take the Culver Line to Coney Island.
P.S. - I may not be 100% accurate here, hopefully Tony Pay will chime in to correct any errors in my NYC Subway snap shot history.
I do believe that the Subway is a good metaphor for clarinet playing: different systems, constant need for new equipment, regular dysfunctions and repair needs, lots of opinions, etc.
I should add that the different subway lines were even built with different track gauges, so that new subway cars have to be designed and procured on a line-by-line basis, as opposed to system wide, which increases complexity and cost, and also prevents trains from switching between lines. Good metaphor for matching set up to bore size, as well as for my unmatched pair of Selmer Signature (Bb) and Recital (A) clarinets!
Post Edited (2005-10-27 16:11)
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