Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2018-05-20 17:40
A question came back to mind the other night in a reading rehearsal. I'm interested in the reactions of experienced orchestral players.
This particular session involved a reading (with some limited time spent on rehearsing/refining) of Rachmaninov's 2nd Symphony. When we got to the big solo in the 2rd movement, I felt very comfortable and played it, I thought, more than acceptably. The conductor of the evening didn't criticize or ask me to do anything different from what I actually did. But he was conducting a very slow tempo - slower than I'm used to hearing it and had practiced it, and slow enough that I needed to take a couple of extra breaths in fail-safe spots that I would have preferred not to have needed. I tried as I played to move him along just a few beats/minute faster - closer to what I consider a good tempo for both expression and playability, but he wouldn't budge, even holding the high D out long enough that it almost had a fermata effect (think those high turning notes for the tenor in Nesse Dorma).
I once years ago played another reading of Petroushka in which the conductor ( a different one) actually conducted the cadenza in the 2nd Tableau.
My normal expectation is that if I'm playing something soloistic, at least when tempo and phrasing are elastic, I ought to be in control and that the conductor, as he would with a concerto soloist, ought to be giving me the lead and following, unless he really objects to something I'm doing. If it had been preparatory to a performance, I would have discussed it with him and, if he still wanted it that slow, I'd have had to give in and take the extra breaths - I only work there; he runs the place. But, since it was only a reading and we didn't even have time to repeat the movement (or the solo), once we had played it, it became a moot issue.
I play in several local free-lance orchestras as well as this weekly reading group, and I have only occasionally run into this situation. I'm interested in knowing what other players, both free-lancers and those in bigger, more stable orchestras have experienced.
Karl
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