Sometimes you see reeds and you just KNOW they aren’t anything you’d want to try.
Finally, Christoph von Dohnányi will join us for a thrilling and terrifying new reality show, “So You Think Your Bassoon Is in Tune?”
I read it here. Thanks, Alex Ross!
Earlier I wrote about Slatkin’s blog entry. He was conducting Traviata at the Met.
And now? I thought it was an April Fool’s hoax when I first read of his withdrawal from the opera over at Parterre Box, but now it’s in the New York Times. Would they joke about that? I’m guessing not.
We talk and talk (and write and write) about how classical music needs to be relevant to today. I’m not sure what that means, really. But whatever. I keep reading it. I keep scratching my head. But something new has popped up in my neck ‘o the woods.
Instead of being “relevant to today” our orchestra has decided we should be relevant to whatever time a work as composed. Thus, when we play Mozart the women are going to wear tight corsets and lovely gowns. (It was ruled out that we dress like the poorer folk. After all, the rich folks are the ones attending!) The men will wear white wigs of course, along with their coats, waistcoats and breeches. We are still trying to figure out how to deal with the hoop skirts. It might be that we stand to play when doing music from that era.
I’m especially looking forward to playing music from the 1920s. I’ve always loved the flapper look.
It has yet to be determined if women will be allowed to wear hats. The issue of sight lines has been discussed. If we can’t see the conductor, might there be problems.
Then again, who looks up?
You’ve won a CD! My new rap/Celtic oboe nursery rhymes for ducklings featuring arty photos of me jumping.
Singer Joyce DiDonato makes a special announcement at Yankee Diva. I hope you visit her blog … it’s fabulous! But of course, since the code is provided, here is what she has to say:
And no, I don’t believe this is an April Fool’s joke! 🙂
Oh-oh! Guess who did not come to the rehearsal today?
I left my residence, which is all of two blocks north of the Met. On the way, I was sure that I saw Angela walking in the same direction. This struck me as odd, as I knew that she was staying south of Lincoln Center. And it was only 30 minutes before rehearsal was scheduled to begin.
Upon arrival, I checked in with the musical crew. About seven minutes before we were to start, Craig came over to the pit, grumbling about problematic sopranos, only not in very nice words at all. The rest of us did not understand what was going on and it was then that we were informed that Angela said she was too tired to sing and act today.
Now what were we supposed to do?[and further down on the entry …]
Looking at the orchestra, whom I had only seen twice before, there were some faces that were not familiar. With a standard rep opera this is not uncommon. Everyone is supposed to know the music backward and forward. Traviata is performed practically every year at the Met.
But what I might have said in rehearsal to one player, or a section, may not have been put in the music. And so there were a couple of minor traffic accidents. The players always caught themselves but it still seemed awkward at certain moments.-Leonard Slatikin
Days and Nights at the Opera (Part II)
Want to read more from Maestro Slatkin? Just go here.
