Symphony no. 3 in F Major: Johannes Brahms – London Philharmonia Orchestra – Marin Alsop
Symphony no. 1 in D Major (Titan): Gustav Mahler – Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra – Michael Halasz
Symphony no. 5 in e minor, op 64: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra – Antoni Wit
Symphony no. 6 in D Major op. 60: Antonin Dvorak – Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra – Stephen Gunzenhauser
Symphony no. 3 in a minor (unfinished): Alexander Porfir’yevich Borodin – Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra – Stephen Gunzenhauser
Symphony no. 3 in c minor “Organ”: Camille Saint-Saens – Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra – Imrich Szabo
Symphony no. 9 in d minor WAB 109: Anton Bruckner – Royal Scottish National Orchestra – Georg Tintner
IF I were to do an audition (but I’m not), I would certainly do the English horn rather than the oboe. I know these works like the back of my hand. Or better.
But no, I’m not going to go for his. For one, I can’t imagine I’d win. For another, I’m not up for YouTube watchers’ ridicule. I’ve seen them bash the best of the best, so I’d hate to think what they’d do to me! I’m chicken that way.
And yes, this English horn player says, “It’s neither English nor a horn.” 😉
Do you notice the half hole finger coming up entirely for the D? I’ve seen that with oboe as well … I’m not sure if this is just a different way of fingering on the same kind of horn I have, or if it’s due to the thumb plate system. I do know many (maybe all?) UK players use the thumb plate system. Or maybe she just has her half hole finger completely up for middle D. Dunno! When she talks about putting down the index finger for the low F on Roman Carnival you definitely see that finger up for D! I don’t do that, so I have to deal with just getting the finger rolled back to cover the half hole. I’ve not really found this a big deal, but it really does depend on a good reed!
It appears that this is the era of the young conductor, eh? Young, hip looking conductors. Young, hip looking, male conductors, that is.
I’m trying to imagine SSV announcing a conductor (not that SSV is considering this). Would it be this sort of production? Would our mayor be there? Would there be any sort of crowd? Hmm. I honestly don’t know!
On Saturday, I went to the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions, San Diego District.
That’s just a fancy way of saying singing contest. Contestants must have a total of 5 opera arias prepared and there must be three different languages.
This isn’t exactly American Idol.
The first singer went on at 10:00am and I got there about 10:20am and didn’t leave ’til about 6:20pm.
Upon paying my $5 I was immediately told not to enter the house while a singer was on stage.
This is a really big deal.
I managed to go in while there was a singer on stage and the looks I received were amazing–a subtle mixture of terror, fury and indignation.
These are the looks I’m used to getting when I don’t have pants on so I doubled checked. My pants were on, so what was the big deal?
He was told not to enter when someone was singing. He entered when someone was singing. And he doesn’t understand why people gave him dirty looks.
I’d say the “big deal” was that he’s not terribly smart. But it’s also that, of course, this was a competition and the singer could have been distracted and thrown off. Geesh. Some people ….
We begin ballet tomorrow, doing Giselle by Alophe Adam. As people who read my blog know, I don’t particularly get ballet, and I especially don’t connect to story ballets. But that doesn’t mean I don’t try to play my best. Honestly … whenever I get into the pit or on the stage I believe in the music. If I didn’t I think I’d go bonkers!
It’s not the dancing that bugs me about ballet. It’s all the gestures when they aren’t dancing. It’s all that miming. And yeah, I’m sure I’m just a grump about ballet! So sorry. And yes, I am extremely thankful for the work, and I love our dancers. So please know I’m not grumping about the dancers or anything. Just the story stuff. (And occasionally the rather lame music!)
So tomorrow we go into our awful rehearsal hall with horrendous fluorescent lights. This is the biggest problem for me with ballet; our rehearsal hall is bad when it comes to both sound and light. And both of those issues can cause me to get migraines, get vertigo and aggravate my tinnitus. I’ll be bringing a stand light with me, as it sounds as if management may not be able to provide any for me (I actually requested two; I guess I should have had my otologist write a letter about this, eh?). I’m hoping that having a stand light might help me get through the day. We’ll see. If not, and if I get ill, I’ll probably end up sick the following day, and we aren’t allowed to miss a rehearsal, so that would mean the end of the ballet run for me. I hope it doesn’t come to that!
So here’s the start of Giselle for you, to give you an idea of what I mean by “story ballet”:
So what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Don’t care …? Does it make you want to watch the next bit?:
and more …?:
to the end of Act 1?:
… or did you stop after the first video? (And did you even notice the English horn? I think it’s the second act that has a bit of a solo, but otherwise you won’t hear a lot of me. This is probably good, because the way the set up the microphones — yes, they mic this — there isn’t one anywhere near me, while they mic all the other main winds. I’m not sure why they’ve never understood that English horn usually has solos. Odd!)
If you want more I can post Act 2 later. Maybe you’ll even notice the English horn then. Or maybe not.
Okay … over and out … I have a Giants game to watch in the very near future! GO GIANTS!!!
In addition to oboe, Colin also plays clarinet, English horn, violin, five-string banjo, acoustic/ electric bass, piano, saxophone, flute, guitar and harmonica.
Now normally I kind of roll my eyes and laugh when I read things like this. Or I merely add a few words (“…but none well at all.”) to the sentence. Because I’m just that much of a skeptic.
But this guy? This guy is a member of Quartetto Gelato.
I’ve posted this before, but it’s probably worth another look and listen:
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Oboe sheet music for beginners to experts. Solos, ensembles, play alongs, and methods at Sheet Music Plus.
Hear Me At Work
Here are just a few recordings from the past. It's rare I have anything I'm allowed to share, due to union rules.
