I’m home from the WindSync concert I had written about earlier. What fun it was. These musicians are pretty darn fine! I’m glad I was able to catch one of their three bay area events … they’ll be in San Francisco on Monday and in San Jose on Tuesday, in case you want to try and hear them. (The latter is, if I understood correctly, and improvisational sort of thing, done at an art gallery. I’m not sure if they are improvising on art they see there or what … maybe one of them will read this and fill us in!)
All five musicians were great: Garret Hudson on flute, Kevin Pearl on oboe, James Johnson (from San Jose!) on clarinet, Tracy Jacobson on bassoon and Anni Hochhalter on French horn. They have “chops”, as we like to say. They are musical. They move. Heck, they even talk. They played Beethoven (Ode to Joy arrangement), a movement of the Ibert WWQ, a movement of Maslanka’s third quintet, two movements of Opus Number Zoo by Berio, and ended with their arrangement of West Side Story, but called “WindSync Story” … and no one died at the end. How ’bout that? On the program the Beethoven wasn’t listed and instead it was Mozart’s Twinkle Twinkle variations, so during the question and answer period someone asked about that, and suggested we could all do with an encore so they then played the Mozart. It was all incredibly fun and delightful!
When I arrived at the hall I saw old friends and a current colleague (Hi Bob! Hi Pam! … and Hi to the Barnes although they haven’t a clue about this blog.) After, when I went to talk to the quintet members, I also met several people I’ve “met” via this blog. I LOVE when that happens! (Hi Vladimir! Hi Daniel! Hi David!) Having this blog has really blessed me with some wonderful “live and in person” meetings.
So bravi tutti to WindSync, and may your travels go well, your concerts be fantastic, and your audiences blessed as much as we were!
Hello Patty!
That concert was great! Thanks for putting these things out on your site. If you hadn’t put it on your blog, I would not have been able to enjoy this wonderful music.
It was a pleasure (and a surprise) to meet “The Patty of Oboeinsight” in person. I love reading your blog.
Thanks again,
Daniel
So glad to meet you … but now I’m confused! Daniel? Vladimir? Same person? (Sorry to be so OldBoeBrain-y!)
Thanks a lot for this announcement! The concert was wonderful and also provoked some interesting discussions afterwards.
We talked how great it is, when such fine, classically trained musicians are so lively, funny and outgoing and then realized that the majority of “serious” musicians we personally know are exactly that: funny, witty, artistic and outgoing, i.e. exactly opposite from the stereotype.
The second discussion was about memorization. I think Tracy made a great point: it gives you a lot of freedom. The question is why is it such a big deal as the person who asked the question assumed? Why in the piano studio my kids attend nobody talks about it because it is mandatory to memorize your recital pieces, and in the oboe studio nobody talks about it either, but for a different reason: it is not required at all?
Daniel is the young aspiring oboe player. Vladimir is just a dad. 🙂
Geesh … WHERE is my brain? Of course Daniel is the oboist … although “just” a dad … well, I know how important dads are! 🙂
So Daniel, shall I look forward to a blog at some point?
Memorization … some have the knack, some don’t. If I’m remembering my music history, Liszt, who had a photographic memory, started the craze and it became a “must”. I love being freed from the page, but at the same time I know it causes some to freeze entirely. I doubt very much I could play all of bohème without the music in front of me, although I’m sure I could play the solos. It’s a tricky issue for us woodwind players. Maybe because we have SO much music to learn, if you combine our solo work with chamber with symphony with opera with ballet … you get the picture.
That being said (or written) it IS the “big new thing” with a lot of younger groups. I’ve seen several WWQs that do it all by memory. It’s rather humbling for this ancient oboist!