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the orchestral shakes

We’ve got two out of our three performances of Beethoven’s Ninth symphony out into the ether, and the reviews of the first performances have been mixed.

David Stabler writes:

But despite some wonderful moments, Saturday’s performance was not the orchestra’s best. The playing sounded diffuse, lacking angles and urgency.

Let’s be clear. Music director Carlos Kalmar is a stickler for details and clarity. In five seasons under him, the players have become sharper, more precise, their sound more transparent. Performances have gone from broad and blunt to pointed and urgent. Kalmar makes his point of view clear.

But not on Saturday. The musicians sounded under-rehearsed. Mistakes intruded. Entrances weren’t exact. The music was wonderful, of course, but the performance was puzzling and disappointing.

and James Bash writes:

It seemed that the orchestra players had a tougher time on Sunday evening. Iwasaki played so hard in the first two movements that horsehair came off his bow and then he broke a string in the second movement. Assistant concertmaster, Peter Frajola, traded violins with Iwasaki and swiftly repaired Iwasaki’s violin, and Iwasaki was back to playing on his own instrument within a few minutes. (Give Frajola a medal for that – bravo!) Also, there were some problems with the horns and with intonation between the basses and cellos.

I don’t really take issue with either review (which also had positive things to say as well).  It’s interesting, because Saturday evening’s performance was one which had the orchestra talking while we prepared backstage for Sunday’s show.  We felt the strange sense of unease which pervaded the first movement of the Ninth, and the ensemble issues which seemed to continue throughout the rest of the symphony.

There seemed to be a sense that we indeed could hear the problems, but weren’t sure which section was “right” which was “wrong”.  In situations like this, it’s relatively common for a section string player to go into “bunker” mode.  You play first with your stand partner, then you try to play with those around you, and then you keep an eye on your front stand, then you try to see the concertmaster, and then the conductor.  A sort of tunnel vision sets in, especially if the music you’re playing is dense and note-y.

When you add in the added distance of having four vocal soloists on either side of the podium, the fact that they stand between you and the conductor and concertmaster, and it gets pretty dicey.  But the fact is that this wasn’t an issue for the first three movements of the symphony.  It’s kind of mysterious, why these problems crop up from time to time.  I’ve certainly felt less rehearsed than this before, but with better concert performances resulting.  Sometimes there’s just this invisible shudder that goes through the orchestra, like a school of fish suddenly startled, and everyone just tries to stay together.  I don’t know why it happens, and I’m not able to predict when it’s about to happen, either.  Go figure.

Regardless, the performances were rapturously received by the capacity audiences, and the Ninth has been a joy to play.  We’ll see how round three goes tonight…

5 replies on “the orchestral shakes”

You know, I know exactly what you mean. I played in college and we had our ups and downs. When things go wrong, it’s easy to get that tunnel vision and hunker down hoping things get better. I did notice some “issues” on Saturday night (some wrong notes in the clarinets and horns in the 1st movement, ensemble playing in the 2nd, etc.) but I enjoyed it still.

I read Stabler’s review…I didn’t think it was as problematic as he seemed to, but then again, from my perch in the choir loft I’m sure things sound very different.

The 9th is an interesting piece for choristers, especially with multiple performances one right after another. One becomes intimately familiar (from a passive listening standpoint) with the first three movements during the ‘long sit,’ as I’ve come to call it.

I really thought that Monday night’s performance was the best from the orchestra, especially during the Scherzo. This word is probably way over-used in music criticism (any kind of criticism really) but if it applies to anything it applies to this scherzo, so I say without hesitation that it was ‘rollicking’ good fun…the tempo was crisp, it seemed like the players were really feeling each other and moved with a common goal in mind, and when necessary the orchestra did a good job of relying on the maestro, who was able to hold things together any time something threatened to get out of hand (so of course that didn’t happen.) I was glad to be able to thank Jun Iwasaki in person after the show for such a good performance. And his violin solo in the Vaughan Williams was breathtakingly beautiful all three nights.

I thought the choir’s best performance was on Sunday night; last night I felt a bit of a lack of focus; some entrances and exits weren’t nearly as precise as they should have been, but it was kind of fun singing the 4th movement at such a blistering tempo. Good times; it’s always a blast to perform with the OSO.

Thanks for the comments, Lorin! The choir sounded great, as usual, and there were some sections that seemed much stronger than in previous years, especially the tenors and altos. And it’s such a high tenor part! Great going, and the Vaughan Williams was some beautiful English choral singing – what I love best!

Allow me a risky (and tongue in cheek) metaphor:Beethoven is the pizza of the classical music world. Even if it is not served “perfect” or even served warmed over, it is still enjoyable!

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