As of today (May 2, 2008) we have 33 days until the end of the 2007-2008 season of the Oregon Symphony. I can’t believe that it’s almost over! That sentence can be read either with a sense of relief or a tinge of regret – or maybe both at the same time. Truly, the end of season craziness is in the air.
The last couple weeks have been a tad more busy than what we’ve been used to for a while: Classical 12 at the beginning of April (with a runout to Newberg), followed closely by the Norman Leyden Pops (with a runout to Salem), overlapping the rehearsals for CL 13’s Mahler 9th, with the last performance of the Mahler overlapping with the first rehearsal of the Youth Concerts, four of which we’ve given in the last two days, overlapping with rehearsals for the final Inside the Score concert, concerning Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. Whew!
Towards the end of the season, all sorts of normally benign characteristics of one’s colleagues become triggers for homicidal behavior, while the benign characteristics rapidly take on aspects that are drawn straight from the DSM-IV handbook.
In this state of affairs, Leonard Bernstein could rise from the grave to conduct the orchestra in his own West Side Story and the Mahler symphonies, and still be reviled by most of the orchestra, most likely returned to the grave with his baton through his heart for good measure.
Gallows humor begins to reign in the viola nook behind stage left, with much talk of Japanese sepukku rituals and samurai auto-decapitation. I’m not making this up…
Fortunately, the bicycle awaits, along with warmer, drier weather, and so riding to work or around the neighborhood after work provides welcome stress relief. Exercise is good, m’kay!