It’s easy to have a well-developed sense of ennui by the end of a symphonic season, at least if you’re a member of the ensemble. But, occasionally, it’s nice to have a gut check provided by one of your brothers or sisters in the orchestra world. Mine came this morning in the form of a rapturous blog entry by Columbus Symphony principal clarinetist David H. Thomas. There was a paragraph that reminded me of my experience playing the last movement of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony a few short weeks ago:
As we rollicked to the very end, we let lose (according to plan) in a way Junichi rarely lets us do. We are just beginning to understand the control with which we are capable of “letting loseâ€. After nearly two years of working with him, we are just beginning to tap into our potential for controlled passion and power, the energy tapped by the greatest orchestras, from Cleveland to Berlin.
That’s exactly as I’ve felt at times over the last season or so – that the OSO is reaching a level of playing that is measured in millimeters – tiny increments of levels of sound, modulations of tempo, suppleness of phrasing – a place where the top orchestras live every day (well, almost every day). A colleague who was recently in Minnesota to hear the Minnesota Orchestra play Mahler’s Ninth remarked that she felt our performance was superior – and that’s high praise, the Minn Orchestra is one of the nation’s great ensembles!
As the CSO ends one incarnation, and hopefully transmigrates to another, I’m reminded of how thankful I am to be in a city which supports its orchestra in particular, and the arts in general. I’m fortunate to have a wonderful job in a great city, with such supremely talented colleagues.