Luftpause

We got back to Portland on Sunday in the late afternoon (lots of holiday traffic on the interstate, in spite of having left before 2 p.m.), and there was the usual frenzy of unpacking, and cleaning, and laundry.  We had our traditional delivered pizza, and watched crappy tv as a way of celebrating being home.

On Wednesday, I head down to Eugene for the final concerts of the Oregon Bach Festival: Mendelssohn’s great oratorio Elijah, performed in Portland on Friday evening, and in Eugene on Saturday afternoon.  I’m very excited for this performance, because one of my favorite singers of all time, Thomas Quasthoff, is singing the title role in these performances.  I’ve always been blown away by his singing, ever since I first heard him sing with us in an Rilling-led OSO performance of Haydn’s The Creation back in 1996.  I wish that Rilling would come back and conduct the OSO again – I imagine that he would scarcely recognize the great orchestra that we’ve become over the last 14 years!  It will be nice to get to see some musicians who I haven’t seen since my last OBF performances, which date back to the second performance of Penderecki’s Credo (with the composer conducting) and Rilling’s performance of Mahler 2.

My viola has been resting in his case since Saturday afternoon, recovering from all that I inflicted on him for the previous week.  But tomorrow will mean some new insults in the form of practicing the tricky bits from the 2-1/2 hour Elijah in between the many errands that must be completed during the day.