{"id":662,"date":"2008-01-14T15:54:39","date_gmt":"2008-01-14T23:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/14\/if-im-tired-it-must-be-january\/"},"modified":"2008-01-14T15:57:40","modified_gmt":"2008-01-14T23:57:40","slug":"if-im-tired-it-must-be-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/14\/if-im-tired-it-must-be-january\/","title":{"rendered":"if I’m tired it must be january"},"content":{"rendered":"

Classical Program 6<\/strong>
\nGregory Vajda, conducting<\/p>\n

Bart\u00c3\u00b3k – Miraculous Mandarin, complete version, first OSO performance<\/strong><\/p>\n

Intermission <\/em><\/p>\n

Debussy – Prelude to Afternoon of a Faun
\nChopin – Piano Concerto No. 2, Ingrid Fliter, pianist
\nDukas – Sorcerer’s Apprentice<\/strong><\/p>\n

T.S. Eliot thought that April was the cruelest month, but for me it’s January, with February a close runner-up. It’s because December is full of marginally fulfilling holiday stuff, followed by frantic running around for the holidays themselves, then a bit of blissful oblivion, followed by a panic that the season starts up again in five days, with really difficult programs, and I haven’t touched my viola since that last Nutcracker. Then it’s a sprint to the end of March, when the spring break arrives.<\/p>\n

So it’s crunch time. I can feel it in my bones – actually in my bow-arm’s shoulder and my back. News which would normally be met with a shrug and “what can ya do?” is instead met with grumbled obscenities and toe-curling rage on the drive home. I feel sorry for the people that have to drive on the roads with me on my way home this week – they’re getting called every name in the book.* On the bright side, I usually only feel a simple sense of tiredness by the time I get home.<\/p>\n

Trivia question – has anyone noticed anything different about Gregory Vajda this week? He’s changed something about the way he conducts – he has now adopted using a baton! I don’t know if he’d ever used one before, but there had been some complaints about the lack of visibility of his beat in complicated pieces when he was just using his hands. He was very generous and accommodating to use a baton for our concerts – it’s nice to be listened to, and shows what a classy guy Gregory is!<\/p>\n

The program we’re finishing up tonight is a strange one – it really feels like two programs, or one program stretched into one-and-a-half programs. We start with the Bart\u00c3\u00b3k complete Miraculous Mandarin, which rightfully occupies the entire first half (originally the intermission was to be taken after the Debussy Prelude).<\/p>\n

After intermission comes the Debussy, (which was amended in our part to “Prelude to Afternoon of a Yaun” – oh the pithy witticisms to be found in the first desk viola parts!), with its famous solo flute opening, played with mellifluous beauty by principal flute David Buck. Played it a million times, goes off well – next piece, please.<\/p>\n

Then comes the Chopin, which is a wonderful and beautiful concerto as long as you’re not playing the orchestral part. This goes high on my list of pieces that I’d rather hear from the audience. The second movement had an added subtitle: “Assisted suicide special”. Lovely, crystalline playing by Ms. Fliter, who I hope gets to come back and play something that gives us more to do as far as collaborating with an obviously wonderful artist.<\/p>\n

By this time, it feels like we should be leaving the stage and racing the audience members to their cars. But no – we get another blast from the past, Dukas’ Sorcerer’s Apprentice. If you’re a new visitor to the solar system, I’ll tell you all you need to know about this piece: it was in Fantasia<\/em> – no, not the new one, the old one with Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Last night I was so tired and miserable by this point that I felt like just putting my instrument in my lap and looking around at all the other people who were actually playing their parts correctly and just nodding, thinking “yeah, that’s sounding pretty good”. Instead I muddled my way through to the end without embarrassing myself and my section too badly.<\/p>\n

Thank god! We’re done! Oh rats – I just realized that I practiced the wrong divisi part to the intricate and exposed part to MacMillan’s Confession of Isobel Goudie<\/em> (because there’s a probationary member on the first stand for this coming series), so the time I spent practicing about half of the piece was wasted. Grrrr. Watch out motorists – pissed off and tired violist on the road!!*<\/p>\n

*No violists, innocent motorists, or audience members were harmed in the production of this blog post. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So it’s crunch time. I can feel it in my bones – actually in my bow-arm’s shoulder and my back. News which would normally be met with a shrug and “what can ya do?” is instead met with grumbled obscenities and toe-curling rage on the drive home. I feel sorry for the people that have to drive on the roads with me on my way home this week – they’re getting called every name in the book.* On the bright side, I usually only feel a simple sense of tiredness by the time I get home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[115,2],"tags":[67,86,63,319,55,3668,277,3660,274],"class_list":["post-662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-classical","tag-conductor","tag-flute","tag-gregory-vajda","tag-orchestra","tag-oregon-symphony","tag-performance","tag-viola","tag-violist"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-aG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3555,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/12\/05\/odds-and-ends-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":662,"position":0},"title":"odds and ends","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Oregon Symphony Resident conductor Gregory Vajda conducts a recording of music by his mentor, the composer\/conductor P\u00e9ter E\u00f6tv\u00f6s, entitled As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams.\u00a0 The recording is one of three nominated for the prestigious 2010 MIDEM Classical Award. Conductor Leonard Slatkin has a compelling essay up on his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":927,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/16\/a-great-bench\/","url_meta":{"origin":662,"position":1},"title":"a great bench","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In the sporting world, if you've got depth on your team, then you've got a \"great bench\". Supporting players that can come in at a moment's notice and make a crucial difference when one of your first string players is unable to play. Here at the Oregon Symphony it's been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gregory Vajda - photo credit: Aaron Hewitt","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/vajda-by-aaron-hewitt.thumbnail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":735,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/06\/oso-reviews-other-thoughts\/","url_meta":{"origin":662,"position":2},"title":"oso reviews, other thoughts","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a round up of the reviews I've spotted of our weekend of Classical 8 series concerts, featuring the Adams Chamber Symphony. James McQuillen for the Oregonian: From the opening bars Saturday, it was obvious that the Chamber Symphony is a ferociously difficult piece, requiring virtuoso playing with crazy rhythms\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":850,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/14\/vajda-a-finalist-in-virginia\/","url_meta":{"origin":662,"position":3},"title":"vajda a finalist in virginia","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"OSO Resident conductor Gregory Vajda photo credit: Aaron Hewitt David Stabler reports that Oregon Symphony Resident Conductor Gregory Vajda is a finalist for the Fairfax (VA) Symphony. Fairfax is a Northern Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. I used to play in the Fairfax Symphony back in the day, *cough* years\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "auditions"","block_context":{"text":"auditions","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/auditions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gregory Vajda - photo credit: Aaron Hewitt","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/vajda-by-aaron-hewitt.thumbnail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1849,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/02\/05\/vajda-in-san-antonio\/","url_meta":{"origin":662,"position":4},"title":"vajda in san antonio","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"OSO resident conductor Gregory Vajda is a candidate for the music director position in San Antonio, Texas.\u00c2\u00a0 John Clare, of Texas Public Radio, alerted me to this video interview of Vajda.\u00c2\u00a0 Enjoy! Maestro Gregory Vajda from John Clare on Vimeo. An interview with Gregory Vajda with John Clare at Texas\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4366,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/04\/09\/the-other-side-of-vajda\/","url_meta":{"origin":662,"position":5},"title":"the other side of vajda","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Aside from seeing the front side of Resident conductor Gregory Vajda (most patrons see more of his back than his front at concerts), you also get to see the clarinettist Gregory Vajda.\u00a0 He's good, too!\u00a0 The photo above is from last night's rehearsal of Mozart's Trio for Clarinet, Viola and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/4505604805_e5da9eb749_b-245x399.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}